THE CROSSING
“WHOEVER HEARS MY WORDS and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” John 5:24
Shin and I lay down to rest in the dense forest overlooking Hasambong. I don’t think I’ve ever missed my father as much as I did that night underneath the starry sky. Even sleep didn’t ease the hollow ache in my heart.
Shin shook me awake in the middle of the night.
“It’s time,” he announced to the starlit stillness. We had already decided that tonight was the night we would sneak across the Tumen border into China.
I rushed with Shin toward the frozen river, praying that the border patrolmen wouldn’t see us. We arrived at the bank of the Tumen a little while later, panting hard and sweating in spite of the cold.
“Only think,
