At 06:05 on December 7, six Japanese carriers launched a first wave of 183 aircraft against the U.S. military base at Pearl Harbor. Overall, 9 ships of the U.S. fleet were sunk and 21 ships were severely damaged. The overall death toll reached 2,402 with 1,282 being wounded. Of the military personnel lost at Pearl Harbor, 1,177 were from the battleship Arizona alone.
The horrific war to follow the Japanese surprise attack was, of course, one of the greatest blights in the history of mankind. The brutality, destruction and death figures are unfathomable even some 67 years later. Death toll estimates reach as high as 52 million including military and civilians together. Those numbers are hard, if not impossible, to truly grasp. Lost in these massive figures is the sickening aspect of the individual human suffering involved in its many terrible forms. Just the holocaust brutality from the infamous Nazi death camps alone staggers the imagination and sickens the soul.
But along side of the horror and suffering that took place in the great war, there were other lesser-known, but positive, stories hiding under the brutal surface. One such event includes the miraculous salvation, reunion and eventual ministry of two of the war's great combatants and most bitter of enemies. It is a story for the ages and became literally history altering. It is an amazing illustration of the incredible power and grace of God despite all the odds. That story, “The Amazing Grace of World War II. can be found at our ministry website at this address:
http://wordandtheworld.homestead.com/WWII.html
The article is beyond worth reading and sharing. It will encourage, inspire and renew your perspective on true forgiveness and the amazing grace and power of God, again, even in the midst of life's most terrible and paralyzing circumstances."If anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do." (Col. 3:13)
Bill Breckenridge
