God looks at the heart - Thunder Eggs
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While I was in college, I took a class in Lapidary. That is the skill of shaping and
polishing rocks. It was always exciting to cut into a rock for the first time and see
what it looked like inside.
As part of the class, we took several field trips to gather rocks. They came in an
amazing array of different colors, textures and other characteristics. At first, I would
come home with large piles of rocks that looked nice, but had problems. They would
either break when you tried to cut and polish them, or they could not be polished!
It took a while to learn the characteristics of a rock that would produce a beautiful
polished specimen. It took longer to be able to recognize those characteristics in the
field. And, sometimes it was still a disappointment to cut into a rock that should have
had something beautiful inside, but was not attractive at all.
A good example of a rock with a shock is the thunderegg. Thundereggs are rocks
that are produced where there has been volcanic activity of some type. No one
knows for sure how they are produced, but they look like they started out as balls
of mud that became hardened into rock.
For some reason, the centers of many of them are filled with agate. Sometimes the
agate is brightly colored or has interesting patterns in it. When you cut that type of
thunderegg in half, you have a very pleasant surprise. When polished, these become
magnificent showpieces for the creativity of God.
There is a variation on this theme that is called a geode. Geodes are similar but in
general, they are hollow. Many of them are filled with brilliant crystals of varying size
and color.
These rocks are all ugly on the outside. They look like lumpy balls of mud. But on
the inside, they often hide incredible beauty.
In our lives, we meet many different types of people. We come in all kinds of different
sizes, shapes and colors. Some people are not really very pleasant to look at. Some
people act funny. Some people don't act very nice. But, people often have something
down inside that is very beautiful.
The wonderful thing about God --
He can look inside us and see what we are really like
He can see into the future and see what we can become with His help
AND
He is more than willing to make you into that person.
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Resources
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Everywhere I have visited in the United States seems to have a small rock shop
somewhere nearby. I would suggest that you visit one and get to know the owners.
They will be able to help you with many rocks and fossils that will be of help to you
in illustrating appropriate lessons.
(cut and paste the links into your browser window)
Some books on rocks that you might be interested in are:
DK Handbooks: Gemstones
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=backpainrelie-20&path=tg/detail/-/1564584984/qid%3D1041969017/sr%3D1-3Gemstones of the World, Revised Edition
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=backpainrelie-20&path=tg/detail/-/0806994614Eyewitness: Rocks & Minerals
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=backpainrelie-20&path=tg/detail/-/0789458047/qid%3D1041969017/sr%3D1-9National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=backpainrelie-20&path=tg/detail/-/0394502698/qid%3D1041969719/sr%3D1-12Eyewitness: Crystal & Gem
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=backpainrelie-20&path=tg/detail/-/0789457644/qid%3D1041969719/sr%3D1-16Smithsonian Handbooks: Rocks & Minerals
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=backpainrelie-20&path=tg/detail/-/0789491060/qid%3D1041969719/sr%3D1-19~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracking God News IS PUBLISHED BY:
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copyright 2002
Ron McCluskey
You may reproduce this newsletter in part or in whole providing that you include the
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ron McCluskey is an emergency room physician and amateur naturalist. Growing up, he studied insects and birds. While he continues to enjoy studying these natural subjects, his interest has grown to include the rest of creation as well.
He has spent over a year doing volunteer work in tropical countries. While there he enjoyed seeing how God's creation gives ample evidence of His intimate knowledge and care for His nature.
Topic: God Looks at the Heart - Thunder Eggs (Read 701 times)