The Drop Box

At a conference in South Korea, Whit speaks about every person being God’s handiwork, created in Christ to do good works. Eugene has accompanied him and is eager to see the country, but their sightseeing plans change when Pastor Rhee asks them to witness an urgent need in Seoul.

The pastor and his wife care for eighteen children, many of whom have disabilities or serious medical conditions. Their oldest son, Unman, is twenty-three and cannot walk or speak, but the pastor describes him as a special gift who brings the family great joy. The couple has adopted other children and also shelters abandoned babies until permanent homes can be found. The work has cost them their house, strained their health, and filled their modest home, yet they continue to welcome every child they can.

While Whit and Eugene visit, the pastor’s daughter finds a baby outside in the freezing weather. A note asks the family to care for the infant without searching for the mother. The pastor explains that hundreds of babies are abandoned on the streets, often because they have disabilities and their frightened parents feel unable to raise them. Many single mothers are also too ashamed to be seen surrendering a child at an official facility.

The pastor has imagined a safer way for a parent to leave a baby anonymously: a box built into the wall that opens from the street and from inside the house. Whit and Eugene design opposing doors that remain securely closed, along with a pressure sensor that rings a doorbell when a baby is placed inside. They give up their vacation plans to build it, care for the children, and help spread word of the new refuge. The pastor prays that no child will ever need the box, while also praying that it will protect any child who does.

The doorbell soon rings in the night. After a brief struggle with a tightly fitted door, the family welcomes the first baby, and two more arrive within hours. One of them, Minseo, has not been surrendered by her mother at all. A young woman named Minji arrives with a representative from the Department of Family Affairs and recognizes her own mother’s handwriting on the note. Her mother had taken Minseo because she rejected the baby’s club feet, and Minji joyfully reclaims her daughter.

The government representative, Mr. Sun, is alarmed by the arrangement. He argues that the pastor lacks formal medical training and the required license, and he worries that publicity about the box may encourage parents to abandon babies they might otherwise keep. The pastor answers that the existing system cannot help parents who are too ashamed to identify themselves and that, without a safe refuge, children are already being left to die outside. Mr. Sun leaves to consult his superiors, raising the possibility that the home and church may be closed and the children removed.

At school, the pastor’s daughter Yi-Won wins the election for student president. In her acceptance speech, she reveals that she was abandoned as a baby because she was born without all her fingers and toes. She once hid her hands in shame, but her adoptive father taught her that God had made her for a purpose. She tells her classmates that children with disabilities can do things no one else can do and that her parents were the first people to recognize her purpose.

Mr. Sun has heard the speech because his own son was Yi-Won’s opponent in the election. When he returns, he surprises the family by helping them apply for official approval and government funds to strengthen and expand the home. Yi-Won’s words have forced him to consider what he would want for his own child, and he now believes these children may be best served by remaining with the pastor’s family. He promises to do what he can to help.

Back in Odyssey, Eugene tells Whit that the visit has changed him, although he wishes they could have done more. Whit reminds him that their help does not have to end when the journey does: they can keep supporting the family and, most importantly, praying for hearts to change. The children they met are not mistakes or burdens without purpose. Each is God’s masterpiece, made for good works that only that life can fulfill.