Hey all. These last two weeks have been a great, relaxing, and fun start to my summer vacation. I've been here at home with Ben and Mom and enjoying every minute. It'll be fun to travel later in the summer, but right now, I'm content. Later in the summer, when I go out with Dad and see the farm, it'll be great, too.
Anyway, before I get to what I want to write about today, I want to ask you a question: have you had experiences where you knew that some greater force was involved, that made no sense and couldn't have been a coincidence? More directly: has God spoken to you in some way or moved in your life? And have you answered him in what he wanted you to do? Because I know that he has in many lives. Below is a story about one such man, and I hope you read it and consider.
(And if you already believe that God has moved in your life before, have you looked at your life recently to see what he's done?)
This past week or so, I've been reading Laura Hillenbrand's book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, about the 1936 Olympian Louie Zamperini. It was quite a ride and in all my spare moments, I had the book in my hands, trying to see what would happen next. I highly recommend it.
Zamperini is quite a character. He was the town menace when he was a kid, because of his stealing and fighting, but he was also the town celebrity as a teen, because of his incredible running ability. This ability led to him going to the 1936 Olympics, held in Nazi Germany. This time in his life doesn't actually occupy most of the book - the bulk is on his time in World War II, especially after the B-24 Green Hornet crashed in the Pacific, leaving Zamperini and two other men on tiny rubber rafts floating adrift in the ocean(Mac died out there, the pilot Phil lived on). He eventually was caught and put in a few different internment camps over two years. Most of that time, his family didn't know for sure that he was alive and he endured the worst kind of a life, being humiliated and beaten almost on a daily basis, living on the bare minimum.
What struck me was that you could tell, even in this account written by a woman who is not religious, is the hand of God in his entire life. From the time that he was on the water, I could feel a sense of something amazing that God was doing in Zamperini's life to draw him to himself and I was hoping throughout the entire book that Zamperini would respond to what God was doing to reach out to him.
These are the major points I saw where God had an influence on Louie's life:
1. On the raft.
He began praying to God, in his own way on the raft, because he was desperate and needed something to believe in. God answered these prayers. At one point Zamperini prayed for rain three times; it rained three times. At another point, Louie told God that if he survived, he would dedicate his life to him(and guess what, he did survive that and many other near-death experiences). And when Phil and Louie reached the doldrums, they saw the beauty of God's nature and felt comforted(this was after more than a month at sea with the food and water they could catch). Finally, Zamperini saw what I think were angels flying above his head, singing to comfort him
2. As a prisoner in the Kwajalein execution camp.
He was in a cell hardly longer than himself, laying over a cesspool, tormented with vermin, forced to keep silent, and humiliated and beaten by guards. How could he survive? God sustained him. Zamperini prayed unceasingly(although at the time, Louie didn't consider himself a Christian at all). A Japanese Christian guard named Kawamura was kind to him and Phil. He heard again the voices of the angels.
3. As a prisoner in other camps.
God simply kept him alive. One guard in particular, called 'The Bird' by prisoners in two camps, singled Louie out and could have killed him. Louie could have died of sickness or malnutrition or beatings, but he lived on.
4. After the war.
Zamperini was depressed and haunted by his life as a POW, especially by 'The Bird'. He dreamed of this man every night and could only get away from it all by drinking his mind into oblivion. This went on for a few years and it brought down his marriage and personal life - he became a man he'd never thought he'd be, hurting his wife and baby, causing her to want a divorce. However, it was through his wife Cecilia and Billy Graham that all of that turned around for him. He was almost literally dragged to see Billy Graham speak after Cecilia became a Christian at Graham's Crusade in LA. Cecilia wore him down, asking him day after day. Louie was angry and grudging, but God spoke to him, addressing exactly what he had been through. Louie thought that he was a good guy, but after looking at himself honestly, he knew it wasn't true; he'd done and thought so many bad things. But he still didn't want to believe it. He also remembered that he had promised God he'd serve him all his life if he survived the ocean, but he didn't want to. It took another very forced pull back to hear Graham to make him finally decide to follow Christ. Graham talked about how God shows himself in nature and that reminded Louie of that time in the doldrums on the raft. He almost fled even then, because everything was making too much sense, but at the last moment, instead of going towards the exit of the tent, he went the other way to confess and become a follower of Christ.
______
It's so amazing to hear what God can do in a man's life and how he can reveal himself to us. It was so hard, yet inspiring to read about Louie Zamperini's life, because of all that he went through. But I was so happy to read that did answer God's call. He went on to head up a camp for troubled boys among many other great accomplishments and is still kicking today.
One last note: it was interesting learning more about Japan and saddening to hear how its people fared during WWII, but after this book, I feel like I understand them a little more as a people and a culture(as one can in the circumstances). Hearing real stories of small people's lives as opposed to the most famous ones helps make the wartime era Japanese more tangible for me.
