{"id":3290,"date":"2018-05-23T10:50:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-23T10:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290"},"modified":"2017-09-09T01:10:28","modified_gmt":"2017-09-09T01:10:28","slug":"mission-over-the-pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290","title":{"rendered":"Mission Over the Pacific"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 I am having a great time!<\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 Me too!<\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 Let’s share a story.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is from the book The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One of the most dramatic examples of this principle can be found in Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling biography of World War II hero Louis Zamperini.\u00a0 On a mission over the Pacific in 1943, Zamperini’s plane crashed into the ocean, killing most on board.\u00a0 After forty-seven days afloat in shark-infested waters, Louie and one other survivor were captured and endured two and a half years of imprisonment, which consisted of almost constant beatings, humiliation, and torture.<\/p>\n

Returning after the war, he suffered from severe post traumatic stress disorder and became an alcoholic.\u00a0 His wife, Cynthia, lost hope for their marriage.\u00a0 Louie spent most of his time dreaming and planning about returning to Japan to murder “the Bird,” a Japanese sergeant who had repeatedly assaulted and tormented him in the camps.\u00a0 One night he dreamt that the Bird was looming over him.\u00a0 He reached out to defend himself.\u00a0 A scream woke him up and there he was, straddling Cynthia’s chest, his hands locked around the throat of his pregnant wife.\u00a0 Not long afterward, Cynthia announced to him that she was filing for divorce.\u00a0 he was distressed, but even the threat of losing his wife and child could not stop his drinking or his self-destructive behavior.\u00a0 He was too tormented by his past and his bitterness to change, even to save his family.<\/p>\n

Then one day in the fall of 1949, Cyntha Zamperini was told by an acquaintance that there was a young evangelist, Billy Graham, preaching downtown at a special series of tent meetings.\u00a0 She attended and “came home alight.”\u00a0 She went immediately to Louie and told him she didn’t want a divorce, that she had experienced a spiritual awakening, and that she wanted him to accompany her to hear the preaching.\u00a0 After days of resisting, he finally gave in.\u00a0 That night, the young preacher’s sermon homed in on the concept of human sin.\u00a0 Louie was indignant.\u00a0 I am a good man, he said to himself.\u00a0 But almost as soon as he had the thought, “he felt the lie in it.”\u00a0 Several nights later he returned and “walked the aisle,” repented, and received Christ as Savior.<\/p>\n

Zamperini was immediately delivered of his alcoholism.\u00a0 But more crucially, he felt God’s love flood his life and realized that he was able to forgive all those who had imprisoned and tortured him.\u00a0 The shame and sense of powerlessness that had stoked his hate and misery had vanished.\u00a0 His relationship with Cynthia “was renewed and deepened.\u00a0 They were blissful together.”\u00a0 In October 1950, Louie was able to return to Japan and speak through an interpreter at the prison where many of his former camp guards were now imprisoned.\u00a0 He spoke about the power of Christ’s grace to bring forgiveness, and to the prisoners’ shock, he embraced each of them with a loving smile.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Isaiah 55:4<\/p>\n

Behold, I made him\u00a0a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jennifer Van Allen<\/p>\n

www.theprodigalpig.com<\/p>\n

www.faithincounseling.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Prodigal:\u00a0 I am having a great time! Me:\u00a0 Me too! Prodigal:\u00a0 Let’s share a story.   This is from the book The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller   One of the most dramatic examples of this principle can be found in Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling biography of World War II hero Louis Zamperini.\u00a0 On … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMission Over the Pacific - The Prodigal Pig<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mission Over the Pacific - The Prodigal Pig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  Prodigal:\u00a0 I am having a great time! Me:\u00a0 Me too! Prodigal:\u00a0 Let’s share a story.   This is from the book The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller   One of the most dramatic examples of this principle can be found in Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling biography of World War II hero Louis Zamperini.\u00a0 On … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Prodigal Pig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-23T10:50:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/20170703_175455-e1504918334532-169x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer Van Allen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jennifer Van Allen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3290#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3290\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jennifer Van Allen\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2274d6e5dc07c0258ba4ee1a19c917f4\"},\"headline\":\"Mission Over the Pacific\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-23T10:50:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3290\"},\"wordCount\":526,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3290#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/20170703_175455-e1504918334532-169x300.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3290#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3290\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3290\",\"name\":\"Mission Over the Pacific - The Prodigal Pig\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3290#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3290#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/20170703_175455-e1504918334532-169x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-23T10:50:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2274d6e5dc07c0258ba4ee1a19c917f4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3290#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3290\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3290#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/20170703_175455-e1504918334532-169x300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/09\\\/20170703_175455-e1504918334532-169x300.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3290#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mission Over the Pacific\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Prodigal Pig\",\"description\":\"Encouraging Your Walk With God\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2274d6e5dc07c0258ba4ee1a19c917f4\",\"name\":\"Jennifer Van Allen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/96bdf0e859688cf2db2193ba18b2b49b508ba88c6fb504e5d1c44784dd9fbd60?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/96bdf0e859688cf2db2193ba18b2b49b508ba88c6fb504e5d1c44784dd9fbd60?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/96bdf0e859688cf2db2193ba18b2b49b508ba88c6fb504e5d1c44784dd9fbd60?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jennifer Van Allen\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mission Over the Pacific - The Prodigal Pig","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mission Over the Pacific - The Prodigal Pig","og_description":"  Prodigal:\u00a0 I am having a great time! Me:\u00a0 Me too! Prodigal:\u00a0 Let’s share a story.   This is from the book The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller   One of the most dramatic examples of this principle can be found in Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling biography of World War II hero Louis Zamperini.\u00a0 On … Continue reading →","og_url":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290","og_site_name":"The Prodigal Pig","article_published_time":"2018-05-23T10:50:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/20170703_175455-e1504918334532-169x300.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Jennifer Van Allen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jennifer Van Allen","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290"},"author":{"name":"Jennifer Van Allen","@id":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2274d6e5dc07c0258ba4ee1a19c917f4"},"headline":"Mission Over the Pacific","datePublished":"2018-05-23T10:50:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290"},"wordCount":526,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/20170703_175455-e1504918334532-169x300.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290","url":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290","name":"Mission Over the Pacific - The Prodigal Pig","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/20170703_175455-e1504918334532-169x300.jpg","datePublished":"2018-05-23T10:50:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2274d6e5dc07c0258ba4ee1a19c917f4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/20170703_175455-e1504918334532-169x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/20170703_175455-e1504918334532-169x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3290#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mission Over the Pacific"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/","name":"The Prodigal Pig","description":"Encouraging Your Walk With God","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2274d6e5dc07c0258ba4ee1a19c917f4","name":"Jennifer Van Allen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96bdf0e859688cf2db2193ba18b2b49b508ba88c6fb504e5d1c44784dd9fbd60?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96bdf0e859688cf2db2193ba18b2b49b508ba88c6fb504e5d1c44784dd9fbd60?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/96bdf0e859688cf2db2193ba18b2b49b508ba88c6fb504e5d1c44784dd9fbd60?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jennifer Van Allen"},"url":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?author=1"}]}},"views":823,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3290"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3291,"href":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3290\/revisions\/3291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}