At this time in history, we use currency to buy the things that we use to sustain life. It is necessary to use the currency that is backed by the country we live in. When I have been in other countries, I would have to exchange U.S. currency for the currency of the country that I was visiting. If I wanted to buy anything I could also use a credit card, but the result was the same.

On my next credit card statement, the money that I had charged would show a conversion from the foreign currency to ours. There was a time when people would barter for the things that they needed. They would provide something that others needed, then trade those things for what they needed. When that was being done, currency was not in the equation. What had value in one country of the world, had value in the other countries of the world as well.

The only thing that has changed is that there is now another step in the process. Instead of dealing directly with someone that might have things that we need, we must first receive currency for what we can produce, then trade the currency for what others are providing. It has gone so far that there are those that can only see the currency, not what must be produced.

Money has and always will be a measure of something produced. If there is not something of value before the currency, then it will come to the point that the currency will be useless. The truth is that money is a score keeper of our ability to produce, not the means to an end. There is a sense of accomplishment that every human being will feel when they produce something of value. It seems to be programmed in our nature.

If it is our nature to produce, why are there so many people that can sit and do nothing? Does that nature need to be experienced before it is ignited in us? Do we produce because of a sense of accomplishment or does that sense of accomplishment make us produce? Is it the chicken or the egg, or could it be a snowball?

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets at 240 Courthouse Parkway in Washington C.H. for Life Groups at 9:30 and in the lobby at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry.