Praying with the Enemy
About this audiobook
Based on the true story of an American POW during the Korean War and a North Korean soldier who become unlikely allies united in their shared faith in God during a daring escape to freedom
When his jet malfunctions, Captain Ward Millar makes a last-second decision to eject over enemy territory in North Korea before his plane explodes. His parachute barely opens before impact, saving his life, but the hard landing snaps both of his ankles. Unable to walk, Captain Millar is easily captured by North Korean and Chinese soldiers. His captors interrogate, threaten, and starve him in an attempt to extract strategic wartime information.
He stalls the inevitable by feeding the enemy false information, but it’s only a matter of time before they discover his lies. Millar plots a bold, seemingly impossible plan to escape. He knows it will take a miracle to pull it off, but he’s not sure if praying to a higher power would even work. He wishes he had faith like his wife, whose firm belief in God can move mountains.
When Barbara Millar receives a telegram informing her that her husband is missing in action behind enemy lines, her family and friends accept the grim reality that Ward is almost certainly dead. Yet Barbara, a woman of deep and sustaining faith, refuses to believe it. She still feels his presence and their connection as strongly as ever. She is certain her husband will return, but she doesn’t know how the war and his ordeal might have changed him.
North Korean soldier Kim Jae Pil was raised to believe in the power of prayer, but because the Communist Party kills or imprisons any religious group they perceive as a threat to their power and influence, Kim and his family must keep their Christian faith secret. He has been anxious to return to his family and then escape across the border to South Korea.
With Millar still imprisoned and unable to walk, and the North Korean army becoming increasingly suspicious of Kim’s actions, it seems impossible that either man will find the freedom they so desperately desire. But when these wartime foes cross paths, they find in each other an unlikely ally. Despite speaking different languages, Millar and Kim find common ground in their fragile faith and must rely on each other to undertake a daring escape.
Praying with the Enemy is a story of courage, determination, unlikely friendship, and enduring faith.
About the author
Steven T. Collis is a storyteller at heart. He is also a law professor at the University of Texas School of Law and the faculty director of Texas’s Bech-Loughlin First Amendment Center and Law and Religion Clinic. Previously, he was the Olin-Darling Research Fellow at the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School and chair of the Religious Institutions and First Amendment Practice Group at Holland & Hart LLP.He is an engaging and sought-after speaker nationwide on religion and law. Steven received his MFA in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University and his Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School.He is the author of The Immortals: The World War II Story of Five Fearless Heroes, the Sinking of the Dorchester, and an Awe-Inspiring Rescue. He and his wife have five children and reside in Texas.
Traber Burns is a native of south Louisiana and graduate of Tulane University. After graduating from the American Conservatory Theatre's Advanced Training Program in San Francisco, he spent the next 30 years working primarily in regional theatre, with occasional film and television work. He moved to Los Angeles in the Fall of 2003 (after the birth of his son).
