Have you ever said or thought, “I could never forgive so and so for…”? Admittedly, at times, I’ve thought and verbalized these words. In light of an unspeakable hurt, or so I thought, forgiveness seemed unthinkable. How on earth could such deliberate attempts to hurt be forgiven?

Truth be told, we can be pretty petty in our quest to withhold forgiveness, can’t we? But what about when it’s not petty at all? What about when an abuser needs forgiveness? What about when a husband/wife abandons you? What about the drunk driver that took a child? Life can throw some hard punches, but it’s usually people that deliver the blows that hurt the most and the deepest.

I recently sat down with Laura Hillenbrand’s book, Unbroken. The book is the awe inspiring and gut wrenching true story of Olympic athlete and World War II hostage survivor, Louis Zamperini. It is a beautiful story of forgiveness. Be certain, the subject of Zamperini’s forgiveness is undeserving beyond what most of us can conceive.

During a rescue mission, Zamperini and his fellow airmen meet face-to-face with the unthinkable after a crash sets them on a 30+ day journey at sea. They fight off sharks (literally), bullets, the elements, hopelessness, starvation and insanity. The end is fast approaching for drifting airmen, when a Japanese Naval ship sails into view.

It looks like hope. It looks like rescue. The Japanese Naval ship was instead the beginning of a nightmare journey that would test the human spirit beyond limits.

The enemy ship ushered Zamperini into a horrific nightmare at the hands of Japanese concentration camps. The unthinkable happens, the unfathomable happens, the most atrocious treatment one can imagine happens; then, Zamperini meets “The Bird” and things get worse.

Mutsuhiro Watanbe, called “The Bird” by the pow’s, was turned down by his own country to serve as an officer. In a family decorated with achievements, it was the ultimate rejection for Watanbe who had set his sights on becoming an officer.  Rejection brought humiliation, and humiliation manifested itself as pure evil. One of the most evil men history would ever know.

Rejected by his own country, America’s Olympic star represented everything Watanbe could never obtain. Zamperini rouses his insecurity, and a deeper evil spreads like wildfire in the heart of Watanbe. He sets his sight on breaking Zamperini’s spirit. Subjected to cruelty designed to break him physically, mentally, and emotionally, Watanbe was relentless. He strived to strip him of all dignity and annihilate any will to survive.

He comes close a few times during the war, and for many years after the war the nightmares threaten to give The Bird his victory. Anger, resentment, fear, and hatred nearly take all that is precious to Zamperini. His loved ones watch as he sets out on a path of self-destruction.

Then one fateful day, Louie attends a Billy Graham revival at the prodding of his wife. That day a story of forgiveness begins to unfold. In an instant, the heart of Louie Zamperini is transformed by the love of Christ. Forgiveness. It seems unthinkable. Unforgivable.

Yet Louie would eventually stand before many of his tormentors and speak of the love and forgiveness of Christ. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to look into the face of men the beat him, spit on him, starved him, degraded him, tortured him, and deprived him of all things human, and say, “You are forgiven!!”

Zamperini was declined by Watanbe for a face-to-face meeting, but Zamperini is undeterred. In his usual determined spirit, he writes a heartfelt letter of forgiveness and the message of the Hope of Christ to his persecutor.

I found a video of Zamperini reading his letter aloud here. He says, “Love replaced hate.” Beautiful.

As a Christian, I know that I am commanded to forgive just as Christ forgave. It’s not always easy, and I have failed in this area more times than I care to admit. I have only the cross to look at to see someone else, Jesus, subjected to the horrific, the unthinkable, the unimaginable, and watch as a story of forgiveness unfolds. Mine. Yours. Sadly, I am often unwillingly to forgive even with the knowledge of the command to do so. Then, a story like Louie’s come along, and it restores compassion. It compels my heart to forgive. It’s the real deal kind of story on what it really means to forgive.

What do you think?

Could you forgive?

Is there someone that you can forgive and set yourself free from the soul eating bondage of withholding forgiveness?