I am an alien.

I am an alien. No, I am not green and have antennas. I am a foreigner. I live in a country that is not my home country. I am a stranger. The dictionary defines alien as, "belonging to, characteristic of, or constituting another and very different place, society, or person; strange."

Foreigner is one of the identity boxes that I tick. When I need to fill out forms, my race is often one that I have to pause as it doesn't find the typical list given. Being a foreigner can be difficult at times.

My accent is not from here. I have words that I struggle to pronounce. I have to pause and think what is this called. I have a few words that I don't think my mouth was made to pronounce it the way it is said here -- aluminium and garage are two of those words. I will say that I have been told I have a good accent. I have had people tell me they like my accent. I had years to work on that accent but it is not an accent from where I live.

My thinking is different. It might not be noticed. I find it slight at times that I view things differently. I have had to adjust how I write the date. I am used to the week on a calendar beginning on Sunday and that recently got me in trouble as I looked at the calendar and scheduled something thinking it was the date for Saturday but it was Sunday. In the end it all worked out. I realised that even after years here I still think differently.

When I lived in Asia, I looked like a foreigner. My hair was a different colour. My skin was whiter and my nose was bigger. I was a foreigner. Here I blend in a bit more.

As I reflected on my foreigner identify, I was thinking about how I can make that positive. It felt like a negative which was more my feeling than the feelings of those around me. I have to say I have felt welcomed and loved here but at times it is tiring to be a foreigner. It is hard being different.

This can be my reminder that I am called to be a foreigner here on earth. I am to be living different. My accent should reflect God. My thinking should be eternal focused.

So while I might struggle with the foreigner identity, it is a reminder of how I should be living life. As a Christian, I am a foreigner. My citizenship is in heaven and someday I will be home.

Do you have an identity that you can view positively? Share that with me in the comments.

Beth

Crossing Paths

Today was a beautiful day with the sun shining and a blue sky. It was a perfect day for a walk. This weekend is the last big training walk before the big walk. Walking 12 miles does give some time for talking but also time for enjoying the beauty and thinking.

I was walking and looked up at the sky and saw the trails from two planes. I thought about how as missionaries our lives and paths cross with others. Some of those are the people that we meet overseas and some are the people that we meet that are friends of friends. I think this is one of the blessings of living overseas.

I have a good friend that was introduced to me from another friend because my friend was moving to Hong Kong.

We had a coworker in Taiwan that we have kept in touch with and now she is in Europe so we have gotten together at various times.

The wife of a mentor of my husband's was living in Hong Kong when we were there and she became a good friend. The fun part was we connected with her when we were in Taiwan. She had come to town for some meetings and visited the church we were attending. Of course my husband knew who she was and we chatted.

About 13 years ago there were some returning students from England that we met. They began to come to a Bible study in our home. Now 13 years later we are in that city in England and we have met the people that had a Bible study with that group of students.

I remember a friend connected me with a friend of hers when we were in Ukraine and that friend connected us with a lady in her church who was kind and spent a few days with us touring Kiev.

One of the blessings of living overseas is the people you meet both the people in the host country and the other people that are living there. My life has been deepened because of these relationships. My life has broadened because of these relationships.

Embrace and enjoy the relationships you develop overseas.

Beth

Driving and Living with Perspective

I think I have drive in about 6 different countries. I have taken driving tests in three countries. I am licensed to drive in two countries. If bilingual is able to speak two languages, then is bilane the ability to drive on either side of the road?

To get a driving license here we needed to take both a computer test and then a driving test. Some things are the same such as the shape and colour of the stop sign but others things are all new. My husband and I took driving lessons just to have someone to coach us on what we needed to know for the test. We needed to know how to handle roundabouts, using the mirrors, and other tips for passing.

I was recently talking with a friend who is about to go to the USA for a few weeks. We were talking about driving and she expressed her fear about driving there because it is the other side of the road. I tried to reassure her that is wasn't hard. I told her that to me driving on the other side of the road is not the challenge because you just go with the flow of traffic. Okay, it is a problem if you are in an area where there is no other traffic to follow. Then you need to remember that the driver is always in the centre.

I will also add a bit that here where we live the roads are narrow so at times you don't really drive on either side but rather in the middle. You have to pause and wait for other vehicles to come through.

Back to my driving on the other side of the road. I told her that the challenge for me is that my perspective is off. I don't have a feel of the passenger's side of the car. Thankfully the pedals for gas and brake are in the same placement. I have reached to shift and it wasn't there because it was on the other side. Having the sense of where the side/wing mirror is can be a challenge.

When my perspective is off, I can feel a bit nervous, maybe a bit fearful, and uncertain. I think the same is true if our spiritual lives. We need to have an eternal perspective. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that life is all about the here and now. Life is about eternity. When we have an eternal perspective, then we see our suffering as just temporary. When we have an eternal perspective, we view life now different.

So live with an eternal perspective. 

Beth