God Looks at the Heart - Thunder Eggs

God looks at the heart - Thunder Eggs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Resources ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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%3D1-3 Gemstones of the World, Revised Edition www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=backpainrelie-20&path=tg/ detail/-/0806994614 Eyewitness: Rocks & Minerals www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=backpainrelie-20&path=tg/ detail/-/0789458047/qid%3D1041969017/sr%3D1-9 National 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%3D1-12 Eyewitness: Crystal & Gem www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=backpainrelie-20&path=tg/ detail/-/0789457644/qid%3D1041969719/sr%3D1-16 Smithsonian 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: http://www.trackinggod.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ copyright 2002 Ron McCluskey You may reproduce this newsletter in part or in whole providing that you include the website, contact information and resource links