An Amazing Story

A few months ago I had the pleasure of attending a talk by a former POW. Air Force Captain Guy Gruters was shot down over north Vietnam and ended up spending years in the Hanoi Hilton. His story of grace is amazing. The description he gave of life in prison is horrifying. He listened to Lance Sijan get beaten slowly to death over the course of a month. He talks about living in raw sewage and being infested with parasites. He speaks of an environment that can only be described as pure hell.

However, through it all he found grace. At first he was full of pride which led to anger and hatred. Later he started to find humility. Finally, he discovered the power of prayer. He said he prayed for his captors over the course of months "without really meaning it." I loved that description, because I find myself doing the same thing sometimes.

Then, after months, he started to really mean what he was praying. Then he learned to forgive his torturers and finally learned to love them. After that, although he was still living in the most horrible conditions, he discovered the sovereignty of God and received a tremendous sense of peace.

It was an amazing talk and you can download it from here (76 mb mp3 - recommend right-clicking and selecting "save target as"). You can find more great talks at the Theology on Tap website.

I strongly recommend Capt. Gruters' talk. God bless.