Citizenship

As seen in the HEARTbeat and the Village Voice

“Citizenship”

            “Where you from?”  A simple question we hear often, more so if you travel.  In our little hamlet of Hot Springs Village, it’s a question we pose to others as we converse with them and desire to get to know and understand them.  We feel that if we know the state from which people have moved, we can better understand their way of thinking.

            Recently my wife and I had the opportunity to take a bucket-list trip to Italy.  We heard the question often, “Where you from?”  There was a genuine interest on the part of the Italian people to know from where people are coming to their country.  When we said the U.S.A., an acknowledging nod would often follow.  But if we told them Arkansas, a puzzled look would come across their face.  Then the hand gestures would start, beginning with a big oval, then narrowing it down to the middle south region.  I even had one lady nod in acknowledgement when I mentioned the Mississippi River.

            In our encounters with guides and drivers, we would ask, “Where you from?”  Not that we would understand a single thing about them after they divulged their hometown, but we just wanted to know a little more about the person.  We wanted to try and find some common ground to gain a new friend.

            As I sat on some benches or stood against the walls in some highly visited sites, my ears would be attuned to people speaking.  Some languages do not pinpoint the homeland of the person, but when I heard German, French, or even English, I knew quickly the answer to, “Where you from?”  Not that I understood the person better, but at least I knew their country of citizenship.

            Even though there were communication barriers, especially when we stayed in the smaller countryside towns, there was a sense of belonging.  On one such occasion, we walked into a little church.  It was empty, except for a single lady sitting on the altar steps, reading a book.  Gregorian chants were being played in a reduced volume across the speaker system.  Even though we did not speak to the lady, there was a kind of kinship between us.  Even though she was probably Italian, and we are American, our citizenship was the same.

            The Apostle Paul wrote to the people in the church at Philippi.  He reminded them, in all their struggles against this world, and reminded them to not focus on the things of this world because, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”  You see, this lady and my wife and I have the same citizenship.  Even though we may have grown up in Florence, Cortona, Berlin, Paris, or Greenwood, Arkansas, if you have accepted Christ, then we have been adopted by God into His family.  Thus, our citizenship has changed.

            The question should not be so much, “Where you from?” but rather one of “Where you going?”