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!