academic – Jerry Lout ⚬ Writer ⚬ Speaker ⚬ Mobilizer

When young high school graduates – North American or otherwise – set off to distant places for college life abroad, they are not always met with rosy experiences.

While many students mark their overseas academic ventures as satisfying and rewarding, a good number endure unexpected heartbreak. Some facing immense loss along the way.

A Southeast Asia couple loses their precious pre-born in the final month of a full-term pregnancy. Immeasurable sorrow.

A female student is harassed and threatened by a student of her own ethnicity. The threat is forestalled only by the intervention of a sympathetic campus minister and the academy’s threat of expulsion.

In February, 2024 eleven missionary students of diverse nationalities die when a truck with faulty brakes crashes into their vehicle at high speed. Such times call for something beyond human sympathy. In periods of darkness even Scripture can seem to ring hallow.

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.”*

Shortly after arriving as new students on one campus Joyce and Henry met each other. They were soon recognized as a romantic “item”. During their free times in the coming months the two seemed inseparable.

Horror struck during a criminal car-jacking attempt.

The assailant, in a rush to flee police officers pursuing him, accosted the students as they waited in their car at an intersection for a traffic light change. In the chaos that followed the armed man fired a shot, critically wounding young Henry, then ran from the scene. He himself did not survive an officer’s gunfire moments later.

In the aftermath of the terrible end to a couple’s intended happy outing, a bittersweet saga – long and arduous – began. Whatever possible ray of light may somehow lie ahead, offering any glimmer of hope, seemed elusive at best.

As with many spouses of T.U. scholars, she had adopted a Western nickname (perhaps less daunting to the American tongue). Gayle and her graduate-student husband, ‘Dean’, had been in Tulsa nearly two years. The story of their faith journey corresponded with a marginal difference to that of another married couple, the Zhirs*. The Zhirs happened to both share a common first name. My wife, a twinkle in her eye, nicknamed them ‘Zhirs Squared’.

ISM enjoyed serving alongside host families – Christ-followers endeavoring to mirror the faith. Such households, with their knack of welcoming strangers in their midst, lived and breathed hospitality.

Dean and Gayle were an engaging couple eager to sharpen their “second language” skills. They instantly warmed to the ‘English Corner’ community.

Along the way Dean was notified that a significant academic opportunity in a distant location had been offered him. The couple’s departure from Tulsa was imminent. They would move in a matter of days.

Wednesday evening’s English Corner rolled around and the usual stream of internationals and American host friends arrived at our common meeting area, the campus dining hall. Alerted to Gayle and her husband’s news of soon moving away, one volunteer exclaimed, “Oh, Gayle, we are going to miss you so much!” At this, the young lady – overcome by the sincere gesture – excused herself and moved to a quiet area to gather her emotions. Tears flowed.

Some moments later she was joined by her host friend who had followed her from a respectable distance. In the moments that followed, Gayle, sensing a consoling presence which she discerned to be the love of God, expressed her desire to embrace the faith that so marked her friend’s lives. Shortly afterward her husband Dean followed suit. Christ proved himself true through their years following. Savior, companion and Lord.

Among the beautiful features of nearing, then crossing salvation’s threshold to God’s kingdom is the uniqueness of each person in their own pilgrimage. The circuitous route of the Zhirs (befriended by a different volunteer family altogether) would unfold across its own distinctive set of landscapes.

Tag: academic

Elusive Dawning

Watershed Moments