Becoming an Ex-Pat


Oh hello, again! Nice to have you back. I'm sitting in O'Hare Airport in Chicago waiting for my connecting flight to Buffalo. Why am I flying to Buffalo? The Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) is having its PFO training! I'm excited to get to know the other new staff members with Morrison at this training. As I hear suitcase wheels roll, listen to a family next to me critique a cup of Bubble tea for posing as real Boba tea, and delete emails of American companies that I won't be seeing starting next month (apparently, there's a dominoes in Taipei? I will investigate at some point), I'm recalling my journey towards becoming an expat.

The first time I saw the word expat, short for expatriate, it was in a blog post from an American living in London. Based on her words, I thought expat meant ex-patriot, that it connotes someone who is living in another country outside of the US because they hate the American Way (which, by the way, is different from the American Dream or American Airlines or American Express or American Eagle. Google word-suggesting turns to capitalism fast).

Boy, was I wrong, but isn't it funny that I assumed only Americans could be patriots? As a citizen of the US, I'm used to inventive writing, tech, architecture, art, or ideals originating in the US, so why would this word be any different?

Just for clarification, the adjective expatriate means "living in a foreign land" (I love Merriam-Webster), but the verb expatriate is more harsh:

Definition of expatriate

expatriated; 

expatriating
  1. transitive verb
  2. 1:  banish, exile
  3. 2:  to withdraw (oneself) from residence in or allegiance to one's native country
  4. intransitive verb
  5. :  to leave one's native country to live elsewhere; also :  to renounce allegiance to one's native country
By good ole Merri-Web's standards, I'm either an unloyal citizen or a recluse. Why on earth would I want to live outside of the self-proclaimed greatest country on earth? Well, it goes back to that allegiance part. Phillipians 3:20 says that our citizenship is in heaven. I may be an American citizen, but my allegiance lies in heaven first. Hebrews 13:14 talks about the impermanence of our earthly cities. Our heavenly home isn't even the actual home. Our heavenly home is only home because of God. God grants our citizenship; in Christ, by His love and sacrifice, we are called children of God (1 John 3:1). By those standards, I'm not an exile; I'm just moving into a new community with members of my Father's family.

After Jesus told me to pick up and go teach abroad, I considered how difficult it would be adjusting to a new life, a new place, even different dominant language, but when it comes down to it, I haven't been a stranger or alien since the Holy Spirit knocked on my six-year-old heart. 


Ephesians 2:19: "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household..."



Loading on the plane now. Don't be a stranger, alright?

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