Mere Cross-Cultural Living

Since July of 2008, I’ve moved and slept in a different place every 3 months. It was in July when I left home at the age of 18 to pursue missions with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) in Perth, Australia where I would be trained for around 2 years. My missions training took me to a number of places all around the world and a result of that was I would constantly be staying at different places with different people for a prolonged period of time. Sometimes I didn’t even stay in one place for 3 months, sometimes my team and I would move every week between different houses during the course of a 3 month missions trip. Funnily enough, even here at Calvin I’ve already moved places, from the dorms to the apartments after one semester. Suffice to say, I’ve moved around a lot and lived with a lot of different people.

Though this type of lifestyle has been very exciting and I truly thank God for blessing me with these experiences, I admit that there have been challenges in which I’ve struggled to overcome. One particular challenge has been connecting to and getting along with a variety people from different backgrounds and cultures. When you stick a 19 year old Korean who loves to eat Kimchi with a 31 year old South African who despises the very thought of it and then add an islander from Vanuatu who adores sleeping outside in a hammock on the beach  all in one house, there are going to be misunderstandings and quarrels. Now especially as we were all Christians serving together in missions, we all strived to learn to cross-culturally accept and live with each other. We kept the Kimchi in a separate refrigerator to isolate the smell, the South African exposed himself to new foods, and our Vanuatan friend just chilled, for want of a better word.

Now the reason I write this is because when C.S Lewis writes on the “Law of Nature” and writes in the small and greater context of how we engage and communicate with people that think different from ourselves. C.S gives an interesting point when he writes:

“Quarrelling means trying to show that the other man is in the wrong. And there would be no sense in trying to do that unless you and he had some sort of agreement as to what Right and Wrong are.”

Basically, Lewis is saying that in order to make any progress in a discussion or argument, a common ground is primarily required to serve as the reference point for forming any judgments or conclusions. At the time when I was living with all of these colorful individuals, though our priorities were not to prove each other wrong, nevertheless establishing clear communication and understanding where each individual was coming from and what their reference points were for making judgments was essential for clear communication and peaceful living. Although our cultures and lifestyle habits were different, our ultimate reference points for making decisions was Scripture and so with this common ground we were able to solve our disagreements in humility and understanding.

This particular quote really stood out to me, for I found it to be very applicable for me as I’ve moved from place to place and especially as I learn to live here in Michigan. Blessedly, here at Calvin we share the same reference points in Christ and so the transition has been made easier. However, I know that I will not always be blessed to live around individuals who submit to God and I pray that I will be prepared to live in humility and love with them.