What happens after Butter Jesus melts down

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Anyone who’s been on the road a while has certain landmarks they look for. We live in Southern Ohio and when we’re traveling towards home on I-75, we always pass the Butter Jesus. I’m sure any of you who have been on the stretch of 75 between Cincinnati and Dayton know what I’m talking about. For those of you who don’t, it’s an enormous yellow Jesus statue, jutting out of a pond in front of a gigantic church. Actually, it’s only half a Jesus. He’s submerged from the waist down, but he’s freakin’ huge.

There were several schools of thought on the giant Jesus. Most people took it in stride, considered it a unique object, something to mention when traveling through. Some people thought it was an eyesore, and a dangerous distraction for passers-by. There were people who had petitions to take it down, and people with petitions to keep it up.

Two years ago, the decision to take it down was made by Mother Nature. Giant Butter Jesus was struck by lightning and burned completely to ash. The only thing left was a big, ugly steel skeleton that looked like a praying mantis emerging from the pond, which was far more disturbing than Butter had ever been.

Now let’s take a minute here to decide what the next course of action should be. If I had a giant, yellow Jesus in my front yard, and it got struck by lightning and burned to the ground, I would take it to heart. “Yes sir, I get it. No more Butter Jesus.” Apparently, I don’t think like a church official. Imagine that.

During the past two years, the congregation has been raising money to build an even bigger Jesus. They are erecting a Godzilla-sized Jesus this week, and defy Mother Nature to take this one. The flea market down the street from the church is in rapture since they have tons of traffic from people coming to see the new Jesus and the stalls are all rented.

So if you’re traveling I-75 through Southern Ohio this weekend, take a minute to look at the new Jesus for me. I prefer to hedge my bets and stay far away from it, as I’m pretty sure plagues of locust come after being struck by lightning, and I’m not fond of locust.

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If you want to see images of the first Butter Jesus and hear a song about him, check this out on the Bob and Tom channel of youtube.