Unbroken

In her bestselling book Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand tells the amazing story of Louis Zamperini, 1936 Olympic distance runner and bombardier in the military during World War II and prisoner-of-war. His is a story of endurance and redemption that both reinforces and informs the mission God has given to the church as a body and to individual believers.

Zamperini was a prankster as a boy and through his teen years. Some of his pranks were harmful or illegal, yet he continually survived them. Then in high school he became a track athlete and became one of the best 5,000 meter runners in history and then one of the best mile-runners in history. He went to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. When he returned home, he trained for the 1940 Olympics, only to have them cancelled due to war.

From the story of those early years of Zamperini’s life, we learn our first lesson for the church: Young people who appear to be growing up to be a nuisance can develop into worthwhile individuals. We always need to realize this in the church because we are called to help people make the most out of their lives.

With his Olympic dream gone, Zamperini ended up in the army, serving as a bombardier in the Pacific. On May 27, 1943, Zamperini's bomber left Oahu in search of survivors from a downed plane. About 800 miles from the base, one of the engines cut out and the bomber plunged into the ocean. Zamperini and another soldier would stay afloat on a tiny life raft for 47 days—a world record for survival at sea. After confronting sharks, starvation, and dementia, their real battle would begin. Zamperini spent the next two years as a Japanese POW in the notorious Sugamo Prison. In particular, a guard named Watanabe (nicknamed "the Bird") ensured that Louis endured constant physical torture and verbal humiliation—all in an attempt to shatter the spirit of the American soldiers.

Zamperini would survive his prisoner-of-war ordeal, and leave us another lesson: Survival is possible even in the most extreme circumstances. Of all people, those of us who follow Christ should understand that people can overcome. It is, in fact, our responsibility in the church to nurture people through their difficulties in order to help them survive. At the same time, we need always to remember to trust God in our own difficulties.

In 1944, after Louis had been declared dead, he returned to America to a rush of publicity. Unfortunately, his life quickly descended into a new self-made prison of alcoholism and bitterness. In particular, Louis now endured constant nightmares about his past and an obsessive drive to murder "the Bird." But the walls of addiction and hatred started to crumble in 1949 when Louis attended a Billy Graham crusade and heard the gospel and trusted Christ.

After receiving Christ, in the words of Laura Hildenbrand:

When [Louie] 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 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.

Zamperini’s conversion leaves us another lesson: No matter how much suffering a person has endured, he or she still needs Christ. Zamperini’s suffering, as it does for many people, led him into his own destructive cycle until rescued by Christ. We need to watch for the suffering in people’s lives that shouts to us of their need for Christ, and share Christ with them.

Then there is one more lesson that we can learn from Louis Zamperini’s story. It grows out of the consequences of his conversion. Up until his conversion, he became obsessed with finding a way to return to Japan and murder his nemesis, “The Bird.’ After his conversion, Christ took away the bitterness and desire for revenge. Louis Zamperini not only received forgiveness, he was able to forgive his greatest tormentor. The lesson? If Christ forgave us, we need to forgive like that. The church should be in the business of teaching people to forgive others.

Zamperini has followed Christ in the long years since his conversion. He survived all the people who were part of his story, many of whom also followed Christ, people with whom he will share eternity. I recommend Unbroken. I especially recommend the lessons it teaches us about following Christ and serving in the church.