Jumping Jehoshaphat

"Everything happens for a reason," is what my buddy used to say. I'd have to agree. One afternoon Joanne heard a loud thump on the adoration chapel wall, which is shared with the school gym. When she looked up she saw the corpus of Jesus hanging upside down on the wall. She was able to get the crucifix down, straighten up our Lord, and tighten the screw that held Him in place. But as she and Paul were fixing to hang Him back up, the cross, which was resting upright on the floor, fell on its side. It wasn't a very dramatic fall, but the jar of the impact was enough to explode Jesus. Not knowing what to do, they bagged up all the tiny clay fragments and called Fr. Bryce.

That same afternoon, my buddy Joe Orban called saying, "They have taken my Lord and I don't know where they put Him." I said, "Calm down son, and tell me what's going on." He let me know that it looked like the crucifix in the chapel had crashed and if he could help restore Jesus, let him know. So I did.

When I brought Joe the bag holding the fragments of our Lord, he was tempted to back out of the mission, suggesting buying a new one. But I believed in him, and said to give it a go. So with a wing and a prayer, he set out.

Slowly but surely, progress was made.

Needing to fill in the gaps, Joe used some auto body bondo. He had to get a little creative with our Lord's right hand which was missing fingers. I told him it reminded me of Happy Gilmore's golf pro's hand. Eventually, Joe got our Lord restored back into solid shape. The next step was painting. Deb had done some work for us before and was willing to take on this project. I gave her free rein on creativity and she really brought our Lord back to life. 

Giddy up partner.

I don't know why our Lord exploded that Thursday afternoon. But I do know that all those involved where deeply touched by the experience. Joe later told me: "My main take away from this experience is that there's nothing that faith, hope, love, and a little JB Weld can't fix." Amen man. Jesus makes all things new. When all seems lost, our Lord is able to pick up the pieces of our lives and put them back together. And the end result is even better than before! Thanks Joe. Your holy ambition has given us all hope. Keep up the Good work brother.