Third Culture People

I was thinking about how little I know about my adopted country.  Sure, we have lived here for two years and have done lots of things and read lots of books about our new homeland.  But my knowledge is mostly facts

As we learn a new language, our goal would be to use the language as well as a native Thai speaker.  Some of those who teach the Thai language divide language learning into several stages—the last one usually occurring about 20 years into the process when you use the language almost as well as a native Thai speaker.  No matter how long you live here, you never get to use Thai just like a Thai.

Thai people embracing a
and culture I will never
fully understand

Why is this?  Why is our knowledge so limited?

Being Thai is totally ingrained in a person born in Thailand to a Thai family and then raised here.  For them, using the language is not just a matter of what they’ve studied or learned from experience, it is a part of who they are.

The subject came up the other day as we were discussing returning to our homeland for a brief period. We come to a country and try to master the language and culture but never completely fit in. Then we go back to our own culture but, since we have changed, we don’t quite fit in there either.  And so we end up being a third culture and we end up relating best to people who have had similar experiences.

You could say the same thing about your relationship to anyone because everyone is unique.  In a sense, we each have our own culture.  Try as I might, I will never completely understand my wife, nor she me, even though we love each other and spend so much time together.  Miscommunication still sometimes occurs.

Some people don’t even try.  Spats, feuds, and even wars can be brought about between people or groups because the don’t understand each other and don’t want to try.

And then there is my relationship to God.  How can I begin to understand God who is so “other” than me?
God is at the advantage here because He is our creator and so understands us even better than we understand ourselves.

¹ ​​​​​​​​O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
² ​​​​​​​​You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
³ ​​​​​​​​You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴ ​​​​​​​​Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
⁵ ​​​​​​​​You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
⁶ ​​​​​​​​Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.   (Psalm 139:1-6)

Fortunately God took the initiative to try to help us understand Him.  First, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to give us a better glimpse of what he is like.  Then, if we will believe the testimony of His Son, he will place His Spirit in our lives.

¹ Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
³ Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope.
⁵ And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:1-5 (NIV)

One day I have the hope that I will understand God better, for I will see Him as He is. (1 Corinthians 13:12)
Meanwhile I live as a third culture person—a misfit, if you will—in more ways than one.