For the good of the nation, the bureaucrat
said, he had to become a truck driver. And
not only that, he had to become a truck driver
in Russia.
Instead of the love and care he was taught to
expect from his Supreme Leader, he realized
he had been rented out to work in a foreign
country (and of course the government got
kickbacks for that). The Supreme Leader had
let him down, and that realization crushed his
young soul. He determined to escape, to see
as much of the world as he could, and then to
take his own life.
This is what it looks like when you don’t
have freedom.
In a free country, the choice would have
been his. The government wouldn’t have been
able to suddenly order him to become a truck
driver via some form of executive order.
Wendy and Jeremiah work with North Korean defectors on a humanitarian project.
In a free country, he would have been able
to look for work where he wanted. And if
he had taken a job in Russia, he could have
expected the benefits to go to him, not to
some Supreme Leader.
In a free country, we can seek what is best
for us and our loved ones. In a free country,
we can homeschool, even if other people find
it strange or don’t understand why.
They may think we are being reckless or
foolish, but—like the smuggler—we know
what gives us hope and meaning, and what
takes it away from our lives. We know our
kids. We see what we can do in our specific
family situation to help each of them
navigate spiritual, emotional, and physical
realities invisible to the skeptics looking on
from a distance.
Freedom allows each of us to find joy and
meaning in our work. My friend Timothy
can be an artist, even if that job doesn’t
make the same money as my friend Kirk,
who is a lawyer. My friend Kristin can be a
homeschooling mom, while my friend
Jacenta writes books.
Each of these are different roles with
different pay, but individuals are far more
suited to find the role that fits their skills,
interests, and needs than a one-size-fits-all
system that says: “Oh, we need truck drivers.
Tag! You’re it!”
Now, I haven’t forgotten the story. How
did this young North Korean man make it
to a mall in South Korea to have lunch with
me, decades after this life-changing event?
Well, freedom is not just defined by lack of
restraints. Freedom is also a light that shines
in dark places.
My friend and I had a reason to meet with
him beyond hearing his story. We were there
to ask him if he would be willing to smuggle
some electronic Bibles into North Korea
through his connections. To that end, I had
two bags of 100 electronic Bibles with me.
I pulled them out and placed them on the
table, and then I asked him if he would be willing to smuggle them across the border
to people in North Korea. He looked me
right in the eyes. “If I get caught with my
smuggling business, I am tortured and
imprisoned,” he said, and then
pointed to the Bibles. “If I’m caught
with those, I am killed.”
The interpreter’s words sunk in.
It was quite a way to say, “No.”
The conversation moved on. We asked
him how he escaped all those decades ago.
He talked about his goal of seeing as much
of the world as he could, and how he did.
He said he crossed the whole of Asia and
made it to a former communist territory
somewhere in either Ukraine or Romania,
which at the time was subject to Russia’s
Soviet Union. He was living there the day the
Iron Curtain fell and communism collapsed.
He explained that some of the first people
who came into that territory were Christian
missionaries. They found him, and as he
was starting to experience political freedom
for the first time in his life, he also found
spiritual freedom.
One hundred electronic Bibles on the table at lunch.
In the darkness of a life without hope,
he was given a new kind of freedom that
changed everything for him. He was told that
his life had purpose, because he was designed
by God. And he now saw that he had a reason
to live!
As he got to this part of his story, the
smuggler looked over at me thoughtfully, and
paused. “Give me 100 of those Bibles,” he said.
I could not help but smile. He knew the
value of both kinds of freedom, and he
wanted to share it with others, even though
it could cost him everything. I pushed the
Bibles across the table and they disappeared
into his backpack.
Then I asked him how he ended up in South
Korea. He said that after the missionaries
introduced him to spiritual freedom, he
dreamed of living his life to the fullest.
So he took advantage of the political
freedom available to him and traveled to
South Korea, where he could live as a free
citizen. There he started a smuggling
business in order to bring some of the fruits
of the freedom he had found to people who
grew up as he had—in the bondage of North
Korean communism.
He also found and married a lovely woman,
and they now have two sons. As someone who
works with teens through Generation Joshua,
I asked him what his sons love to do, and
his eyes immediately lit up. “My oldest plays
soccer, and he is good at it!” he said.
I didn’t need to hear the words that followed,
because I could see it in his eyes: His son was
able to have things that he had never even
dreamed of when he was young. This smuggler
who escaped from North Korea had found
freedom, and he knows it is a treasure.
The Bible verse, “It is for freedom that Christ
has set us free,” is talking about spiritual
freedom. But political freedom—raising your
family well and walking through life the best
you can in a free society—is an outgrowth of
that same principle.
Freedom is a good thing, and we should
cherish and protect it.
Tears filled my eyes as the interpreter’s
next words filled my ears. “Give me the other
100 Bibles.”
