10.7.12

Move #8 in 12 Yrs

Last night we moved into a rental home in the community of Varsity in Calgary. It's probably the easiest move I've done - lots of time to pack and load the truck, great help, and plenty of time to unpack.

We are on a path to downsizing/simplifying - I'll be blogging about that soon.

Since being married:

Baywood Park (Edmonton)
to Chester Ave (Montreal)
to King St (Spruce Grove)
to Metcalf Ave (Red Deer)
to Tactic (Guatemala)
to Barrio El Arco (Tactic, Guatemala)
to Citadel Pointe (Calgary)
to Vandoos Rd (Calgary)

That's 8 homes in 12 years. I need to find something that has accompanied me on all of these moves and ensure it makes it in all of our subsequent moves.

1.7.12

Visible Christianity

Yesterday I found myself contemplating how Christians, myself included, do not look particularly different from anyone else in society, except perhaps Sikhs, orthodox Jews, orthodox Muslims, and, well, some Christians.

I was on the edge of a river watching for white water rafts in Kananaskis with my family. Another family was hanging out there, clearly from a Mennonite tribe. We spoke briefly about the rafts, they bore no accents in particular. The children and father were in traditional modern garb, but the mother wore a long, modest, patterned dress and a covering for her hair. Her dress alone marked the family as one of Christian faith. I thought it remarkable that they had no idea that I also profess faith in Jesus Christ unless I told them (I didn't).

A couple passages from the Bible came to mind immediately:
Ye are the children of the Lord your God: ye shall not cut yourselves nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto Himself above all the nations that are upon the earth. Deuteronomy 12:1-2
By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples: if ye have love one for another. John 13:35
So, how visible should Christ's followers be in their dress? Or, and I like this question far more, how radical should our love for one another be that we be immediately recognized as Christians?