Divided : 1950- PRESENT

Divided Family, by Taiwon-Koh Printed 1959

This out of print book I found in a resale shop. I knew this book was about Korea without reading a page just by it’s title. The pages are falling apart and I have to put it in a plastic freezer bag to keep from loosing its pages. The story is about a Christian family who moved to a farming community in what is now North Korea. Their purpose was to live the truth of the gospel while ministering to their neighbors. The Japanese leaving their country became only a moment of free air before repressive regime choked and punctured all hope. Decisions were made based on the assumption that the division made at the 38th parallel would be temporary. This raw understanding of what the world would look like written briefly after the fall out of this disastrous event, is what left a imprint on my mind. Everything you know and understand gone. If your house burns down and you loose “everything”: have you truly lost everything. But, if you lose your home, family, your church and your countrymen?  I think very few of us can understand  what this is like,. and because we can’t relate we allow ourselves to not imagine what it would be like, the travesty of.North and South Korea seeps into the callousness our minds and  the nations of the world..

Wait! Families have been separated now for 70 years. Allow yourself to imagine what it would be to loose everything. Allow the callous wound to be opened and bleeding to give way to true healing. The person in this book who gave me such inspiration to believe God for the impossible was the author’s father. In the beginning of the chaos that followed the division in Korea, he declared  his children would not die. This family found themselves  facing insurmountable situations a part from each other.. And yet each one of his children survived and made an impact wherever they found themselves.

I believe this pastor would want to see Korea become One Korea. And “today would not be too early. He briefly experience his country without the oppressive rule of Japan.  A person might ask me how do you know this pastor would want Korea to become reunited ? My answer is: would you want to live like this ?

Please pray today for ONE, KOREA. Declare the word, HANA.   . .  .