THE REAL GEORGE

Isaiah 64:3-8
3 You came down, and the mountains trembled before You. 4 Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides You, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him. 5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember Your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, You were angry. How then can we be saved? 6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. 7 No one calls on Your name or strives to lay hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins. 8 Yet, O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.

George Washington is coming home--sort of. Three new "Georges" will be gracing Washington's home in Mount Vernon, Virginia, by 2006. Researchers are busy creating a trio of life-size replicas of the first president of the United States for a new $85-million education center and museum.

The challenge is to find images and descriptions that will help specialists fashion what President Washington looked like. They're targeting three ages: 19, George as a surveyor and young frontiersman; 45, as General of the Continental Army; 57, as the first Prez.

You'll find a somber-looking George Washington on every US dollar bill. He started losing his teeth in his twenties and kept his mouth closed to hide his unattractive dentures.

Museum designers armed with lasers, computers, and other modern tools hope to create authentic-looking versions of George--false teeth and all. His head will be the most difficult task. It will initially be made of clay, then wax will be added, and painting will perfect the piece.

Putting together three versions of a former president takes a great deal of painstaking analysis and technological expertise. But even when the experts are done, they'll have only a facsimile of what the real Washington looked like.

God made us out of "clay" (the stuff of earth) with the care only a loving Father could possess. The prophet Isaiah wrote, "O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand" (64:8).

Now, sometimes we may feel less like God's handiwork and more like a piece of work, but Scripture makes it plain that God carefully crafted us. The awesome God (v.3) who is over all creation made us!

What's more, He calls His own "the work of My hands for the display of My splendor" (60:21). You've been created and saved by a loving Father in heaven. --Tom Felten

destination
points

* How does it make me feel to know that I have been crafted by a God who loves me?
* How do I display God's splendor in my life?

LINKS:
George Washington: Technology Forges Into The Past
http://www.freep.com/news/nw/george28e_20040928.htm

George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate And Gardens
http://www.mountvernon.org

bottom line: A caring God made me with great care.

soul journey