Looking at Coins

“Has God’s face ever been on a coin? We are the coin that bears the living image of God. Giving of ourselves with whatever that might include, is the only legal currency of the kingdom of heaven.” --Gordon and Gladis DePree

Over the last two weeks, I 've absorbed a wonderful rest finding my feet for the next half of 2010 which seems to be running at a fast pace. Friends loaned me their home in the country while they went away on retreat themselves. It has been rather a resting/work time that has enriched my soul and quieted my heart because the beauty of God’s creation surrounds me here and that always revives me.

The last time I used this blog was in 2007 aboard the Next Wave on an adventure of a lifetime, and then as these things go, I fell away, but I want to return to it in this season. My birthday this year reminded me that I am getting older(the number is a bit scary), but I hope the fruitfulness of being an image bearer of God is getting clearer year by year as I continue working with training others and learning from all I meet.

This next week, I’m teaching in our Foundations of Inter-Cultural Studies School on Cross-Cultural Servanthood. Walking through the fields, musing over what examples to share, I have been reminded of so many friends at home in the US, here in England or in the nations who have taught me to see life from another’s person’s shoes. It has been a privilege to meet so many unsung friends who in their lives are coin bearers who bear that living image of God. Some of the clearest examples have come from friends who live in the midst of conflict and yet bring hope to the hopeless. What I know more than anything is that I need more of God’s love, mercy, and diligence in my heart daily to be able to live the kingdom of God in a way that honors those around me, wherever I am. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I fail, but I know ultimately God’s grace does abound when I spend time reminding myself that He is alive and “the heavens declare His glory.”