14-Foot-Tall Carry-Me Jesus

Carthage, Texas

Sculptor Bob Harness was at a funeral in 2008 when, on the back of the church program, he saw the poem "Footprints in the Sand." It describes a walk along the beach with Jesus, who occasionally carries the narrator. The story is nowhere to be found in the Bible (it was written in the 1930s), but Harness liked it and wished he could sculpt it.

Word got around town, money and volunteer labor poured in, and six years later the Footprints in the Sand memorial park was dedicated on August 19, 2014. Bronze Jesus stands 14 feet tall atop a five-foot pedestal; big footprints lead from the parking lot to the statue. The old man being carried by Jesus seems surprisingly modern, and he is; he's Willie George, who gave Harness $25,000 to kickstart the project.