Foreigner

Hardly a day goes by here without our hearing one particular word spoken about us at least once, often more.  Sometimes it is whispered under the breath, other times it is shouted and accompanied by pointing finger.  外国人。Waiguoren.  It literally means "outside country person."  Foreigner.  The word makes sense--we are, in fact, people who have come from a country outside of the one in which we live. But sometimes, depending on the day, it can sound more like, "Outsider." "Doesn't belong." "Not one of us."  When spoken about us, it is often joined with the word 看, kan, look.  As in, "Look, a foreigner!" as if we were animals in the zoo. Thankfully, because we live in a big city, most of the residents here are pretty used to foreigners and properly ignore us. But let's be honest, with kids as cute as ours, we're pretty hard to ignore!  :)  The worst times have been when we're in more touristy places where people not from our city are gathered...and they have cameras. It is a struggle for me to resist the urge to educate everyone in this country on the proper way to interact with those who are "different" from them. 

There have been a few times when Katie has tearfully complained about how much she hates it when the younger kids at the kindergarten walk by in a line and she hears the sound of "Waiguoren" rippling through the crowd along with a row of pointing fingers (as if they haven't seen her every other day!).  It's not meant to be mean or insulting; they're just honestly excited to see a foreigner! But people don't stop to think that we may actually be able to understand what they're saying or it may be the 50th time that we heard it that day.  I've tried comforting Katie by pointing out how blessed she is to come from a country like America where we have the benefit of seeing God's amazing creativity in creating different kinds of people.  I've encouraged her to try to stir up feelings of pity for them in her heart--how sad it is to grow up in a place where everyone has the same hair color as you and how she is a blessing to them by allowing them to see more of God's creativity that we take for granted coming from a place like America.  I also just hug her and tell her, "I know, it's pretty annoying. But they don't know any better and they're meaning to hurt your feelings." I've told her that in some of my less sanctified moments, I've been tempted to respond to the sound of "Look, a foreigner!" with a snarky, "看中过人！Look, a Chinese person!"  (Unfortunately, sarcasm doesn't translate very well here, and I pridefully haven't wanted to waste my clever comeback.)

With that as a little background, I wanted to share a sort of revelatory moment today, which by the grace of God, I pray will stick with me and from this point forward transform my heart's response when I encounter the label, "Foreigner." 

Katie and I had ridden on my bike to the market down the street where I buy our butter.  (I really wish I could take you shopping with me sometime, so you could see for yourself what a different world we live in...but that's another blog post).  On our way home, we were peddling along and I heard someone on the sidewalk say to the person with them, "Look, foreigners." Feelings of annoyance instantly welled up within me. "Why do they care? Why does it matter?" I thought to myself. But suddenly, I was ambushed by a thought from Above, "Why are you so upset? You are aliens and strangers." (1 Peter 2:11)  I suddenly realized that I do not have to receive these "kan, waiguoren" experiences as annoyances but rather as heaven-sent reminders of who I really am. These passersby are rightly signifying my true identity.  Wherever I go in this world, I am a waiguoren, a foreigner. And what a blessing that is. This world is not my home. My citizenship is in heaven.

If you are a friend who is also living in a country different than that on your passport, rejoice in those moments of feeling like an outsider! Let us fight together to see that they are God's kind way of pulling back the veil and reminding us of where Home really is.