October 1, 2026
In September 1968, an Argentine couple and their two young children boarded a plane in Buenos Aires and flew to New York City.
It was supposed to be temporary.
My father’s work brought our family to the United States for what was expected to be a two-year assignment. The plan was to return to Argentina after a season of living in the United States.
My father’s success at work led the company to keep him in the U.S., and the season became a lifetime.
I grew up proud of being Argentine. I learned English in school and from television shows such as “Sesame Street” and “The Electric Company,” but at home we spoke Spanish. We ate Argentine food. We kept something close to an Argentine schedule, meaning we seldom ate dinner before 8 p.m. My parents instilled in us the habits of the country we had left behind.
For a long time, I thought of myself as an Argentine living in the United States. I assumed that one day I would return to Argentina, marry, raise a family and live the rest of my life there.
But as I grew older, that began to change.
Some of that change came naturally. I went to school here. I made friends here. I learned the culture, absorbed the language and slowly became more American.
Some of the change came from seeing Argentina more clearly.
The Argentina my parents had left was a country marked by political instability, uncertainty and fear. My father later told me that a member of the military once threatened to have him “disappeared.”
That helped me understand that the freedoms I experienced in the United States could not be taken for granted.
In December 1988, my father and I became citizens of the United States. We stood with others and took the oath of allegiance together. We pledged loyalty to this country.
I still love Argentina and am proud of my heritage. Anyone who has seen me during the World Cup knows there is still plenty of Argentina left in me. When the national team plays, I wear the colors and cheer passionately.
But citizenship is more than soccer.
When I took that oath, I understood it as a real transfer of allegiance. I was not merely receiving a new passport. I was choosing a country. I was saying that the United States would be my home and the place where I would invest my life.
Most Americans are born into citizenship. I was not. I chose it.
I love this country, and I am grateful the Lord brought my family here in 1968. It was in this country that I met the woman who would become my wife, Krista. She shared the gospel with me, and I placed my faith in Jesus Christ.
Scripture reminds us that God “has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live” so that people might seek him (Acts 17:26-27). Looking back, I can see that truth in my own story.
I came to the U.S. by the providence of God. What began as a temporary work assignment became the path by which the Lord led me to hear the good news of salvation in Christ.
That does not mean America is perfect. It isn’t, and Christians should be among the first to tell the truth about its failures. I can recognize America’s flaws and still give thanks for her freedoms. No earthly nation is the kingdom of God, but I remain grateful for a country where I am free to worship, speak, write, vote and raise my family according to conscience.
As the United States approaches its 250th birthday, it is worth remembering how unlikely this nation’s beginning was. The colonies had no business defeating the most powerful empire in the world. When I read the history, the battles, the hardships, and the moments when everything seemed ready to collapse, it is hard not to see the hand of providence.
I did not become an American because I thought America was flawless. I became an American because I believed this country was worth choosing.
Nearly four decades later, I still do.
Yet, as grateful as I am for my American citizenship, Scripture reminds me that “our citizenship is in heaven,” and that we await “a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).
I am Argentine by birth. I am American by choice. And above both of those, by the grace of God, I am a follower of Jesus Christ.
___
Henry Durand serves as editor of The Christian Index.
Share with others
