WRITE OF CENTER
World travel and the opportunity to live in other countries has given me insights and appreciation for our own way of life in the USA. I’ve always sought to know what surrounds us nearby, and what comes to our understanding from afar. For example, my parents told me I was speaking Tagalog before English when we lived in the Philippines. My Filipino babysitters set in motion for me a very special appreciation for other cultures. Especially interesting are the variety of cultures and the people who make up and live by different values.
But engaging in the world has its risks, including many false ideas and half-truths that seek to distract and deceive us. There are places I’ve been, especially in the Middle East and Washington, D.C. when I’ve taken the apostle Paul’s advice, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” Colossians 2:8.
