Finding Life

When the attack on Pearl Harbor occurs, sixth-grader David is a Japanese child who has been raised Christian in America. Suddenly, many people view David and his family as “the enemy.” Japanese Americans found themselves sent to evacuation centers. They could bring only what they could carry, and most of their belongings were either sold or stolen in their absence. David could hardly believe it was happening; wasn’t America supposed to be the land of the free?

David’s family was sent to Poston I, where 10,000 people dwelled in barracks surrounded by barbed wire and secured by armed guards. The living space was minimal, and privacy was nonexistent. Even so, there was a sense of hope, as people found time to laugh and attend church. The church brought Christians together from all across the West Coast, and David made friends that would last long after the evacuation centers closed.

Following David’s family’s stay in America’s makeshift Japanese prison, they moved to Chicago, where David’s true path to adulthood began. Surrounded by gang fights consisting of white versus black, the Japanese new kid had nowhere to go—except to God, who would find a way to show David how to live a life of peace amidst chaos, love within hate, and ultimately salvation in the depths of damnation.