{"id":59405,"date":"2010-02-19T21:09:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-20T03:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=59405"},"modified":"2023-02-19T21:12:47","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T03:12:47","slug":"sand-and-pearls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/sand-and-pearls\/","title":{"rendered":"Sand and Pearls"},"content":{"rendered":"\nby Netagene Kirkpatrick<\/a>, August 18, 2009\n\"\"If God can take a grain of sand
\nAnd change it to a pearl –
\nSome tiny lifeless silicone
\nHe made when He made the world,
\nThen why don’t you understand the thought
\nThat you, a living soul
\nMight change from whatever sad state you’re in,
\nIf you’ll let Him make you whole?\nJust like the irritated clam,
\nThis world might agitate.
\nThat tiny seed, that dot of sand
\nNot always controls its fate.\nWe, too, sometimes get in a fix,
\nBut like that tiny sand,
\nIf we patiently hang in there,
\nAnd let God guide our hand,
\nThen we, too, will begin to grow
\nAnd leave our uncomfortable place.
\nWe change from something small and plain
\nAnd become a thing of grace.\nSure, still we’re in this present world,
\nBut our attitude has changed.
\nBy living faithfully to God,
\nOur priorities are rearranged.\nLike pearls who bring to others, joy,
\nWith God’s help, so can we
\nEncourage others to grow better –
\nLeave their “clam” and become free.
\nThat clam’s the world we live in,
\nWhere often is pain and strife,
\nBut we change from sand to a lovely pearl,
\nWhen we let God into our life.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Netagene Kirkpatrick, August 18, 2009 If God can take a grain of sand And change it to a pearl – Some tiny lifeless silicone He made when He made the world, Then why don’t you understand the thought That you, a living soul Might change from whatever sad state you’re in, If you’ll let Him…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[182],"class_list":["post-59405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-suffering"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56613,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/grains-of-sand\/","url_meta":{"origin":59405,"position":0},"title":"Grains of Sand","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Sam Stinson \"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/SandCeremony.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":34674,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/being-made-new\/","url_meta":{"origin":59405,"position":1},"title":"Being Made New","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Isaiah 42:1-12 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is that time of year when we begin thinking about the new year. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sure, it is just a date, a marker in the sand, but it becomes an opportunity to look at what was done and resolve to do better. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Paul\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59510,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/science-as-shifting-sand\/","url_meta":{"origin":59405,"position":2},"title":"Science as Shifting Sand","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry The modern world stands torn between competing understandings of the origins of the universe and of life on Earth: the spiritual understanding of the creation by God as described in Genesis 1-2, and the naturalistic explanations of modern scientific theory. The conflict between these understandings represents\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88534,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-world-under-the-curse-of-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":59405,"position":3},"title":"A World Under the Curse of Sin","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Suffering brings to the front one of the most universal questions: why? Why does God allow it to happen? Why this place? Why this time? Why allow the innocent to suffer and die? We don't understand, and because we don't understand, we may look to God and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94512,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-you-repent-before-being-forgiven\/","url_meta":{"origin":59405,"position":4},"title":"How can you repent before being forgiven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings! I've been struggling to understand repentance. I know it's commonly taught that we must repent of all sin before we can be saved. However, as I read Romans and some of Paul's other writings, I find that Paul talks about being made free from sin, putting to death\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59791,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/repentance\/","url_meta":{"origin":59405,"position":5},"title":"Repentance (Hamilton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Corinthians 7:8-11 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In any pursuit, people develop jargon \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The jargon speeds up communication with people in the same group but can be confusing to outsiders because they don\u2019t know the definition of words \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Christianity is no different. We sometimes forget what it is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}