Third Culture Kid

Have you ever heard of the term “Third Culture Kid” (or TCK)? Most people define it as calling “home” a country that is not your passport country. For some, this is where they grew up. For others, this might just be somewhere they lived for a few months but fully immersed themselves in the culture. For me, an American by birth, “home” was France for nine years of my life, most of my childhood. My parents are missionaries, and for me, that meant a lot of moving around before I was five, then settling in the South of France until I was fourteen. People in the US always ask(ed) me “Was it different, growing up in France?” and I’m never sure how to respond. My childhood was basically the same as most Americans’. I had a family who loved me, I went to school and church, I got in trouble (a lot, and rightly so), I had friends…  What more could I want? If you’ve ever felt like an outsider in your “home country” or had people tell you, “Welcome home!” when you arrive in a country you’ve lived in for maybe two years of your life, then you’ll know how I felt when we moved back to the US when I was fourteen. Home to me was a little apartment in France, where my room had orange walls and the park was just downstairs. My mom always told me, “Our real home is in heaven.” While I have come to call the USA “home” over the past ten years, I look forward to the time when I get to live in my true home. In a way, we are all TCKs, living in a country that is not our eternal home. Philippians 3:20 says “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…” If you’ve ever, like me, felt the fear and anxiety of moving to a new place, leaving behind friends, family, and all the things you’ve become familiar with, just remember that we all look forward to the day when Christ calls us to our eternal home, with Him. In that home, we will experience “no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Rev. 21:4).

THE AUTHOR

Valerie

Valerie and her husband live in Waco, TX, where Valerie teaches preschool