The date 8-8-88 didn't have particular significance at the time—but it does now. That was the day Russ Aikins began carving out a spiritual journey that would span 24 years.

On that day, Russ started transforming a 4-foot by 2 1/2-foot block of basswood into a scene depicting one of the most life-transforming moments recorded in the Bible—Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit...Blessed are those who mourn...Blessed are the meek...Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...Blessed are the merciful...Blessed are the pure in heart...Blessed are the peacemakers. ..." Looking over Russ' remarkably detailed carving, indeed all such people are represented.

Jesus, clad in a traditional robe and sandals, is carved in such detail that you can see toenails on his feet and smooth knuckles on his hands. The bare back of one young follower is visible in the carving, and the definition is extraordinarily life-like. Another onlooker holds a hand up to his forehead to shade his eyes from the sun; someone else is whispering to a friend. Some in the crowd look perplexed, others mesmerized.

In all, Russ carved out 54 individuals, each with a distinct face. Hands are given a three-dimensional look because Russ took the care to carve behind them. Tiny eyebrows, fingernails, flowing folds of material, water jugs, crutches for a lame man, a musical instrument...you can look at this wood carving for days and still find something new every time you see it.

The carving is based on a print that Russ found and purchased in 1983 at a book store in the Upper Room, a publishing and support ministry located in Nashville. When he saw the picture, he knew immediately that it would make a wonderful subject.

Russ' interest in woodcarving began in the early '80s, shortly after he and his wife, Sandra, married. Russ took a Bavarian woodcarving class with German-trained master carver Ludwig Kieninger, and he continued training with him for 13 years—many of those years driving all the way to DeSoto when Kieninger relocated his studio.

Russ still has the first scroll piece he carved, along with several North Texas Wood Carvers Guild award-winning pieces. Among those are "Past Retold," depicting a group of American Indians passing down their history in oral form; the face of President Abraham Lincoln; and Geronimo. He carved a statue of his great-grandfather who served in the Civil War by looking at an old tin photo of him. The Grand Prairie ISD even commissioned him to carve the bust of two revered coaches to honor their service to their students and schools.

The longtime member of First United Methodist Church in Plano said, "I had been wanting to carve something for my church, because I really do love my church. But I didn't start working on it until August 8, 1988 because I had been working on other pieces and was doing a lot of traveling with my job. Finally, I just decided to start it."

Reflecting on the long stretch of time since the project began, he says, "When I first started, I recorded how many hours I worked on it. But after I got to 1,000 hours, I quit recording it. I just carved."

During the quarter of a century it took Russ to complete this woodcarving, life was busy and full. He worked for Hughes Aircraft Co. for 28 years until his retirement—which lasted a weekend—then he started work again for another company the following Monday.

Sandra enjoyed a long career with Plano ISD serving as Director of Counseling. She was also a founding member of Journey of Hope, a support organization to help people, children in particular, cope with the loss of loved ones. During these years, the couple experienced their own losses. Sandra's mother and father both died, and Russ lost his mother.

Russ' son married and had three children of his own. Sandra battled cancer.

And still, in their home, was the ever-present block of wood in various stages of completion.

"I think God has been the one behind this. This is not about me," Russ shares. "I feel some of the years I didn't touch it, it was because I needed to progress in my own faith a little bit further before I got to that point where I was ready to go back and focus on it, and He was allowing me that time. He was not the one walking away, I was stepping aside."

Describing the carving process, Russ explains that it started out with four solid planks of wood. Once those pieces were affixed together to make one large working piece, he drew out the scene. Then he started carving.

"You start with the furthermost part of the scene," he explains. "You cut that away. You do what they call 'setting it in.' Then you locate the figures, especially the key figures, and after you've set them in, you determine how far back they are. Then you start carving in rough form—get the general sense of it going. And you just keep going back and forth across it."

With each pass, he would find new things, new ways to accomplish exactly what he wanted.

"When doing the fine work, I would discover one of my tools gave me the ability to carve on the back side of an eye to give it an arch, and I'd think Oh, this is great! So then I would go back on each one and do it on those. You're always going back and forth over the figures, carving different features on them."

Many times, Russ had to fashion his own tools that were tiny enough to do the most intricate details. He used some 170 tools to complete the carving.

Another astonishing fact is, Russ never sanded anything on this piece. He accomplished the smooth finishes, from the faces to the long flowing robes, one steady motion at a time.

For 20 years, Russ worked on the project whenever he could. It wasn't until the past four years that he made a concentrated effort to complete it. His friend Joshua Waybright, who owns the music shop Waybright Violins in downtown Plano, suggested that he bring his carving to the shop where he could work with fewer distractions.

"I would go down there around noon and carve till around 5 or 5:30," Russ says. "I spent multiple thousands of hours there, but that time allowed me to focus."

One of the things Russ focused on was the meaning of the piece: "I started to understand that the carving is not about me. It's about God wanting to talk to us—teach us a way to live and get along in this world. The Sermon on the Mount is the perfect example of that, so I'm excited about giving it to our church so that anybody...in any walk of life, any faith, or no faith...can come and perhaps be moved the way I was moved, because I really was. I felt the Spirit was with me when I was carving."

The connection Russ feels with this piece is physical as well as spiritual. After all, Jesus was a carpenter himself. Perhaps that's why the medium is so perfect for the message.

The carving was formally presented to First United Methodist Church in Plano on Sunday, July 8. The church is located at 3160 E. Spring Creek Pkwy. If you would like to see the carving in person, call the church at 972.423.4506 for information.