By Nita Wilkinson

Faith Editor

I have a T-shirt that says SMUGGLER on it. If you look closely, you’ll see the word Bible hidden in the M. I bought that shirt because of Miriam Penry. I have never forgotten her.

I was in sixth grade when Mrs. Penry came to our classroom at Radnor Elementary and talked to us about “spying for God.” You see, her way of “spying” was to smuggle Russian translations of Bibles into the Soviet Union in the late 1960s and early 1970s, during the Cold War.

I was fascinated by this woman. In my 12-year-old mind, the Penrys were one of the wealthiest families in Radnor. They owned and ran the Penry Stone Quarry, after all. Yet here was a woman, my grandmother’s age, risking so much to travel to the Soviet Union. I wondered why she didn’t send someone else. I mean, she could afford to.

Now, I loved Nancy Drew when I was younger, and to this day I love a good thriller or mystery. So even in sixth-grade, I was awestruck by this real-life heroine.

Mrs. Penry would eventually make nine trips to the Soviet Union in 10 years. When she came to our classroom, she had made only about half that many, but that was still enough to completely capture my imagination.

She talked about clandestine meetings on cold, dark streets and following secret connections to get God’s Word into the hands of people who desperately wanted it.

Life for Christians in the Soviet Union was difficult and dangerous. The government allowed some registered churches to operate, but religious activity was heavily restricted and monitored. The government controlled what churches could do, and those involved in unregistered religious activity could face imprisonment or worse.

Smuggling Bibles into the Soviet Union in those days was a dangerous and nerve-wracking underground operation. It was carried out by people who believed that God's Word should be available even to those living under a government determined to control its distribution.

Then came the trip when Mrs. Penry was finally caught.

Picture this: a woman in her 70s arriving in the Soviet Union as she had many times before. But this time, when the soldiers searched her luggage, they found the Bibles. Mrs. Penry didn't play dumb. She didn't pretend she didn't know what was in her luggage. She owned it.

When the soldier told her she had a nice name, he concluded, “Too bad you got yourself in this mess.”

Her response?

“I’m more afraid of God than I am you. I do want to thank you for being so considerate. When you get time, will you look through this? You’re going to find the story of a man who loves you so much He died for you.”

Mrs. Penry watched the Russian people change over those 10 years. For many years, they wouldn't even try to talk to her. But as time went on, if there were no others around, they became more willing to speak with her about their faith.

She often spoke about the intensity of their faith.

“They radiate it from the very pores of their skin. Their biggest hope is in Jesus Christ.”

Think about that for a minute. People living under a government that restricted their faith, monitored their churches and made possessing or distributing Christian materials dangerous, and yet Mrs. Penry said their biggest hope was in Jesus Christ.

Though the Bibles in her luggage were confiscated on that trip, Mrs. Penry considered the mission a success. She said that 15 other bags filled with Bibles had made it through customs.

Her Bibles may have been taken, but the Word of God still made it through.

When the soldier handed her back her passport, he suggested that it would probably be best if she didn't return.

Her response?

“I can’t promise that. It depends on what God wants me to do.”

I don't know if she ever returned. I lost track of her. But she never lost her place in my memory.

When I was 12, Miriam Penry seemed impossibly old to me. She was my grandmother's age. And grandmothers, in my 12-year-old world, weren't supposed to be sneaking across the Iron Curtain with Bibles in their luggage. Now, at 63, I have a slightly different perspective on what “old” looks like. And I'm even more impressed.

Because Mrs. Penry didn't have to go. She could have stayed home. She could have decided the risk was too great or that someone younger and braver should take her place. Instead, she went herself. A woman from Radnor, Ohio, traveled behind the Iron Curtain because she believed there were people on the other side who needed God's Word.

That's why I bought the T-shirt. Every time I see that word, SMUGGLER, I think of the woman who first made Bible smuggling fascinating to me. Because even today, she is the most courageous person I have ever met. ■