in His image

cameras. Dad always had a nice camera and we have lots of good slides and pictures to remember the long ago days, India, Bangladesh, family times... it is great to see the memories awoken after these are scanned in now and shared on facebook.

i also have lots of memories of the times (or was it just one time?) when Daddy almost never got there in time to board the airplane as he was buying a new camera. my memory says that was in Japan, but i will defer to my elder siblings about details. what i do remember clearly was when we came home to our new house in Long Island New York and found the house robbed and the one valuable item gone - Dad's camera. the Tupperware container of photos under Mom's bed riffled through and things tossed around by apparently disappointed robbers who somehow missed the one bag full of church offering money that was in the desk. i did miss my valuable collection of pennies which were in a heavy piggy bank, the second item carried away that day, but even as a child that didn't come close to comparing with the loss of the memory maker camera.

i remember my first camera - high school/academy days. the long slender box size with the long film cartridges. some blurry (perhaps more my fault than the camera) pictures remain to remind me of that camera - and it may still be in a memory box in the garage...

then there was the camera that never arrived with the luggage in Malawi airport after my handbag had been checked in by stern flight attendants in Schiphol, Amsterdam. the bag was in a black garbage back and one small hole in the garbage bag showed how the camera had been removed.

my last camera, the 7 year old digital canon powershot old faithful also was not found in my suitcase at home after being in a suitcase checked in in Paris this past June. it was a good camera and the photos graced many of the ADRA reports over the years, but it was old and not so sad to loose. but what i miss are the un-downloaded memories makers. the day in Venice and beautiful hike by the Mediterranean coast with Marina. Marina and Den. before that the days i spent in the hospital. memories that i thought were captured in photo images but aren't now.

how do memories work? tonight with a friend we laughed and sighed over grade school days. miles apart, different years, in different small worlds the friends, teachers and even ball games sound the same. one memory added to another, then another. reminiscing without pictures still brings back vivid mental images of sight, sound, smell and touch. the memories inspire me as a new year starts at the Cambodian Adventist School and more kids need sponsors. the valuable gift of Christian Adventist education, the one thing that was more important than the valuable camera in my parents home, is one i love to give as i know God gives abundant returns.

the Bible brings us vivid mental images of God in creation, God in judgement, God in restoration, God in person, flawed human beings relating to God and becoming more like Him. Bible writers and translators have suffered losses but God has safeguarded the Bible so that we can all see what is written and remember.

God tells us that He will make all things new. in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye we will be changed. God says heaven will be so much more than we can imagine. oh what wonderful images are in store for the future!

right now i can only imagine, i don't have pictures from the Bible - the earth made new, Jesus on earth, God. or do i have a glimpse?

doesn't God say that He made man in His image?

God asks us shine as His image to the world. what can i do today to better reflect Him so that more of His children here will be together on that day? oh to be a photograph, a vivid image brought to life, a living witness for Him...