Cultural Collisions

I spoke to the E-Kat summer project team today about the collision of American and Russian cultures. Good times were had by all.
I explained that culture comes from the history and geography of a people. Then I went through 1000 years of Russian history in 7 minutes (well, 7 1/2 minutes...but who's counting?) From that we began to evaluate some of the differences between American and Russian culture. The most important point, however, was the revelation of the ultimate reason for cultural conflict; sin. Your life is a pail of water. When you begin to brush up against Russian culture (or any culture for the matter), your pail begins to slosh about. The difficult thing is that when your pail sloshes, you see that your water is much dirtier than you thought. It is a difficult thing to confront. My struggles with a foreign culture arise from my own sin. My pride says that I am entitled to certain things; personal space, good hygiene, ice in my sweet tea, or something like that. They aren't biblical...merely cultural. When those expectations aren't met, I get mad...and the cultural collision is on.
The reality is that I was not made for Russian culture. I was not made for American culture. I was made for something far greater, something far more beautiful. I was intended for a citizenship in Heaven.