Susan LaffertyExiles in Babylon.
God’s Word to them felt deeply personal to us. During a particularly violent and unsettling season.
People were leaving our city. Families sent back to their home countries. Anti-American sentiment had ramped up more than ever.
Should we leave?
At one point my dad—who never, ever tried to interfere or direct us in any way—wrote “In my daily Bible study I keep seeing the words, ‘Flee Babylon…flee Babylon.” (Jeremiah 49:30; 50:8,16; 51:6)
First grade.
Walking out the side gate of our backyard in Surabaya, I turned right, and headed down the driveway to Aunt Wilma’s house. My Dick and Jane book clutched to my chest.
After climbing her front steps, I knocked on the screen door. I could hear the ceiling fan turning. Her dog, Si Nakal, gave a soft bark.
Aunt Wilma opened the door and welcomed me in with a smile.
I eagerly showed her my book. Then we sat on the couch and I read it aloud.
In the early 1980s, I was invited to a strategic gathering.
Large group. All different ages. Raised in countries on every continent. Brought together on purpose.
Why? To gain understanding of a term coined by Ruth Hill Useem in the 1950s.
And now found in Webster’s dictionary.
Third culture kid. TCK.
