I appreciated what you wrote in your Little Book. I spent 2 years of college in a neighboring country and worked 1 year in Europe in the 1970s. My family (along with our young children) lived in SE Asia for 3 years, working in an international community (missionary kids school with many TCKs), and living as the only white-faces in our housing subdivision. We found many things that we did LIKE about the SE Asian culture and were able to incorporate them into our own family immediate family. We arrived in that country just a few weeks after martial law ended, and saw a formerly stunted country attempt to spread out its wings. I asked questions and looked into how life had just been like under martial law -- not good!!! Whenever I returned to US soil, I was so grateful for my country and all that it had to offer. Our children have also lived in other foreign country cultures through their military experiences, one of whom felt "at ease" because of that child's early years in SE Asia. The family ancestors of me and my spouse emigrated from various countries in Europe. Many new inventions/ideas are the result of combining "incompatible" ideas/objects -- the proverbial "thinking outside of the box." Why are so many people today, including born again believers, afraid of incorporating people from other cultures into their current day lives? Afraid of new ideas? Afraid of change? Maybe the values of the other cultures are better than our own American ideas. Are born again believers so set in their ways that they can only see the bush/tree in front of them -- and not the forest? God originally made the Jews His chosen people, but Christ's death on the cross changed that -- making the Jews and Gentiles "one and the same" in His eyes. Do born again American believers "have the market" on the interpretation of God's Word through the grid of our American culture? Thank God for His love and redeeming grace for us, or there would be so few people sitting at God's table today.
I appreciated what you wrote in your Little Book. I spent 2 years of college in a neighboring country and worked 1 year in Europe in the 1970s. My family (along with our young children) lived in SE Asia for 3 years, working in an international community (missionary kids school with many TCKs), and living as the only white-faces in our housing subdivision. We found many things that we did LIKE about the SE Asian culture and were able to incorporate them into our own family immediate family. We arrived in that country just a few weeks after martial law ended, and saw a formerly stunted country attempt to spread out its wings. I asked questions and looked into how life had just been like under martial law -- not good!!! Whenever I returned to US soil, I was so grateful for my country and all that it had to offer. Our children have also lived in other foreign country cultures through their military experiences, one of whom felt "at ease" because of that child's early years in SE Asia. The family ancestors of me and my spouse emigrated from various countries in Europe. Many new inventions/ideas are the result of combining "incompatible" ideas/objects -- the proverbial "thinking outside of the box." Why are so many people today, including born again believers, afraid of incorporating people from other cultures into their current day lives? Afraid of new ideas? Afraid of change? Maybe the values of the other cultures are better than our own American ideas. Are born again believers so set in their ways that they can only see the bush/tree in front of them -- and not the forest? God originally made the Jews His chosen people, but Christ's death on the cross changed that -- making the Jews and Gentiles "one and the same" in His eyes. Do born again American believers "have the market" on the interpretation of God's Word through the grid of our American culture? Thank God for His love and redeeming grace for us, or there would be so few people sitting at God's table today.