'Til later.
Anyway, before I get to what I want to write about today, I want to ask you a question: have you had experiences where you knew that some greater force was involved, that made no sense and couldn't have been a coincidence? More directly: has God spoken to you in some way or moved in your life? And have you answered him in what he wanted you to do? Because I know that he has in many lives. Below is a story about one such man, and I hope you read it and consider.
(And if you already believe that God has moved in your life before, have you looked at your life recently to see what he's done?)
This past week or so, I've been reading Laura Hillenbrand's book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, about the 1936 Olympian Louie Zamperini. It was quite a ride and in all my spare moments, I had the book in my hands, trying to see what would happen next. I highly recommend it.Zamperini is quite a character. He was the town menace when he was a kid, because of his stealing and fighting, but he was also the town celebrity as a teen, because of his incredible running ability. This ability led to him going to the 1936 Olympics, held in Nazi Germany. This time in his life doesn't actually occupy most of the book - the bulk is on his time in World War II, especially after the B-24 Green Hornet crashed in the Pacific, leaving Zamperini and two other men on tiny rubber rafts floating adrift in the ocean(Mac died out there, the pilot Phil lived on). He eventually was caught and put in a few different internment camps over two years. Most of that time, his family didn't know for sure that he was alive and he endured the worst kind of a life, being humiliated and beaten almost on a daily basis, living on the bare minimum.
What struck me was that you could tell, even in this account written by a woman who is not religious, is the hand of God in his entire life. From the time that he was on the water, I could feel a sense of something amazing that God was doing in Zamperini's life to draw him to himself and I was hoping throughout the entire book that Zamperini would respond to what God was doing to reach out to him.
These are the major points I saw where God had an influence on Louie's life:
1. On the raft.
He began praying to God, in his own way on the raft, because he was desperate and needed something to believe in. God answered these prayers. At one point Zamperini prayed for rain three times; it rained three times. At another point, Louie told God that if he survived, he would dedicate his life to him(and guess what, he did survive that and many other near-death experiences). And when Phil and Louie reached the doldrums, they saw the beauty of God's nature and felt comforted(this was after more than a month at sea with the food and water they could catch). Finally, Zamperini saw what I think were angels flying above his head, singing to comfort him
2. As a prisoner in the Kwajalein execution camp.
He was in a cell hardly longer than himself, laying over a cesspool, tormented with vermin, forced to keep silent, and humiliated and beaten by guards. How could he survive? God sustained him. Zamperini prayed unceasingly(although at the time, Louie didn't consider himself a Christian at all). A Japanese Christian guard named Kawamura was kind to him and Phil. He heard again the voices of the angels.
3. As a prisoner in other camps.
God simply kept him alive. One guard in particular, called 'The Bird' by prisoners in two camps, singled Louie out and could have killed him. Louie could have died of sickness or malnutrition or beatings, but he lived on.
4. After the war.
Zamperini was depressed and haunted by his life as a POW, especially by 'The Bird'. He dreamed of this man every night and could only get away from it all by drinking his mind into oblivion. This went on for a few years and it brought down his marriage and personal life - he became a man he'd never thought he'd be, hurting his wife and baby, causing her to want a divorce. However, it was through his wife Cecilia and Billy Graham that all of that turned around for him. He was almost literally dragged to see Billy Graham speak after Cecilia became a Christian at Graham's Crusade in LA. Cecilia wore him down, asking him day after day. Louie was angry and grudging, but God spoke to him, addressing exactly what he had been through. Louie thought that he was a good guy, but after looking at himself honestly, he knew it wasn't true; he'd done and thought so many bad things. But he still didn't want to believe it. He also remembered that he had promised God he'd serve him all his life if he survived the ocean, but he didn't want to. It took another very forced pull back to hear Graham to make him finally decide to follow Christ. Graham talked about how God shows himself in nature and that reminded Louie of that time in the doldrums on the raft. He almost fled even then, because everything was making too much sense, but at the last moment, instead of going towards the exit of the tent, he went the other way to confess and become a follower of Christ.
______
It's so amazing to hear what God can do in a man's life and how he can reveal himself to us. It was so hard, yet inspiring to read about Louie Zamperini's life, because of all that he went through. But I was so happy to read that did answer God's call. He went on to head up a camp for troubled boys among many other great accomplishments and is still kicking today.
One last note: it was interesting learning more about Japan and saddening to hear how its people fared during WWII, but after this book, I feel like I understand them a little more as a people and a culture(as one can in the circumstances). Hearing real stories of small people's lives as opposed to the most famous ones helps make the wartime era Japanese more tangible for me.
'Til later.
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