A New Creation

A New Creation

 

Dear Champions,

 

Louis Zamperini was a USA Olympic medalist before getting shot down and becoming a prisoner of war in Japan.  He was unbelievably abused, beaten, starved and humiliated daily.  The worst tormenter of all was Mutsuhiro Watanabe nicknamed "The Bird."

 

When the war ended Zamperini became an alcoholic, and his marriage was nearly over.  The Bird visited his dreams nightly and continued to torment him.   He lived daily to go back to Japan to get revenge on the Bird.  Very begrudgingly, he attended a Billy Graham crusade and gave his life to Jesus.

 

The short excerpt is by Laura Hillenbrand from the book, Unbroken.   The movie didn't tell this part of the story.   The scripture is 2 Corinthians 5:17   Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

 

"This is it," said Billy Graham.  "God has spoken to you.  You come on."  Cynthia (Zamperini's wife) kept her eyes on Louie all the way home.  When they entered the apartment, Louie went straight to his cache of liquor.  It was the time of night when the need usually took hold of him, but for the first time in years, Louie had no desire to drink.  He carried the bottles to the kitchen sink, opened them, and poured their contents into the drain.  Then he hurried through the apartment, gathering packs of cigarettes, a secret stash of girlie magazines, everything that was part of his ruined years.  He heaved it all down the trash chute.

 

In the morning, he woke feeling cleansed.  For the first time in five years, the Bird hadn't come into his dreams.  The Bird would never come again.

 

Louie dug out the Bible that had been issued to him by the air corps and mailed home to his mother when he was believed dead.  He walked to Barnsdall Park, where he and Cynthia had gone in better days, and where Cynthia had gone, alone, when he'd been on his benders.  He found a spot under a tree, sat down, and began reading.

 

Resting in the shade and the stillness, Louie felt profound peace.  When he thought of his history, what resonated with him now was not all that he had suffered but the divine love that he believed had intervened to save him.  He was not the worthless, broken, forsaken man that the Bird had striven to make of him.  In a single, silent moment, his rage, his fear, his humiliation and helplessness, had fallen away.  That morning, he believed, he was a new creation.

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining