When No Place Feels Like Home

When No Place Feels Like Home Written by Christine E. The simple question “Where are you from?” used to induce confusion, if not anxiety. How do I explain that my father and mother were from different cultures, but I spent my formative years in a third? What does it mean that I speak three languages/dialects fluently, yet my accent and word choice ever mark me as an outsider? Where do my loyalties lie, as my passport countries grow increasingly hostile to each other, and I find each acting in repulsive manners? Where is home? Paul, writing to the Philippians, reminds me, “but our citizenship is in heaven.” He would know, wouldn’t he? A Jew with Roman citizenship, a Pharisee preaching to the Gentiles, the man who persecuted Christians, now planting churches. Talk about not fitting in. Just as Paul did not find his identity in culture, country, or even education and career, I have learned to make peace with never feeling entirely at home. Jesus came and died for us, and by that, he called us to be citizens of his kingdom.