Ponderings...

**This, post is quite old now (originally typed up on April 23rd). I can't figure out why I never posted it, so here it is!

Life has been a little busy around here over the last few days. We got our new furnace installed yesterday. The existing one was original to the condo, so 30 years old. Furnaces have a lifespan of about 25 years. I suppose the other one was still kicking, but I imagine, or at least I hope, we are going to see significant changes on our energy bills.

Plus, its just a bit smaller. I had wanted them to move it closer to the wall, because seriously, who puts a stinkin' furnace in the middle of a room? But then when they said it would be $500 to move it 2 feet...I thought twice...OK, fine, it stays put. But ha, I think I won in the end because 30 years later, someone finally figured out how to make furnaces smaller. So there furnace guy :P

So very little of our day was spent at the house. We were out and about as much as we could be. I had a great visit with a dear friend. When we first attended our first church here in Edmonton, that first Sunday, she and her husband invited us to their home for lunch. Total strangers...yet, they invited us in. Even though we have moved on from that church, we still hold their family very dear. Their kindness and generosity sure has blessed us during our time here.

We were chatting about the trip she and her husband had just made to Thailand. They were visiting the children they sponsor through Compassion International. While there, they were able to stay with an old friend of hers. They are living as missionaries there. She said she was struck by how "normal" their lives seemed. Its hard to put into words, but I think I totally get what she is saying.

I think often we think of missionaries living in these foreign countries and kind of put them on this "Christian pedestal." Like they are doing something so much holier or grander than what we are doing here. Yet, she said it was just them, living in Thailand. It was their life, and it was so natural. And she said if they feel called to that country, should we not feel just as called to where we are at?

Does it really matter if I live in a shack in India, or a condo in Edmonton? I think in the Christian world we tend to glamorize those living far away, yet we forget that we are just as called, just as important, just as valuable. Now mind you, I don't want to minimize what many missionaries are faced with day to day - persecution, living underground, poverty, etc, etc. I don't think much, if anything, can even compare to that in our plush Western world.

But I think the truth of the matter remains. I believe we all have a calling on our lives, and no matter where we happen to be - God can, and will use us.