Two years ago, Lori received a strand of pearls from some dear friend of her. Since that time, She have been intrigued with pearls. So this past week she did some research on how a pearl becomes a pearl. To ensure that she was not falling for any urban legends, She asked Russ McMillan, her resident Marine Biologist, for assistance. Russ explained that a beautiful pearl begins as a fragment of broken shell, a sand grain, or even a parasite. Such an object enters an oyster’s shell and irritates its soft tissue. The irritant then gets covered and strengthened with layers of mother-of-pearl or nacre (NAY-ker). Over the course of time, a beautiful pearl develops. Similarly, the Bible teaches that every human starts out as an irritant. We are enemies of God, dead in our trespasses and sins. Yet, by God’s amazing grace , those of us who believe in Christ are declared positionally righteous. Slowly but surely, God then envelops us in Himself and practically transforms us into beautiful