NULL
Illustration
Object:
Nine years. Colonel Floyd "Jimmy" Johnson survived the longest stint as prisoner of war in United States history. He was a member of a Special Forces team whose assignment was to gather intelligence. He was operating out of Khe Sanh, Vietnam, when, in March 1964, he went on an observation flight over enemy positions. Johnson kept asking the pilot to fly lower so he could have a better view, when suddenly the plane was fired upon and crashed. The pilot was killed and Johnson was taken prisoner. The colonel was subjected to long periods of physical and mental torture. He was kept in solitary confinement for four years. To survive this ordeal he kept telling himself he was one of the good guys, fighting for the right cause. He was also placed for long hours in a cage, where he could neither stand nor stretch. While in the cage, in order to remain sane, he built two complete homes in his mind. One nail and one tile at a time, he built his imaginary houses.
The Vietnamese kept playing for him broadcasts of war protesters back in the United States, but Johnson dismissed the tapes as another form of mental torture. It was not until he was transferred to the infamous Hanoi Hilton that he learned America was divided over the war. In 1973, Johnson was released, along with the others held in captivity.
It was a vision that there was a future that sustained Colonel Johnson during the long ordeal of captivity. It was a belief that there would be freedom and the imaginary house would become a real home for his wife and four children. This is the message that Habakkuk shared with his people, as they suffered the ordeal of living in the devastated land of Judah. He offered a vision of redemption, with such assurance that he wrote it on a tablet so large that a runner could read it without pausing. But, Habakkuk cautioned, "Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay." As Johnson waited nine years to build his home, the people of Judah would have to wait for the city of Jerusalem to be rebuilt after its destruction by the Babylonians.
Ron L.
The Vietnamese kept playing for him broadcasts of war protesters back in the United States, but Johnson dismissed the tapes as another form of mental torture. It was not until he was transferred to the infamous Hanoi Hilton that he learned America was divided over the war. In 1973, Johnson was released, along with the others held in captivity.
It was a vision that there was a future that sustained Colonel Johnson during the long ordeal of captivity. It was a belief that there would be freedom and the imaginary house would become a real home for his wife and four children. This is the message that Habakkuk shared with his people, as they suffered the ordeal of living in the devastated land of Judah. He offered a vision of redemption, with such assurance that he wrote it on a tablet so large that a runner could read it without pausing. But, Habakkuk cautioned, "Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay." As Johnson waited nine years to build his home, the people of Judah would have to wait for the city of Jerusalem to be rebuilt after its destruction by the Babylonians.
Ron L.
