Monday, November 17, 2008

Trading Saints

Today's Wonder of the World is...Saints!

A couple weeks ago my friend May over at anneandmay.com lost all her good sense and asked me to guest blog during her absence today. It got me thinking about saints, of all things!

No matter how you choose to follow God, no matter what your religion, if you're a person of faith, you need some sort of community. We all do. We need to see how others serve God and how God works in each others' lives. I've learned so much in my life by watching the examples of the saints around me.

When we moved to France, I discovered a whole new group of saints!
The ones on Saint cards!
The old leather bound prayer books at the flea market were full of them!

How about that?! Like baseball cards or football cards--but lovely little trading cards for saints!
Maybe they're not new to you, but for a Baptist girl like me, I felt I'd stepped into a whole new world!
They made me curious. Who were these people? Maybe I could learn from them.

There was Saint Valentine,

Flickr photo by Orchard Lake
who performed secret marriage ceremonies in third century Rome, when the emperor outlawed marriage amongst his army, saying single men made better soldiers.

There was Philomena

Flickr photo by filumenae
an early Christian martyr.

There was Joseph

Flickr photo by dietherpetter
father of Jesus.

And Francis of Assisi.

Flickr photo by Orchard Lake
His life story was especially interesting to me. Have you read it? You'd be amazed!

I started looking at the saints around me.
Like this guy.

Flickr photo by patmueller
Whoops! Sorry Saint Bernards! Although you are cute! And I'm sure your devotion is to be admired. And I love the little barrels under your necks! Is that holy water? Ha ha.

I actually meant this guy.

It's my friend Tony McDade! Tony is the Executive Director for GAIHN, my all time favorite charity. GAIHN (Greenville Area Interfaith Hospitality Network,) provides emergency shelter for homeless families all over upstate South Carolina. Did you know that if you're a homeless mom and you have a son 11 years old or older, your son can't stay with you in the local women's shelters? Thanks to GAIHN, Greenville families can stay together in a network of local churches, as Tony helps them get back on their feet. Go HERE to learn more.

And then there's Clista and Glen Adkins.

Glen used to be the music minister at my church, but after a mission trip to the Gandhi school in Pecs, Hungary, both Glen and Clista decided to leave their comfortable life here to work with the Roma people there, also referred to as gypsies. They teach English, lead a choir, and teach the gypsy people that God loves them too. Learn more about their work here.

You know, Tony and Glen and Clista deserve to have saint cards made of them! And guess what? I found a way to do it!

Now a few words of warning before the grand reveal:
I know for a fact that all three of them would balk over being called them saints. They'd probably even want to slug me. Yeah, yeah, I know. No one is perfect.
And I certainly don't want to offend anyone by creating new saints uncertified by the church.
But I'm so glad to have the examples of their lives! So forgive me!

Look!






































Cool, huh? It's better than Pokemon!
You can make your own here.

Have a Wonder-full Monday, y'all!
Love, Becky
PS. Enjoy this video of the Gandhi school choir singing and dancing!
Hey! There's Glen!

19 comments:

Susan Sandmore said...

Cool! Make your own saint cards? I made my own astronaut picture at PhotoFunia. I guess that's not really the same thing, is it?

I have fond memories of the saint cards from when I was a kid. My mother had a ton leftover from her childhood. I never saw them being sold anywhere as a kid, but now that I live in a city with a larger, established Catholic population, I have! Our church has an entire store filled with all that fascinating stuff!

lotusgirl said...

I love the video of your friend's choir. It's amazing what some of the people around us are doing. We all have saints in our lives. I have so much respect for those who are willing to go outside their comfort zone to help others.

Barb said...

Hi Becky,

Thank you for sharing some "not well known saints". What beautiful people they are. I think anyone that steps outside and walks the walk with talking the talk is a saint.

Love those Saint Bernards too!

Have a saint filled week.

Rosemary said...

Great post today Rebecca!!
There are a lot of saints walking around like your friend. It's nice to learn about them.
Rosemary

Linda Summerfield said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Linda Summerfield said...

My Italian Grandparents had hundreds of these in a drawer when the died. They collected them at the many Catholic funerals they went to over the years.
Linda

Suzie said...

What an awful thing about families being seperated in a shelter I just cant imagine how horrible that would be. What good work

Unknown said...

What a cute idea! I love your trading cards, LOL! Everybody needs a saint! ;)

Susan said...

What a great post. Thanks.

Felicity said...

Becky, I think I'll make YOU into a saint card. You are a wonderful encourager. Thanks!

Rebecca Ramsey said...

Felicity, you are too sweet! Thank you!
Becky
PS. Can I be an honorary member of your family? I love you guys!

Anonymous said...

very cool! I wish they had missionary hero trading cards!

Felicity said...

Absolutely, Becky. We are well-known for our habit of taking in non-relatives and calling them our own!

Anne Dayton said...

Thanks for coming by our blog today, Becky! I love these saint cards!

Alexandra MacVean said...

Hi Rebecca...I liked this blog...it was cool to learn something new today about Saints.

Hope you have a good evening.

Angela K. Nickerson said...

Oh, I am pretty sure my next book will be about saints, so this is a topic close to my little Lutheran heart. Love the cards. Love them!

Pocket Full of Prettys said...

Love the photos of the saints. So pretty. Thank you for your prayers for my son. Hugs***Renea

Lioness said...

You forgot about the LDS (Latter Day Saints) Church! To which I am proud to belong!

Rebecca Ramsey said...

Of course! How could I forget?