His Word In Wood

A few weeks after I had made a beautiful mesquite carving of Joshua 24:15 for Randy, he told me he needed another one.  Really?  Yeah... someone had seen it and wanted it so he gave it to them.  So I made this big carving for him in walnut.  The raised gold letters are awesome against the dark walnut.

Air dried walnut with the bark still on it is my favorite woods.  I love the color variations and wild grain.  The walnut machines very nicely allowng fine detail.

Poor Randy, says he needs another carving because his son wanted this one.  So we are out looking for another really special piece of wood for him... maybe he'll get to keep the next one!

Approximately $275

This beautiful walnut carving.is of the name "Axle" which, in Hebrew, means "Father of Peace." The carving features large outset letters on a smooth background to accentuate the beautiful wood grain. Amy commissioned this custom carving in celebration of her soon to be first-born son. Congratulations Amy! 

May your son walk humbly before his King all the days of his life bringing the peace of knowing Christ as Lord and Savior to this chaotic and frantic world.

Biblical "hope" isn't weak wishful thinking.  As Joseph Prince says, it is "The Confident, Positive, Expectation of Good!"  Of course, you can only have such hope if you are in covenant relationship with God.  I am so thankful that I am!

Jinny and I met on a flight to Denver and during the flight she asked me to create this carving for her.  It was a great flight but windshear caught the plane during landing and it almost crashed.  The pilot was able to abort and circled for a while before attempting to land again.  Almost everyone on the plane was terrified but two passengers were completely at peace.  And why not?  We had just spent the past hour sharing about the love and faithfulness of our Lord! 

Jinny and I worked out all the design details of the carving by e-mail.  That's always a lot of fun.  I sent her photos of all sorts of wood that we had available from Redwood to Cherry.  She fell in love with this huge, gnarly piece of walnut with the bark still on it.  It was the perfect choice and she had me add a barbed wire hanger to make it a truly one-of-a-kind piece.  Best of all, in the hands of Voice of Hope Ministries, the $240 sale of this carving provided 1,400 meals for children in Nicaragua.  It doesn't get any better than that! 

If you would like to design a totally unique gift, just e-mail me at Richard@HisWordInWood.com and tell me about your idea. 

The Hebrew people understood that there is great power in a name and thus they named their children according to their prayers for the child's life. The name Elijah means "Yah Is God". Elijah's parents lived in a world much like our own where it was OK to worship or do anything as long as you didn't mention the name of Yah (Yahweh, Jehovah), the one true God. But Elijah's parents stood up and declared through the son's name that Yah, and Yah alone, was God.

Karin follows this great tradition and has celebrated it with this carving. May Karin's Elijah walk in the spirit of his name all the days of his life bringing honor to the Lord and clarity to a people who have lost their way!

This carving featured bold silver and gold outset letters on an intense metalic blue crystal background.

This beautiful mesquite carving was created for Grace-N-Truth Ministries in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  We worked with the customer to choose the perfect piece of wood, fonts and colors... even a piece of barbed wire to hang it with!  The resulting carving is fitting of the powerful message it carries.  This carving was $220 which provided 1,100 meals for children in Leon, Nicaragua.

Here's a fun project.  Raquel wanted the name "Shiri" in Hebrew letters to match an elegant little cake!  We worked with her to design this one-of-a-kind free-standing plaque as a table ornament.  It features 7" high layered Hebrew letters in pink and gold floating in front of a cedar background withwild and colorful grain.  The 3.5" wide base and the capital are cut from the same piece of wood as the background.  I'm hoping I can get a photo of the carving on the table with all the little cakes around it (and maybe one of the cakes too!  Yummy!).   The full price from this sale was used to care for widows and orphans in Homa Bay Kenya through Bright Star Ministries.   $220

The Lord told me to carve this unusual plaque as a gift of encouragement for a special man of God.  I knew Steve loved my Hebrew carvings but I couldn't figure out what to make for him.  Frustrated, I asked the Lord to lead me (always a good call!)  He immediately took me to Exodus 21:5 which was a scripture that I didn't really like because it dealt with slavery.  As I pondered why He led me to this scripture I suddenly noticed... for the first time... that it actually said, "I love my [Aleph-Tav] Master [Aleph-Tav]...  I was stunned because the "Aleph-Tav" is the Hebrew equivalent of "Alpha-Omega".  It literally said, "I love my master, Jesus Christ, I will not go out free."  

I knew this was from God but, as I carved it, I struggled over whether Steve would understand it or not.  But the night I presented it to him at the discipleship group that he leads, he was totally speechless.  He and his wife, delivered from years of living death through drugs and alcohol, immediately understood it far better than I did... it was the very cry of his heart.  

Does the Holy Spirit know what He is doing?  Oh Yes!  We just need to learn to hear His voice and follow immediately without questioning.

This massive 11 lb mesquite carving is an exercise in refined rustic.  The carving features large gold raised letters with deep outlining.  The polished lacquer finish shows off the gorgeous grain of the wood.   $225

The hinged stand is also made from mesquite and folds for shipping.  The wood itself is from a really gnarly tree found half buried out in west Texas... hence the dramatic bug holes.  

As I contemplated this unusual piece of mesquite, I wanted the carving to be as unique as it is. The Hebrew inscription says, "Grace - Mercy - Peace" (Chen - Chesed - Shalom) for it is only by God's Grace that He gives us Mercy so that we can have Peace with Him... Now that's something to blow a shofar about!

The raised, gold letters are deeply outlined in the gorgeous wood grain finished in lacquer.  This free-standing carving can sit on a mantle or hearth or perhaps beside the podium at church.  This would be a fabulous gift for your church or synagogue!   $150

A few days before Rosh Hoshana I had a vision for a carving of the nation of Israel with the words, "Shema Yisrael" or "Hear O Israel" emblazoned across it.  I started to work on it immediately as the cry of every heart should be that the nation of Israel turn to the Lord with all their hearts.  This carving was a gift for a rabbi but I can make another for you.  

The nation of Israel is in natural lacquered walnut so the grain shows beautifully.  The raised golden Hebrew letters are in the form of a flame against a jet black background.  

Approximately $150