Craig’s post and Tifah’s song contain powerful messages that speak to my heart in light of yesterday’s Colorado tragedy. They also speak to my joy about returning to Uganda, this time with an awareness of the challenges we will face. I commend Craig’s blog and Tifah’s song to you. Be blessed.
There is a phrase in Mandarin Chinese, bei xi jiao ji (悲喜交集), meaning “mixed feelings of grief and joy.” Grief and joy aren’t commonly thought of as partners, but when faced with loss, cross-cultural workers need to understand that one doesn’t necessarily cancel the other one out.
Expressing Grief
Dr. Steve Sweatman, president and CEO of Mission Training International (MTI), says that the call to take the gospel of Christ to another culture “inevitably is a call to sacrifice, to losses, to things that you will have to leave behind or give up.” This sacrifice takes many forms, and MTI has identified five categories of loss experienced by Christian cross-cultural workers. They are
- a stable home
- identity
- competence
- support systems
- a sense of safety
In an audio presentation at Member Care Radio (entitled “Good Grief“), Sweatman also discusses the differences between concrete and abstract losses felt by cross-cultural…
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Debbie Goes To Uganda 