The Real Thing

Pearls were one of the first gems to be worn by man. The Chinese referto them in ancient writings as the soul of the oyster. In Biblical timesand today, pearls are a status symbol of the elite. So precious are pearlsthat John writes in Revelation 21, the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven,the dwelling place throughout eternity for all of the saints, will have 12gates each made of a single pearl. So where do pearls come from?

Pearls come from oysters, mussels, and clams from both freshwater and saltwater. The pearl itself actually begins as an irritant. Sand, a pebble, or a pesky parasitic organism gets inside the oyster's shell. To reducethe irritation, the oyster coats the intruder with layers of a solid, slick material called nacre. The nacre is composed of two components: aragonite and a glue-like substance called conchiolin which cements the layers together. Natural pearls ofhigh quality are rare and in the past divers would risk their lives divingfor them.

Since fake pearls and true pearls look alike, how can you tell the difference? If you put a real pearl in your mouth and slosh it softlyacross your teeth and it feels totally smooth - its a fake! The real thing feels slightly gritty, slightly imperfect.

Our imperfect souls, after an encounter with Christ, are covered by HIS blood layer by layer and are made white and pure in God's eyes like precious pearls. Our slightly gritty nature, our imperfection is made whole andpure, precious and priceless through Jesus. From the outside we may look no different than anyone else, but GOD knows the REAL thing from a fake.

?Jennifer Wheeler

	Craftsmen: Christ-Centered Proverbs for Men Author :John Crotts
Take a look Designed to help men understand Biblical wisdom, to see Jesus as the embodiment and source of wisdom, and to apply that wisdom to the God-given role of husband and father. TAKE A LOOK...
	Maximized Manhood Author :COLE EDWIN
Take a look Pornography. Adultery. Television addiction. Immaturity. Edwin Cole is not afraid to tackle the tough topics that affect men today. His biblical, straightforward insights will help men and women alike to realize their full potential in Christ. Putting these principles into practice will not only revolutionize your home, but will also help you to transform your life into the powerful influence that God designed it to be! TAKE A LOOK...
	Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't Author :Jim Collins
Take a look The Challenge Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning. But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? The Study For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great? The Standards Using tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. How great? After the leap, the good-to-great companies generated cumulative stock returns that beat the general stock market by an average of seven times in fifteen years, better than twice the results delivered by a composite index of the world's greatest companies, including Coca-Cola, Intel, General Electric, and Merck. The Comparisons The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. What was different? Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good? Over five years, the team analyzed the histories of all twenty-eight companies in the study. After sifting through mountains of data and thousands of pages of interviews, Collins and his crew discovered the key determinants of greatness -- why some companies make the leap and others don't. The Findings The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. The findings include: Level 5 Leaders: The research team was shocked to discover the type of leadership required to achieve greatness. The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles): To go from good to great requires transcending the curse of competence. A Culture of Discipline: When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great results. Technology Accelerators: Good-to-great companies think differently about the role of technology. The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Those who launch radical change programs and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap. “Some of the key concepts discerned in the study,” comments Jim Collins, "fly in the face of our modern business culture and will, quite frankly, upset some people.” Perhaps, but who can afford to ignore these findings? TAKE A LOOK...