New Name Because of Inclusions

Now here’s how you can tell if someone is a gemology geek:

Friend, “I splurged and bought a new puppy.”

Geeky Me, “Great! I splurged and got a new gemstone microscope.”

I love my microscope. I can look closely at gemstones and see internal inclusions. Inclusions are the fuzzys, flakes, featherings, horsetails, lily pads, and other extra stuff inside the otherwise clear stone.

Now usually we don’t want inclusions. In diamonds – carbon spots – no, no. But in some gemstones it is an identifying mark that they are real and not fake, or they are the indications from where they came. And in some gemstones they make them, well, just pretty.

Now quartz… is quartz… is quartz. But when it has inclusions of hematite (red and silvery black flakes and ribbons) it gets a new name. It is then called “Strawberry Quartz.” It’s a pretty name for a pretty little stone. And the inclusions are what give it a new name. (OK, finished being geeky.)

When I was thinking about having a new name because of inclusions, I thought of me. And not just me, but other people like me now and in centuries past. You see, people started believing in Jesus Christ as the forgiver of their inclusions (sins) and started following His teachings as the Son of God. They admitted their inclusions and admitted that Jesus Christ forgave inclusions. Were the inclusions gone? No, just forgiven. And the people around them saw a difference and gave them a new name – Christians. That means “followers of Christ” or little wanna be Christs, or we just want everyone to see Christ in us first and start with that in our name.

Acts 11: 21- 26

And the hand of the Lord was on them, (They were refugee believers fleeing persecution and going to Antioch.)

and on a great number who believed in the Lord. (These were the refugee’s converts.)

The report came to ears of the church in Jerusalem (They wondered if this was real.)

and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. (He was supposed to figure out what was going on.)

When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them to stay faithful to the Lord with a steadfast purpose (He told them to keep living following Jesus and telling others.)

because he was a man full of the Holy Spirit of faith. (Barnabas could tell that their belief was real.)

And a great many people were added. (There were a growing number of believers in Christ.)

So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Paul and found him and brought him to Antioch. (And said, “Hey, man, you gotta see this.”)

For a whole year they met with the church and taught many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. (People came up with a name for these Christ followers that was easier to say than “these little Christ followers who have given their life to live the Jesus way and are very different from the rest of us.")

*All the (  )’s are mine.

We have inclusions.

We have believed in Jesus the Christ who has forgiven our inclusions.

We have given our lives to follow this Savior.

We have a new name because of this.

And it’s not “strawberry quartz!”

God is Extraordinarily Good

You are good and do good; teach me your statutes. Psalm 119:68

After we’ve been through ordinary albeit unpleasant events we can look back and evaluate them.

That’s where I was Sunday morning in church; at the evaluation stage of an unfortunate Saturday.

And here are the events of that day:

I had just spent a week of a wonderful family vacation at Oak Island, North Carolina. Knowing that I had a 9 hour drive ahead of me and that I was singing in the praise team the next day and I’m not a spring chicken anymore, I thought I would leave at 7 AM. I’d get home in time to unpack and decompress.

 About 2 hours into the trip I thought I’d stop and get gas. I had forgotten to do it at the beach on Friday. On the off ramp my car started doing funny things: all the lights on the dash were flashing, and the car was sputtering. I’d just gotten into the parking lot of the gas station when the car quit and I knew something was wrong.

I am prepared for this kind of event because I have AAA. So I called and in a short amount of time the tow truck came. The very friendly guy got my information and asked if I knew anyone in Florence, South Carolina (That’s where I had the breakdown) I could stay with while the car shop he was towing it to could fix it on Monday. I explained, “No” and that I really needed to get back to Montgomery, Alabama that day because I was singing in the praise team at my church on Sunday

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He very kindly said, “I’m going to get you to church on Sunday.” So he loaded my car on the truck put me inside the cab with him and started calling repair shops. He must have called 4 or 5 shops before he found a place that would work on my car that day. It was Sears at the mall in Florence.

He dropped off my car and told me exactly what to tell them and said everything would be taken care of. (He must have told the repair shop at Sears that I had to get to Alabama that day because they got to my car quickly and knew all about my trip from the beach to Alabama) He had predicted that I needed a new alternator and that was exactly what mechanic Mike found out. As he was fixing that, he found one of the belts was frayed. (He showed me the belt and it looked like it was held together by threads.) Scary that I had been driving with that!

Since I was at the mall I had lunch at the food court, visited many stores, and had a Starbucks coffee. Not really part of the plan but not unpleasant. The nice lady at the auto desk, Phyllis, called me on my cell and told me that my car was fixed so I went back to Sears Auto. As I was getting ready to pay, Mike, the repair guy came in and said that as he was backing out my car he noticed the hood was higher on the right side than the left. When he looked in he saw that the wrong size battery had been installed and was causing arcing which was the reason for the messed up the alternator. And a closer examination showed that the underside of my hood was singed and the covers of the battery posts were partly melted. Scary that I had been driving with that.

So back into the shop it went and Mike who could have gone home stayed to replace the battery with a proper sized one. He also found that the wedges that keep the battery safely in place had been removed to make room when the wrong sized battery was put in. So Phyllis called around to other stores to find the right size wedges because they didn’t have them and she put a rush on it to get the part there that day. While we were waiting for the wedges another of the mechanics came in and said that I had broken down at the right place because there was nothing between Florence and Columbia on highway 20. He even said that God was looking out for me

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And low and behold after 5 hours my car was safe to drive home. Phyllis included on the receipt that the reason the alternator died was because of the wrong sized battery and included that the wedges were missing. Mike put the old battery in my trunk for me and they both told me to take it to the ridiculous installer and ask for recompense. (They said, "ridiculous.")

Well, I did get home (the 9 hour trip turned into a 14 hour trip) and did make it to church. And then My Pastor Wade started his message with this statement:

“God ordinarily does the extraordinary through the ordinary.”

Exactly!

And here is my evaluation of Saturday:

Yes, God made sure I didn’t hurt myself driving the death trap to the beach.

Yes, God made sure I broke down at the right place.

Yes, God made sure I got the tow truck driver that cared.

Yes, God put Mike and Phyllis at the shop in Sears.

Yes, God got me safely home.

Yes, God is good and He does good things.

Look around at your ordinary events and see how God is putting the extraordinary in your ordinary.