Stories about us: And now he's a Gem

At a Prince Street convenience store, at least every day – sometimes more – a curious customer will ask Gem Rainer about his first name. 

"Is it really Gem?" they'll float while purchasing gas. 

"How'd you get the name Gem?" they'll say while he scans their Red Bull. 

Rainer, who's built like an offensive lineman, but has the warmth to cheer you up after a bad game, is happy to tell them. But prefaces it with, "This is a true story." 

He does that because he knows its obscurity flirts with fiction. But the story is too specific to be made up. 

It all happened 23 years ago when he was working at a grocery store in San Angelo, Texas. At that point Gem was Jim. And Jim was in a transitional phase of his life after recently moving there from central Texas. 

After ringing up a customer, Jim said he heard a voice. It was God. 

"He said, your name shall be Gem now: G E M," Rainer recalled last week. 

"What?" he replied. 

The Lord repeated himself.

"Your name is going to be Gem now. That's going to be your name because it stands for God's Everlasting Mercy."

"Whoa," the man now known as Gem replied. 

He immediately called family and friends to let them know. Every single one of them got goosebumps, he said. 

Though his government ID still reads Jim, it's Gem on his name tag at work. And that's all that matters. 

"That was a very personal revelation. Your name means something. People don't realize that. People just name their kids whatever, but you need to have a revelation of what a name means," he said.