This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Lamont Ekker experienced what some people might consider a Thanksgiving miracle when he cut through a 15-pound chunk of sandstone at his Torrey rock shop last week.
Ekker cuts and polishes rocks at his shop, Jurassic Rocks, to expose interesting internal patterns and striations. Three days before Thanksgiving, he was "baking" in his oven some rocks he picked up that day in a quarry near Teasdale in southern Utah. The heat causes the iron in the yellow sandstone to oxidize, turning it a brilliant orangish red.
"When I took those pieces out of the oven, I saw this one had turned into what it is," Ekker recalls. "I've not messed with it in any way, shape or form. Mother Nature did this. And there was no doubt that's what it is."
What Mother Nature has done is create an image in the sandstone that Ekker and many who have seen the boulder say looks like Jesus.
To other observers, it might look like the guy on the Zig-Zag cigarette paper package or maybe Willie Nelson's recent mug shot or, for Utah history buffs, perhaps Porter Rockwell, "the Destroying Angel of Mormondom" — as Brigham Young's bodyguard was known — on a bad-hair day.
For the record, Ekker doesn't call the image in the redrock a miracle. "It's an odd coincidence," he says, adding, "I'm not too much into the religious end of it."
Also, for the record, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City chose not to comment directly on what Ekker and friends call the "Sandstone Jesus," except to say people of faith long constantly to "be in relationship with God."
"The desire for 'signs' exists in every generation," Colleen Gudreau, a spokeswoman for the diocese, wrote in a statement. "For a person of faith, the signs have already been given. God can be seen in all the wonders of his creation, but especially in each human person who is made in his image."
Gudreau quoted St. Augustine: "Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe."
Ekker already has dealt with skeptics who think they are seeing the hand of man. "I've had people say, 'I think you painted that on there.' It's so distinct and perfect, when you first look at it, you would think it is [painted on]. But, in fact, it's not."
Until he figures out what to charge for the Sandstone Jesus, Ekker is offering the rock on eBay, with a minimum price tag of $15,000. Apparently a man of little faith, Ekker acknowledges he doubts he will get that much for it. (Similar non-Jesus-imprinted sandstone art goes for $14.99 at his store and "about half that, wholesale.")
"I looked on eBay yesterday and there was a burned tortilla with Jesus on it," he says. "I couldn't see it myself, but they wanted a lot of money for that thing. I have no clue what to ask for it. But judging from a burnt tortilla going for $25,000 — $15,000 seems like a good place to start."
Rock of ages
O To view Lamont Ekker's sandstone Jesus on eBay, visit › bit.ly/dKWyYt.