When Code Switching is Not Enough
I was a stranger in the country, which had been home for so many years. People had moved on, and I was no longer a little child. My friends were no longer there, and my parents had a new routine as empty nesters. I had become more South Indian than they wanted me to be, and they found my new habits different. I had learned to move adeptly between two cultures, but I was neither here nor there.
Loving
Dad, a white man born in Kansas—
grew up in a time when plenty
folks who looked like them
were not allowed to wed,
To Bless My Chinese Self
I felt that I existed as a series of masks, appearing as others wanted me to, but without any sense of who I actually was. I waded through a depressive fog, wondering if there was any hope to feel at peace in the body that felt so foreign to me.
When a Supermarket Became My Hero
No matter how hard I tried to explain my Indonesian origins to those around me, my face erased my story.
Inheritance Remembered
Enjoy your cultural tapestry
Embrace your ancestral terrain.
Remember they once had nothing
Remember from whence you came.
If My Nose Could Reclaim Heritage
Look at her nose.
It’s like mine.
I am both
I couldn’t see myself as both
not because I did not want to
but because society told me I couldn’t be
both
Psalm 17: A Prayer for Asian Americans
Over time, the soft yet profound distinctions between being Koreans in America and being Koreanamericans settled into our lives. Ye Eun yielded to Julie as I underwent a nearly complete transformation and became a cultural stranger to my ancestors. Yet to this day, no prayer moves me more than ones uttered in my mother tongue.
Where I’m From
I’m from “Did you eat yet?” and “Practice your piano,”
From “Don’t get to dark or you’ll smell like the sun”
Angry Prayer: Tongsung Gido and Our Difficult Emotions
What tongsung gido had been saying all along is this: our negative emotions have a place in our relationship with God and with each other. We are all angry. We all know the contours of despair. We have only to direct our cries heavenward, together.
Who is the Jesus of Advent?
The God of Advent is not a God of wealth, privilege, or status. The God of Advent is lowly–identifying with a forsaken place of our world.
I Didn’t Go to Church This Year…
How can we find peace and hope in the midst of the realities of relationships, anxieties, and responsibilities? Where is the joy?
Where's the Joy in 2022?
But also within the last year, amidst God’s bride acting less than holy, God has reminded me along the way that my hope and joy truly are found in him.
Those Who Walk In Darkness
This holiday season, may we rest in the knowledge that the God we worship is not one who is intimidated by our suffering.
Inhabiting the Hole of Advent: Transfiguring Asian American Futures
What if the problem is not our perceived foreignness at all, but our perpetual propensity to play the game? Maybe the way out of this perception is not ultimate economic empowerment, but a transfigured desire that perpetuates the possibility inherent in the empty space of Advent.
'Mixed Blessing' - One and a Half Years Later
God has plans for us…plans that are sometimes very different from our own goals and strategies.
Living with Intention: Exploring the Intersection of Mixed Identities and Faith
For the sake of love and honor, discover the aspects of identity and heritage that might be different from you. Be curious and ask about the ways that their ethnic histories have combined together. And in doing so, we can remember and celebrate the unique differences of each of us, that we are not monolithic in any aspect of life.
Celebrating Culture in a Mixed Family: An "It's Complicated" Interview with Shawna Klatt
My advice is to love yourself and appreciate your Asian beauty. You don’t need to look or act a certain way and there’s no such thing as not being Asian enough.
Church Community and Global Identity: An “It’s Complicated” Interview with Justin & Carolyn Fung
The way I see it, it isn’t just nice to worship Jesus and be formed in Christlikeness with people who are different from us; we actually need each other to experience the fullness of God—we cannot do it without each other.
Navigating a Multiracial Marriage: An Interview with Andrea and Jairus Justus
In the Bible, I see a God who deeply values cultural expression and connection. Holding our identity in Christ as our highest and truest identity doesn't mean that culture doesn't matter at all.