Different Journeys, Same Grace

Pat’s and my parents grew up just forty miles from each other in rural West Virginia. It was in the 1920’s and 1930’s, a time that had its own challenges; a time (and a place) that was more isolated than today. Because of this, our parents had much in common during their “growing up years.”

But Pat and I had very different childhoods. I was born in Spencer WV and lived there through high school. Pat was born in Japan. He lived in France during his elementary school years and in South Korea during his high school years. Then his father retired from the army and moved back to West Virginia.

Our children, in turn, have had different upbringings from their cousins on both sides of our families. But we have been able to take them back “home” to show them where their grandparents and mother grew up. We have been able to introduce them to the Appalachian culture and to their great aunts and uncles. Although “home” is across the continent, it is still accessible.

But our children aren’t going to have it that easy, especially our oldest son, Brandon. Brandon married an ethnic Chinese girl, Hiu Sze. Her mother swam from mainland China to Hong Kong before Hiu Sze was born. And Hiu Sze was raised in Hong Kong by her paternal grandmother until her late teens when she immigrated to the United States to rejoin her mother. One of Hiu Sze’s uncles is an ethnic Cambodian whose first family was killed by the Khmer Rouge. Each one of Hiu Sze’s aunts and uncles has a story of how they escaped from communist China and began life anew in a foreign land. Brandon says that he feels honored to be a part of Hiu Sze’s family because they have overcome hardships that are so different from the experiences of middle-class Christian Americans.

The words of an old hymn have taken on new meaning for our family: “In Christ there is no East or West, in Him no South or North…” Any time two individuals with such different backgrounds turn out to be so well suited for each other, you know that it is a result of God working out His purposes in both of their lives long before they met. It is an encounter with Divine Grace.

Having a Chinese daughter-in-law reminds me to be less complacent... to no longer take freedom for granted... to remember the persecuted church... to pray for Christians everywhere. And to remember that it is grace “that hath bro't (us) safe thus far, and grace will lead (us) home”... whether we are from West Virginia, Washington, or China.

Pastor Kit