My Aunt Rela (REY-la) always treated me like one of her own. She looked out for me and even brought me back to the Mainland (China) during a Hong Kong stint. She bought me strangest, wackiest gifts for Christmas but I could feel the love. What a revelation it was to me, just a few years back, when I learned her name is actually “Vera”. Aunt Vera. OH. MY. That makes much, much more sense.

There is a world out there of brands which transform themselves to icons and prototypical examples of the whole category of things. Do you need some Kleenex? Do you have Rollerblades? Do you want a Band-Aid? Did you Google it? In the world of Christian ‘missionary’ work, ‘tent-making’ has also suffered this fate.

Growing up as a child, fairness was a big concern of mine. Things had to be “fair.” Whether it be the distribution of food or the sharing of toys things had to be fair and square. A bag of Skittles for you, a bag of Skittles for me (those were the days). Fairness explains the phenomena of siblings receiving gifts on the birthdays of other siblings, and why most families own one Nintendo DS/child. There are few other childhood cries of foul like, “It’s not fair!”

One of the biggest hurdles to participating in cross-cultural, often overseas, Christian ministry is the necessary step of fundraising money for this vocation. I’ve heard it before: “I never, ever want to ask people for money” and, “I would do ‘missions’ if I didn’t have to raise support.”

I have never been asked that before. Ever. 

Not until yesterday. 

Although L laughed when I told her and pointed to my Roots Jamaica track jacket as the culprit, (I love it dearly and you would too), the truth is we had never ‘hung out’ at a place like this before. It is a place where, “Are you homeless?” in a starter/small talk/get to know you kind of conversation is not completely out of place. 

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“No…no, I have a home.”