Over the last week I have gone from having a multicoloured beard; two variations of upper lip hair (the 60 hour moustache) and today I have for the first time in my life entirely shaved my head. It feels quite cold and exposed!
So, who am I? Which photo is really me? We can alter the externals but who are we really, underneath it all? As Neil Sedaka wrote in a song decades ago “Why can’t you see whats on the other side of me”? We each long to be really found, to be fully known but it’s a vulnerable place. I want to be like a stick of rock, with identity and integrity stamped through me so that what people see at work, at home, at church, wherever is the same wherever I am. That can be challenging! How about you?
I have always loved a quote which paraphrased says “I am afraid to show you who I am because you may not like who I am and that’s all I’ve got”. That’s powerful psychologically but for persecuted Christians who you are can be a matter of life of death. In countries like Afghanistan; Somalia and Libya 🇱🇾 to say that being a Christian is integral to who I am is effectively a death sentence. For 22 year old Sozan in Syria 🇸🇾 becoming a Christian meant men from her community coming to see her Father demanding her death for bringing shame to the area.
Monday is International Women’s Day and countless women in the world suffer both for their identity as female and again for identifying as Christian. Open Doors is seeking to stand with them. Will you? Please go to the See.change section of the Open Doors UK website for more details. And of course any donations to 60@60 go to this and other key work with vulnerable people.
Adrian@60 