Puzzling or Amusing, which is it? Both perhaps. . .
Cross-cultural workers meet up with any number of puzzlements, leaving one off balance enough to keep the journey intriguing.
The slight-of-body PhD scholar smiled sheepishly as he related a kind of tug-of-war he was in with their nine-year-old daughter.
“Jerry, you know that Bible for children, the one with many pictures that you gave us?”
Noting my nod, Mr. Tang went on. . .
“Well, my daughter and I, we fight over it. She finds the book very interesting, and so do I! So, when she is reading it, I want to read it, and also the other way around.”
For those like me, not raised in a society where the world’s most popular (international best-seller-book ever) is virtually a banned product, the reaction is astonishment.
It is remarkable really. How could a brilliant scholar with multiple degrees to his name find such a widespread piece of famous literature nearly inaccessible?
The entrance of your word gives light*
At Mr. Tang’s tug-of-war description, I couldn’t help smile. The mental image of a distinguished petroleum engineer husband and father pitted in a feisty back-and-forth with his fourth-grade daughter over the Holy Bible. Amusing to be sure. Yet, moments later the weightier, more sobering implication settled in.
Here is nine-year-old Angie, brought by her warm-hearted and, yes, atheist parents to the Land of the Free.
Angie (perhaps from simple curiosity at this point) yearns to take in the stories of God and Jesus. This, while her mother and father – grappling with the thousand adjustments called for in adapting to a new land and culture – carry their own yearnings. Daddy himself nurtures an appetite of some kind or other sufficient to sneak in bits of Bible reading during moments when his daughter isn’t on guard.
Can this household – others as well – be gently introduced to further samplings of the life-giving Word? Lead us, Father.
©2024 Jerry Lout *Psalm 119:130
Wonderful blog! Relevant for the times in which we live. The cross-culture of 2024 is because our small children often do not know The Story, either.
Thank you. An important perspective.
Beautiful visual of father and daughter ‘fighting’ over who will read the children’s Bible. Thanks for reminding us of the generational power of God’s word.
Thank you, Rebecca.