Fossil Hunting & Extraction

From the archives, comes a year old post that sat in my draft folder.  This one comes from one of my nights sitting in a hospital room, in the dark, listening to a patient snore.  That was my job back then.  Sitting with patients in the hospital who needed to be supervised.  It was overnight, in a hard, uncomfortable chair, in the dim light of my cell phone that I met with God and heard Him talking to me as if He was sitting right next to me.  So I wrote down some things. 

Like a fossil that's just begun to be brushed off. And the thing about being buried for so long is that someone else needs to dig it up. Brush it off. And a fossil is handled with delicate care. It's displayed under lights & scrutiny & opinions. Then it gets named. Then everyone knows what its identity is. I wonder if the person who discovers the fossil is the one that names the fossil. A fossil can't discover itself. It can't name itself. Only the discoverer. 

God must be the one digging, brushing, pulling out of the ground, handling with care, researching it out, giving a name, displaying. 

That's the vision I have. I'm a fossil in the ground. Being dug up, brushed off, polished up, named & displayed. 

(random thought) Before something becomes a fossil, the organism has to die. 

During the extraction, the fossil is at its most vulnerable state; a well-planned extraction reduces the risk of damage and takes into consideration the desired end result. i.e. how the specimen will be prepared and displayed. 

So I did some digging... (ha...get it, digging...cuz fossils. never mind)

I found some stuff online about fossil research (so it MUST be true...) and found it very similar to the way God digs us out of the pits that we find ourselves in and bury deep to protect ourselves from the things around us.  And when He digs, He does it carefully.  And just because He's careful, doesn't mean it's not gonna hurt.  It just means He knows the value that's in you. 


(online research) In some cases it may be necessary to strengthen the specimen and/or surrounding matrix before progressing. For example it's common to find naturally occurring cracks passing nearby, beneath or even through the fossil; a weak matrix might crumble during the extraction and must therefore be stabilized before progressing. A fast-setting superglue is a controversial technique but useful in these situations, providing essential stability before hammering.

**** Note that overuse or misguided application can create irreversible damage to the specimen.**** 

As a general rule use as little glue as necessary and apply it as far from the specimen as possible - a drip of liquid superglue will follow the crack unaided. Avoid allowing the glue to make contact with the surface of the fossil as it can be difficult to remove. Once the fossil and matrix are stable the extraction can take place. (end online research)