Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ ” Matthew 22: 37-39
Meet Cal*
Cal is what you would call “rough around the edges”. A retired welder, he is a tall, imposing man, bald with a handlebar moustache. In the summer he is usually dressed in jeans and a tank top, exposing several aging tattoos. Yet despite his tough appearance, there is a gentleness hidden behind this hard exterior of a man.
We first met Cal at Brigitte & Peter’s house for the Galette des rois party a year ago. Formerly divorced, he was there with a girlfriend. He chatted with us, made jokes about Canada, and genuinely seemed to want to make us feel welcomed.
At that very first encounter, it became clear that Cal was a guy everyone knew. He is in fact something of a pillar in the community. A true Savoyard, his roots grow deep in this neighbourhood of Lafin. In fact he is a 4th generation Lafinois, born when Lafin was it’s own village prior to becoming part of Aix-les-Bains in the 1960’s. Cal proudly lives in the house his grandfather built which is right next to the house he grew up in.
This long personal history in this community has given Cal a deep conviction that he knows this neighbourhood and its inhabitants better than anyone else. In fact, if you recall back in our year end Wrap Up newsletter, we quoted Cal’s assessment of the spiritual reality here, during a conversation he had with Joel:
“Listen, Joel, God doesn’t exist. Let me tell you something: 4 generations of my family have lived in this village. I know everyone who lives around here, and I have known them for a long time. We are all divorced, ex-Catholics, and frankly, we’ll never believe what you believe.”
Like many French, Cal hates the catholic church and all it represents, and blames much of what is wrong with the world on the church and religion.
Of all the people in our neighbourhood, Cal represents for us the reason God called us here. Now retired and in his late 60’s, Cal is divorced with 3 adult children. He is no longer with the girlfriend he introduced us to a year ago. And despite his rough demeanour, as we get to know him we see a lonely, broken man who is still searching for his place in this world.
Would you pray for Cal?
Each time we have had the opportunity to connect with Cal as a family, he has made it known that he really loves us and our kids. Pray that God would show us how to best connect with Cal in meaningful ways that would allow us to build a trusting friendship with him.
Pray that our family would be living examples of lives transformed by Jesus. That this would break through the barriers of Cal’s current beliefs about God and serve as evidence of what the true Creator God can and wants to do in his life.
Who do you LOVE? We would love to hear your stories!
With joy,
