Culture Shock

Pilgrims travel through places that are different from “back home.”

In a sense, I had culture shock as a new believer, because “back home” was much different from the new life I was just beginning to experience. Before, everything revolved around me & my attempts to find purpose, love, & fulfillment within myself or what I could do to get it from my surroundings. I regularly hurt people in the process of trying to make myself complete.

In this new place, I was no longer limited to what I could do or manipulate to be happy. Here, my Creator & Savior has freely offered more than I could ever imagine. The only requirement was my willingness to trust & follow Him. It was indeed a “strange, new world.”

Culture shock is the result of moving to a place where everyone else has a different way of seeing & understanding the world around them. We have certainly experienced our share of it as we have lived outside the US for most of the last 13 years. When we are unable or unwilling to change the way we perceive & experience our surroundings, we had better brace for a “bad culture day.”

In spiritual terms, this is why Romans 12:1-2 talks about changing the way we think:

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of you mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

For those who don’t know Christ personally, it's impossible to describe the incredible ways in which He has changed my life. As a follower of Christ, I must continue to allow His Word to transform how I see everything. That’s because I’m preparing for the day when He calls me to re-locate again.

The difference is that when He calls me home, I won’t be a pilgrim anymore.