Stranger God by Richard Beck

Author:Richard Beck [Beck, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-5064-3841-2
Publisher: Fortress Press
Published: 2017-10-03T04:00:00+00:00

Demographics

Ponder all the ways we’re triggered by race, sexual orientation, religion, and nationality: minorities, LGBT persons, Muslims, immigrants, refugees.

Jana, my wife, loves to shop at thrift stores. When you buy your clothing at thrift stores, you need to know a good alterations place. You can’t always get the perfect size at the local Goodwill.

The woman at Jana’s favorite alterations shop was from Cambodia. After a few visits, Jana asked for her name. “Ruthie,” she said. And from that small beginning, a wonderful friendship was born.

It seems like a small thing, making the effort to get on a first-name basis with someone, but it’s a bridge few of us make the effort to cross, especially across the lines of ethnicity and nationality. Ruthie’s English is very broken, something that embarrasses her, so she’s very quiet. People have gone to Ruthie for years, but few have taken the time to get to know the lady crawling around on the floor, pinning their hemlines.

The backstory of Jana’s desire to connect with Ruthie began on the killing fields of Cambodia. From 1975 to 1979, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge killed between one and a half million and three million people in the Cambodian genocide. Many Cambodian refugees fled to the United States, and some made their way to Texas. Jana’s father, Pat, was the pastor of a small church in Dallas. One day, Pat’s phone rang, asking if his church could help with the influx of Cambodian refugees. Pat and the church said yes, they would sponsor some of the refugees.

So Jana grew up among the Cambodians—helping to teach English classes, making friends, and going to the church her father helped the Cambodians start. White, evangelical Texans welcomed the refugees.

I came late to this story. On our wedding day, on Jana’s side of the aisle, I saw a huge Cambodian crowd. Among the poorest of our guests, they gave some of the most lavish gifts. Cambodians are great gift givers. The other day, Jana took our son Aidan in to get his pants hemmed. Ruthie gave him a watermelon. “Why did she give me a watermelon?” our puzzled son asked. “Because,” said Jana, “Ruthie and I are friends.”

It was no accident Jana leaned in to learn Ruthie’s name. It had started decades before, when her father, a Texas pastor, answered the call to help the refugees.

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