I just finished listening to the audio book of Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. A fantasic book that looks at the life of Louis Zamperini – an Olympic runner who gets drafted into the Army Air Corps.
***Spoiler Alert***
The book takes an in-depth look at the war in the Pacific and specifically the horrors of being shot down and captured as a POW in a Japanese prison camp. There are simply too many amazing parts to this story to recap here, but I think the most amazing part is the end. After the war, Louis experiences post-traumatic stress from his time spent as a prisoner under the unrelenting punishment of a prison guard known as “the Bird.” When the war ends in 1945, he copes with it in the predictable ways (alcohol, reclusiveness, etc.), but it begins to tear his family apart. He is then confronted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the ministry of a young college president named Billy Graham. When Louis encounters the grace of God, he lets go of the vengeance that began to consume him. Zamperini finds the forgiveness he so desparately needs that would make no sense apart from the God who is there.