Oh, man, it’s great having the original Digidestined back! As much as Digimon Adventure Tri. drags in lots of places, it’s still wonderful to see Taichi, Yamato, Sora, and all the rest again, to see how they changed and how they haven’t, and to view how their relationships with each other have developed over time. And it’s been especially good to revisit my favorite character from the show again (aka ME):
Jyou Kido, however, doesn’t get a lot of screen time in the first movie. And he misses all the action. Why? Because he’s studying so hard to get into college, presumably to continue down his family path of becoming a doctor.
Wait…this whole scenario sounds really familiar…
Having been around Asian churches most of my life, and having attended specifically an Asian-American church for the past 15ish years, I can say that Jyou’s drive is very similar to that of many Asian-American college students. Reared by parents to become something successful (often meaning to become a physician), that becomes the primary goal. It tops everything, consuming our time, thoughts, and resources.
But isn’t church supposed to be different? Doesn’t the Christian faith teach that Christ is supposed to be above all and over all, and that everything else comes beneath?
Unfortunately, we often struggle with putting Christ first. For driven Asian-American students, that means studies supersede faith. While they sing praise songs on Sunday, many spend the rest of their week trying to go down a path that will yield them career satisfaction, acknowledgement from parents and peers, and lots of money.
That doesn’t sound like the gospel message at all.
I think if you were to question yourself and why you selected such-and-such path for your life, you might discover that God had nothing to do with that decision. And worse yet, you might be clinging onto something that values all the things of this world, when we know that the ruler of this world is not the ruler we claim to follow.
I know it’s not an easy thing to do, to move away from the course we’ve set for ourselves (or that has been set for us by parents and culture), but it’s imperative that we get to that point. Especially when it comes to career, the choices we make can free us to love God more or limit us in how we can reach out to others. While medicine is a worthy career and I have no doubt that God would place many of his people in that arena, I also believe that just because you’re an Asian who is also a good student, you’re not automatically meant to be a doctor.
Until we’re able to put enough faith in Christ to trust that God’s will is better than our own, that his riches are more meaningful than those we can make, that reaching out to the lost is more important than satisfying self, we’ll be like Jyou, missing out on the important things in life because we’re reaching for something we’ve deemed more significant.
You’re destined for something great. Surrender your life – even the parts that you or others have constructed – and you’ll begin to see the adventure that God has in store for you.