“If you could give any part of your life as a third culture kid to someone, what would it be?” I asked my son Aaron.
He answered with a story.
“Last Thanksgiving, you and I went out to look for the biggest chickens we could find,” Aaron said. He shared how turkeys—or “elephant chickens” as people in our host country call them—are really hard to find. “But you can get a chicken any way you want it, dead or alive,” he said.
I thought back to that day. We had found the small street where all the chicken dealers had their shops set up to sell live poultry.
We admired our freshly slaughtered finds. Aaron named them Bob, Greg, and Roger.
Aaron had decided he was going to find the biggest birds on the street. Scores of live chickens waited patiently as the scales were tipped, and finally we had our birds selected.
The Muslim shop owner offered to do the dirty work, which we gladly let him do.
Back in the car we admired our freshly slaughtered finds. Aaron named them Bob, Greg, and Roger.
But something didn’t look right. They didn’t look like Butterballs ready for the oven. But we couldn’t put our finger on why.
“I wish people could enter another culture and not think it’s weird.”
Then it hit us. They had been skinned! They’d be perfect for cooking up a local dish of chicken and rice—but not so great for roasting in the oven.
We had just enough time to run to the only shop in town that sold frozen two-pound roasters and get them home to thaw. The lesson we took from that day: It turns out that six little chickens equal one turkey.
After he shared his story, Aaron said, “I wish people could enter another culture and not think it’s weird. I wish they could go and say, ‘Awesome,’ and recognize it as unique.”
May we receive this gift that Aaron wishes for us, the gift of cultural curiosity and awe over the peoples and places God has created in the world.
- Praise God for the diverse peoples and cultures He has made. Pray that people in every place will know Him and worship Christ.
- Ask the Lord to bless Frontiers’ third culture kids like Aaron with a powerful sense of belonging and purpose in His Kingdom.
- Pray for children on Frontiers teams to live for Jesus with boldness no matter which culture they live in.
Third culture kids (TCKs) have roots in two or more cultures while never completely belonging in any of them. They get the rich gift of twice the friends but pay the cost of always deeply missing half of them depending on where they are.
Learn more about TCKs and simple ways you can support them.
This account comes from a long-term worker. Names have been changed for security.
Main photo by Carsten ten Brink