More miraculous than the Virgin Mary on white bread<br /><br />Frank Gray<br /><br /><br />It happened on Oct. 18, but Ami Houston, an apprentice at General Motors who is studying arc welding at Ivy Tech State College, was a little reluctant to make a fuss about it.<br /><br />After all, the world was rapt by the surging price of a grilled cheese sandwich with the image of the Virgin Mary on it, being auctioned on eBay. That was a tough act to follow.<br /><br />One cant hide the unusual forever, though, so last week Houston decided to go public.<br /><br />It seems that on that Tuesday, as Houston practiced welding on the edge of a quarter-inch-thick piece of steel, part of the steel plate began to glow, bright enough that it became visible to her through the dark welding mask she wore.<br /><br />Off to the edge of the plate, a good 3 inches from the area she was welding, lines formed, developing a glowing image bright enough that it drew her attention away from the intensely bright spot where she was practicing her welding.<br /><br />At first Houston thought she might be seeing things. So she let the steel plate cool and showed it to her teacher, John Christman. Look at this, she said. There, the lines that were once glowing had turned dark, but they still formed what Houston had seen glowing not long before the image of Jesus.<br /><br />The teacher gave Houston a new piece of steel to keep practicing her welding. He set the piece with the image aside and later took it to church.<br /><br />When he brought it back a few days later, a co-worker grabbed it and took it home and scanned it into his computer and then also took it to church.<br /><br />Later, another apprentice took it to the GM plant, where co-workers examined it.<br /><br />Im not religious at all, Houston said. But when she looked at the lines, she thought, Oh, that looks like Jesus. My husband is even less religious than I am hes Mr. I-Dont-See-Anything-in-Anything and he saw it.<br /><br />Indeed, there on the plate of steel, lines, most likely caused when impurities in the metal made themselves visible under heat, had formed the image of a face with long hair resembling Jesus but an angry Jesus. Sometimes, though, Houston noted, it sort of looks like a cocker spaniel, too.<br /><br />Well, lets not get into that.<br /><br />I kind of,
I dont want to sound horrible, but, I didnt really care when the image first appeared. But everyone got so excited, Houston said. Now, she says, shes excited that everyone else is so excited.<br /><br />Houston said her teacher joked that Jesus looked angry because Im a lousy welder shes much better now, she says though there will undoubtedly be other explanations offered to account for the stern look on the image.<br /><br />As the fuss continued, the steel plate made its rounds. Co-workers would have it for days at a time.<br /><br />That changed, though.<br /><br />Now its, You need to get it back. What if whoever gets it sells it? her friends said to her.<br /><br />These days, thats something worth worrying about. Items with religious images on them well, some items are commanding high prices. The grilled-cheese Virgin, for example, brought $28,000 on eBay. No telling what a more permanent icon of faith such as this will bring.<br /><br />For now, Houston doesnt have any firm plans for the piece of steel. Shes just keeping it inside a wrinkled plastic bag.<br /><br />I dont know what Ill do with it, she said, but her parents are coming to town soon, and shell certainly want to hang onto it long enough to show them.<br /><br />There is a downside to the episode. You know, Houston says, I didnt even get an A. She got just a B on the welding she had done on the edges of the plate.<br /><br />Maybe Im not a good welder, but I can make Jesus appear.<br /><br />In steel, no less.
<br /><br />Which is worse, the people that list stuff like that on Fleabay, or the lemmings that bid to buy it????