Imagine living like a prince or princess, here are 5 things that would change

princess

My daughter has restarted watching this show called Sofia the First. It tells of the adventures of a village girl after her mother marries the king. I love the line from the theme song, “I am finding out what being royal is all about.” It captures the feeling that every Christian experiences now that they are a child of the King.

It reminds me of my time from 2nd to 5th grade when my family moved from the United States to Sri Lanka. It was a strange experience to be from one place but to be living in another place. They call these people, third culture kids or TCKs. One of the best explanations of this kind of life came as a missionary described it in their newsletter (names left off for security purposes):

“A TCK is a child who grows up in a third and unique culture. They are heavily influenced by the culture of their parents (passport countries), and they spend a large portion of their lives being influenced by a second culture (host countries).  They do not wholly fit into either.  Instead, they mix these cultural norms together into a unique and personal blend to create their own third, distinctly unique culture.  So, they live in these two worlds and form ideas of who they are and what is normal and it becomes part of their perspective, their culture. Their culture is a blended one. They are Third Culture Kids.”

This is the challenge that all of us face as we live as with passports for another world, or as Paul says, “Our citizenship is in heaven.” (Phil 3:20). But how do we live in this in between time? Here are five things that I think we do differently living as prince and princesses in this world.

I take advantage of access to the King

Although we don’t live in heaven now we still can do what the author of Hebrews describes, “Come boldly to the throne of grace to find grace and mercy to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16) From my time of living overseas, sometimes you just pick up the phone and call home. We experienced then the challenge of bad phone connections, but our Father the King is just a prayer away.

[tweetthis]Our Father the King is just a prayer away.[/tweetthis]

I live as a representative of the King wherever I go and with what I say

I remember as a kid the father of a neighbor boy trying to talk to me about United States politics. I don’t remember what I said, but I was in that moment a representative of the United States to him. We must remember that every word, text, social media post is as a representative of the King of the Universe. As Proverbs says the power of life and death are in the tongue. (Proverbs 18:21)

Capitalize on my unique position to bring people to the palace

There is an episode in Sofia the First where she brings some of her friends from the village to the castle for a sleepover. It is filled with drama because the village girls are not used to the palace and Sofia’s new sister wants them to behave like princesses. We all as people originally from the village are in a unique position to help introduce people around us to a life they too can enjoy. We just need to remember where we came from and live out grace everywhere we go.

Understand that I will live with tension and homesickness

One of the things that I experience as a TCK is that it is often hard to feel at home. When I was living in Sri Lanka there are things that I would miss deeply back in the United States. And just last week I was talking about craving a fruit from Sri Lanka that I can’t get here in the USA. The same is true for us as Christians. There are moments when we will feel out of place. As the founding pastor of my home church said shortly before his death, “I am homesick for a place I have never been.”

We party like a princess

I had to throw this one in as a place to end. A few weeks ago I took my daughter to her first concert: Jamie Grace. The new song was: Party Like a Princess. The point of the song was that if our identity is as a child of the King we can celebrate even if we don’t have certain external things (the songs example is a boyfriend). Don’t forget to rejoice that “he paid it all” so that you could be a prince or princess.

10 strange things that I am thankful for this year

When people make a list of things that they are thankful for there are normal things that hit the list. If I sit down normally and just start writing a list there is going to be: My relationship with God, my family, the Bible, my donor etc. But I have a journal method that has me coming up with 5 things I am thankful for at the end of the day. When you do something like that you start adding things that are a little more surprising. I also learn that the “little” things are important as well. Here are ten things I am thankful for today.

Multi-color pens: Right out of the gate you need to remember that I am a nerd so you will probably have cooler things on your list. But I love these pens. They especially come in handy when I am reading the Bible. If I underline something in green I know that I think of it as a blessing and something in red as something God is trying to say to me that day.

Audio learning: Since I was a kid I would listen to the Bible on audio. Now days when I am taking a ministry trip in the car there is a buffet of learning options. Along with listening to my Bible I can learn all sorts of things on audio books and podcasts. On one trip to Iowa I got through most of a Bible college class.

Goals that are difficult: Some days I may not be as thankful for this as on other days. But God keeps stretching my faith with this ministry. If He never gave me assignments that stretched me I might never grow. I also would not accomplish all that He would have for me in this life and I want to impact as many as possible.

That my father became an immigrant to the USA: 47 years ago my father got on a plane and came to the United States to go to Bible college. It was there that he met my mother. He left all of his family back in Sri Lanka to get more education to serve God. I am grateful that he left his comfort zone or I would not be here today.

Both my parents looking past cultural and racist bias of the world: Again I would not be here today if my white northern Minnesotan mother had not married a person from a totally different culture and background than her own. Not only am I here today because of that, but it has shaped the way that I look at the world.

Verse numbers in the Bible: I know that some people don’t like the numbers because it impacts the flow of the reading, but most days I love it. It helps me find things that I am looking for when I need it. It also helps me with my nerdy memorization that I have talked about elsewhere.

Hotel and Airline Miles: I have already been able to see more of the world than most people will see in their lifetime. Part of the reason for that is my hobby of hotel and airline miles. Thank you Delta Skymiles! (Note-If anyone from Delta is reading this feel free to send me some extra points for this promotion.)

Social media friendships: Although there is often a dark, sad side to social media I am grateful for connections that I am able to keep up with of people around the world. I still remember when I lived overseas as a missionary kid and it took 2 weeks to get a letter from home. While I am at it I am thankful for a nerd pastors group that I am apart of that brings a little fun to the day.

The failures I had as a pastor: I was a senior pastor for about nine years before starting this ministry back in 2005. I was pastor of three churches. Two of them closed and the other one didn’t go so well. But I am grateful for that for two reasons. First it makes me able to relate to the challenge ministry leaders face in a very real way. The other reason I am glad those didn’t go well is that I wouldn’t be in this ministry today if they had.

You: I mean it is kind of pointless to be writing if no one is reading. And if you are reading this it means that you at least skimmed the article to get down to this point and for that I am grateful. God drops all sorts of little gifts in our life as we go though the day. Let me encourage you to try to find them. And as you open them let your heart be filled with thankfulness for all, and I mean all, that He has given.