Wood Working: What would I have done?

Often time when people are faced with a touch decision, you hear them say "What would Jesus Do?". Have you ever wondered what would you be doing if you were living 2000 years back in ancient Jerusalem?

If you were on the King's side, you may be seeing a man, who is accompanied by the poor and sick, as a rebel to the Kingdom and probably say he deserve to die on the cross.

If you were on Jesus's side and believed he is going to start a new kingdom, you probably would be disappointed, sad and angry to hear that tomorrow is the last day of a man you followed, listened and hoped to save you and your family.

No matter which side I am in, there is going to be an image playing over and over in my head of a man on a cross:
- A Man with no chance of escaping the certainty of death.
- A Man who is going to loose everything in a matter of hours.
- A Man bleeding, hungry and thirsty probably falling unconscious but awaken by the screaming of the vultures circling over his head
- A Man mocked, ridiculed and judged by a group
- A Man looking like a failure in the eyes of the people he loved, cared, cured and taught
- The helplessness on a blood covered face

If you were on the roadside while the Procession went to Calvary for the Crucifixion, you still can hear the cries from his beloved, the laughter from the solderers and the carelessness of others. If you close your eyes, you can see the vultures circling over his head, hear their screaming intermingled by the cries of his mother.

I don't think I will go and see the crucified man on a cross. It will be too hard to watch especially when he is about to die. You will be reminded of the eventuality of one day you will have to go through a similar situation. This is how I think I will see him, in my mind, watching from far far away probably in the last hours of the sunset.

Inspiration for this creation is from this photo that I took in in 2004, Iglesia de la Virgen de Guadalupe church in Velarde, New Mexico


I am planning to build two more of these and plan to auction in local churches to raise money for a charity (which takes care of mentally challenged and orphaned kids and adults). 100 percent of the money will go to the charity to feed the inmates and feed other similar patients in hospitals near my village. This is a tribute to my two mothers, One taught me to be compassionate of the sick and poor, Other doing the same even today.

Your visit to this page itself is encouraging and rewarding for me.

-Paul

Wood Working: Swing

Couple of years back, I saw a picture of a similar swing in a movie. At first I was not sure I can complete this project. It took almost 4 months, mostly weekends to complete the project. Since I didn't have any measurements or never saw a similar swing in real, it took a lot of trial and error, cutting and re-cutting and a lot of sanding to make this one. Needless to say, I made a lot of Saw Dusts :)

I am a big fan of The New Yankee show and Norm Abram. After watching the show for almost 5 years, I decided it is time for making some saw dusts. I took inspirations from one of Norm's famous projects Highboy and the original movie frame to build this swing.

This is my second wood working project and first time ever using many of the power tools. Backboard is cut with a jig saw. Most of the joints are Mortise and Tenon with minimal mechanical fasteners.

The root on the round table is another project that I did earlier. During my house's construction, I saw an old oak tree root in my property. After peeling off the skin, trimming, filling, sanding, polishing and staining, it turned out to be a good showpiece. It took almost a month mostly weekends to finish the project

Hope you like this as much we do!

-Paul