FINDLAY - Roger Powell didn't know exactly how or why, but he knew there was something he had to do: make a sculpture in the sand of Jesus.

A big sculpture.

One that would require, oh, about 35 tons of sand for starters.

His wife, Sharon, who had become accustomed to Roger's sudden artistic impulses, thought she would offer a little practical advice.

"I said: 'There's no sand in Findlay!'●" Mrs. Powell recalled with a laugh.

True enough. But that would not stop this man on a mission.

Mr. Powell made a few calls, obtained permission to use Findlay's Riverside Park for his project, and hired a Toledo firm to haul the sand 40 miles south on I-75.

After several days of nearly round-the-clock packing, shaping, and sculpting, Mr. Powell stepped back and voila: There it was, a 30-foot-by-24-foot horizontal cross, with a lifelike Jesus figure, arms outstretched, made entirely of sand.

Adding impact to the artwork, whose peak was six feet off the ground, were a few strategic splashes of red dye on Jesus' hands, feet, and ribs, along with an actual crown of thorns for his head.

Since creating that sculpture during Holy Week, 2001, Mr. Powell's flash of inspiration has snowballed into an annual event that draws thousands of spectators, some from several states away, to the downtown park in this city of 40,000.

This year for Holy Week, Mr. Powell sculpted 165 tons of sand into three massive scenes of Jesus' life: the nativity, crucifixion, and resurrection.

Some people come just to watch Mr. Powell in action; others come to ponder The Passion of the Christ told not in cinema but in sand.

Mr. Powell's artistry has also been immortalized in The Old Rugged Cross, an inspirational novel by Catherine Ritch Guess published last fall by CRM Books of North Carolina, and some Guess fans make the trek to Findlay to see the sand sculptures and visit the sites mentioned in the novels.

He said the cost of his sand-art ministry is never an issue: He pays the expense out of his own pocket - about $2,500 for sand, floodlights, and other costs - but donations always seem to match the expenses.

The sculptures are made entirely of hard-packed sand with no added ingredients and can last four to five weeks, Mr. Powell said. Rain, snow, or sleet do not wear them down, but wind causes the most damage.

This year the sculptures are scheduled to be recycled into the park's volleyball court on April 25, although the artist is hoping for an extension.

Mr. Powell, 51, owns a landscape architecture firm, Whole Earth Greenery, but has always enjoyed art as a hobby.

He started "playing in the sand" about 15 years ago while vacationing in Florida. Each year, he would make animals and other amusing creations on the St. Petersburg beaches, but on Sundays he'd get up about 2 a.m. and make large crucifixes in the sand.

He would finish before the sun rose, preferring not to take credit for the artwork. Often he would stand in the crowd and listen to comments, and was amazed how much of a spiritual impact the cross had on viewers.

"We were on vacation and had no place to worship so this was Roger's way of going to church," Mrs. Powell said.

It wasn't until 2001 that he thought about creating sand sculptures in his Ohio hometown.

His friend Pat Brenek, who helps pack the sand before it is sculpted, said she has seen many people touched by the religious nature of the artwork.

"People come and they say prayers

and some even cry," she said.

Mr. Powell was working under floodlights about 3 a.m. last year when he saw the outline of a large man approaching through the shadows.

"He looked like he was 7 feet tall, a burly man with a beard. It looked like he never shaved in his life," Mr. Powell said. "When he got close .●.●. he reached around me and picked me up - my feet were about a foot off the ground - and I saw the tears rolling down his beard. He thanked me for the Christ sculpture, then he looked down at me and said, 'Jesus loves me, too.'●"

The big bear of a man knelt down at the sculpture for a few minutes, then got up quietly and walked away.

In November, 2002, at a Christian trade show in North Carolina, a large framed photograph of Mr. Powell's sand crucifix caught the eye of Ms. Guess.

"I had seen it on the Internet, and it was nice, but that photo showed the depth of the artwork. I heard Roger telling a woman about it, and when he finished I said, 'I'm an author of Christian fiction and I want to write a book about you.'●"

Ms. Guess, a North Carolina resident who has published four other inspirational books, said the plot for The Old Rugged Cross came to her in a flash while looking at the photograph.

"I got the whole story in five minutes," she said. "It just poured out."

The novel is the first of three in what Ms. Guess is calling "The Sandman Series," all based on the Findlay sculptures.

She plans to finish the second book, Let Us Break Bread Together, this month, after which she will start writing the third in the series.

The author, who with Mr. Powell has been busy signing copies of her book at Findlay bookstores, coffee shops, and other businesses, is enthusiastic when she summarizes the plot of her first "Sandman" book:

Maggie Matelli, the main character, is a University of Michigan co-ed who has been duped into working as a stripper. She plans to escape to Florida for spring break and find "the perfect man" to rescue her.

While driving south, Maggie pulls off I-75 for a quick stop in Findlay, but gets stuck in a caravan of five slow-moving dump trucks full of sand.

She follows the convoy to Riverside Park where she sees Joshua Redford (aka Roger Powell) carving in the sand. Curious, Maggie takes a seat and, as she watches Redford at work, feels as though her sins are being scraped away.

She eventually finds her "perfect man," but not as she had expected: It's Jesus, represented by the image of Christ in the sand.

"The Sandman Series" took another unexpected plot twist - in the author's life. Shortly after starting The Old Rugged Cross, Ms. Guess was diagnosed with dermatomyositis, a neurological disorder that caused her muscles to rapidly deteriorate.

The author was hospitalized for five months and, she said, at one point the doctors told her to get her affairs in order. But shortly before Holy Week last year, Ms. Guess made a dramatic recovery and the disease is now in remission.

She was able to drive to Findlay last year in time to see Mr. Powell carve his sculptures, and she then finished writing The Old Rugged Cross.

In the next book, Maggie goes to Sicily to explore her roots and the author, who just returned from a trip to Cambodia, plans to visit Italy this summer to research her novel's setting.

Roger Powell's large-scale sand sculptures of Jesus' nativity, crucifixion, and resurrection will be on display in Findlay's Riverside Park, McManness and Center streets, until at least April 25. Catherine Ritch Guess and Mr. Powell will sign copies of The Old Rugged Cross from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday at Coffee Amici, 328 South Main St., Findlay.

Contact David Yonke at:

dyonke@theblade.com

or 419-724-615

First Published April 10, 2004, 12:35 p.m.