July 1, 2007

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    I pray you’ve all had a great week!  It’s been pretty quiet for us this week here at home, except we did get a call from our son…he lost his glasses yesterday…in the ocean!!  Talk about looking for a needle in the haystack!  So he had to use a good chunk of his money to get a new pair, which may cause a delay in their trip home for a visit!  I’m so glad he’s all right though!  He’s not the best swimmer, and almost drowned about 3 years ago while kayaking when all his friends, and their dads went.  The day before, it had rained pretty hard so the river was swift, and high.  They really shouldn’t have allowed anyone out when it was that high and fast!  It’s a rental place for canoes and kayaks.  I get nervous everytime I think about how he explained that it happened!  He lost his glasses then, and they had to be replaced!  Well, he didn’t say much about how yesterday’s mishap took place … maybe to save me from concern, especially after last time … but I’m just thanking God that He watched over, and protected him!  Oh my, am I so very thankful!  Here are a couple of pictures of him in both his old glasses, and the new ones he got yesterday!  His caption under the new picture when I received it from him was, “Are these geeky enough for ya??”  My reply, ” Alive and geeky is good thing”!  I love you, Sweetie!  I threw this first one in for obvious reasons!
  
  
  

  
  
  How fitting…the scripture on this one says..
  “Save me, for I am yours…”  Psalm 119:94
  
  
  

  
  
  Out with the old…..
   

  

  ………in with the new!!  
  
  

  I still want to share some highlights from last week … and I will catch you up soon {working on uploading pictures}… but, for now I want to share a teaching I read today about “The Pearl of Great Price”.   Again, how fitting for the day Ian and I have had!  Have a blessed weekend, and walk … or swim, in His merciful mighty love!
  
  
  Blessings & Hugs,
   ~ Deborah <><
  
  The PEARL – Author Unknown
  
  As a jeweler by trade I’m always interested in the gemstones listed in the scriptures.  As I was meditating on ‘Matthew 13′, and the parable of the ‘pearl of great price’, I began to think of our Lord.  Why did He come to claim a pearl?  Why not a diamond?
  
  Matthew 13:45
  “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls.” 
  
  Matthew 13:46
  “When he found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all he had and bought it.”
  
  In the parable of the merchant, we see that he sold all he had and bought the single pearl.  It speaks to us of the tremendous price the Lord paid for our redemption.  The God of glory, the King of Kings & Lord of Lords left the splendor of Heaven to claim a pearl, and gained the pearl through paying the price that was far more than any here could pay.
  
  As a jeweler I would question the choice the Lord made choosing to leave the Father’s side for a pearl instead of what we would think of as having greater significance, the girl’s best friend, the much coveted diamond. You probably know that the diamond is graded in ‘value’ according to the 4 C’s: Cut, Color, Clarity & Carat-weight.  The answer to my pondering was right there!  The diamond receives a substantial portion of it’s value from the way a person cuts it.  The work of man’s hand!  The only natural gemstone that has more value when it is found than when men finish with it is the PEARL.  Like the pearl, men can add nothing to the value of out salvation, through Jesus Christ.
  
  Ephesians 2:8 
  “For by grace are we saved through faith; and that not of yourselves — it is the gift of God” —
  
  Ephesians 2:9 
  “Not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
  
  The pearl is formed when a foreign object somehow enters the inside of the oyster, and instead of ejecting the object or irritant out, as most humans would try to do, the object is covered by the oyster with layer upon layer of a substance secreted from it’s own body.  The object that came into the life of the oyster as an irritant, instead of being cast out is turned into something lovely within the oyster.  “We are all an irritant (through our sin) to God, but he accepts us, in spite of our sin.  He covers our sin and brings us into His Holy kingdom.
  
  Think about other details of the pearl.  The longer the pearl stays in the oyster the more valuable it becomes. Isn’t that the character of our God?  When He found us we were nothing more than an irritation to Him, but by God’s grace, we can be of some value to His Kingdom!  God is using our time now to conform us into a beautiful image of His dear Son.  The pearl is formed in a Living Object!  No dead rock is the pearl, it comes from life.  The very life of the oyster is given to the pearl.  What a blessed God that He gives us this chance. In Him we enjoy eternal life, and much more!  Our God has communicated with us in pictures so we comprehend the richness of His Love.  The Pearl to me is just one more analogy of how God can take an irritant (sin) and turn it into something beautiful — if we let Him.
  
  The true value of the pearl is not seen from the outside. To the world around it the pearl is just another barnacle covered nasty looking shell. Oh, friends the Lord looks upon the heart. Are you doing the same, to others? Only the Lord sees us as complete in Him. If the world knew what we will look like when our Bridegroom comes for us, they would surely want to come!
  
  To see the true beauty of the pearl the oyster must die.  The oyster is ripped open with a knife in the side, before the true treasure is revealed.  The analogy in the Pearl here is like Christ’s death, so that all who trust in Him will be able to see and be with Him in His beautiful Kingdom, for eternity.  It’s His desire that all should accept Christ as their personal savior, so that they too shall receive their salvation, and live with Him for eternity.  Thanks be to God for this wonderful gift.  Have you accepted Christ as your Savior?
  
  The PEARL also reminds me:

   God desires to fellowship with us — irritants (sin) and all.
  
   God has communicated with us through the scriptures, using all sorts of metaphors – 
  the beautiful pearl is one more.
  
   All of God’s creation: every bird, pretty flower, panoramic mountain vista, and even oysters,      were given by God to show us things concerning Himself.  God’s final Word to us is His dear Son,
  and all that is written of Him; which we should read about regularly in our Bibles — the book of Pearls.
  
   God can turn irritants (sin) into pearls — if you let Him.
  
  

  John 3:16
  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
  that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
  
  

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