What Would Jesus See

Gary Burrell of Moore, Oklahoma recently retiled the family’s shower using 3-inch stone tiles that had slightly different shades and textures. Not long after, he noticed that one of them had what looked like an image of the Virgin Mary. His wife Carol didn’t believe him until she went into the bathroom to look. “It stood right out,” she said.  Had her husband noticed the image of Mary while he was tiling the shower, she says he would have given her a more prominent spot. They plan to leave the tile where it is because they’re afraid it would be ruined if they tried to remove it. Meanwhile, she keeps looking for more images around the house. “I have to admit,” she said. “I do stare at the walls now, looking.”

On the way to work recently, Kent Hardison, who runs Ma’s Hot Dog stand in Kinston, North Carolina, noticed that kudzu had taken over a utility pole and made a mental note to go back and spray the parasitic vines with herbicide. Then he looked again. “I glanced at it, and it looks like Jesus,” Hardison said. “I thought, ‘You can’t spray Jesus with Roundup.’ ” He says many of  his customers think the vine is a reminder that God is watching over people. And perhaps that you should treat kudzu as you would like kudzu to treat you.

Lou Balducci of Mission Viejo, California, was ready to throw out an old rocking chair in February, but when he removed the seat cushion he noticed the image of Jesus in the weathered wood. Now, four months later, he’s decided it’s time to let someone else enjoy it, so he’s put it on eBay with a starting price of $25,000. He says it’s rare, is a museum piece, and it has “healing powers.” Oh yeah, and he’ll be glad to arrange shipping.

Alex Guillen of East El Paso, Texas, had 50 friends over on Saturday night for his 50th birthday when they saw an image begin to appear on a stone wall. They took photographs every ten minutes and when it was done they saw the image of the Virgin Mary. Oddly, each of the photos shows something a little different. In one, you can see the image of a goat head in the Virgin’s robes. In another, there’s a glowing red head that appears to have horns. And in another, there’s a number 5 on her robes, all similar to a Virgin Mary sighting in 1876. Well, they do say that everything old is new again.

When an employee pulled a three-cheese pizza from the oven at Posh Pizza in New Farm, Brisbane, Australia, she was surprised to find that it had morphed into a three-Jesus pizza, coming out with the image of Jesus’ face on it. In spite of it bringing luck when the owner of the store later parked in a loading zone and didn’t get a ticket, they decided to sell it on eBay and donate the proceeds to charity. The vacuum packed pizza garnered 26 bids with the winner getting it for a low-ball AU$153, which is about US$161. A deal no matter how you slice it.

When Steve Hirst and Carl Richards, contractors working on the Brockholes Wetland and Woodland Nature Reserve near Samlesbury, Lancashire, England, used Google Maps to look at a sand and mud pit at the site, they were shocked to see the image of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus in the satellite image. While the men are impressed, their project manager isn’t. Ian Selby says the image was taken a few years ago and there are trees planted there now so you can’t see it anymore. “‘We have more important things going on such as a £10million development opening at Easter. The area has changed dramatically and you can no longer see the image.” Did he say Easter?