Saturday, October 26, 2013

Parking Garage Jesus

The image of Jesus has been known to appear suddenly and without warning in many modern day places. Apparently even in Bloomington. My world favorite has always been when someone sees him in their food. I personally seem to remember only those that include cheese. There was the grilled cheese sandwich with the toasty face, the Cheeto shaped like Jesus, and the famous burrito, which surely must have had cheese in there somewhere.

But no matter what part of the food pyramid Jesus has decided to light, I can never seem to wrap my head around why the son of God would go out of his way to appear in what we are about to digest. Etcetera. It seems risky, inefficient and certainly a non-sustainable plan, at best. (It’s right up there for me with how I can’t accept that TV commercial where M & M’s are into flirting and dating humans. Am I the only one who finds that odd? Jesus.)

My personal favorite before today was the one on the iron. Someone ironed their clothes and then saw the face of Jesus on the bottom. I found that particularly disturbing and could never wrap my head around the squish and burn factor. Clearly I have severe issues with being literal. (But if it’s any consolation as you read this, I am actually a very spiritual person with a tremendous amount of faith and respect for Jesus)

But today, well, today it is clear that Jesus is saving us right here in the Bloomington Poplars Garage. Who knew? He is fully adorned with his crown of thorns right up there on the wall, on the third floor stairway on the southeast corner. Quietly. I guess he’s protecting us from parking sins.


It took me a few weeks to notice. It was the new paint that gave it away. Every month or so the parking garage stairway graffiti and tagging are cleaned up and painted over. You can tell by the sudden deodorizer and the smell of new paint in all the shades of grey (ok…don’t go there, people….no, not 50…Never read it…and certainly not putting that book and Jesus in the same essay, ok?) But it was today when I realized that this one spot has never been painted over. All the other graffiti is regularly covered. Week after week. But this one, this one stays. It took a few walk-bys for me to take it in and wonder why. Then I saw it. It’s Jesus. Carefully drawn by someone with a marker and purposely not covered over by anyone who has that job to do. I guess it would be quite a responsibility to be the one who defies and defiles. So, if you live in Bloomington, be forewarned. Finding parking just now became a miracle for a completely new reason.

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