Photo and Commentary ©2026 by Russell Jurgensen
Thursday, June 18, 2026
It turns out that 3D printers are great for doing activities with kids. My four-year-old granddaughter scanned through a list of models that could be printed. Her discerning eye passed over the dinosaurs, dragons, and plastic swords to find this model of Hei Hei the chicken from the Moana movie.
I was concerned it was a little too complicated for a 3D printer, but she confidently stated it was okay, and it would print fine. So after downloading the model and adjusting a few options in the printer software, this first image shows what came out of the printer.
At first glance it looks like maybe some kind of tree is choking the poor chicken, and the tail and feet don’t look natural at all. Those odd features turn out to be supports the printer software adds to hold up parts of the chicken while it is printed.
With the help of a small pliers, the supporting pieces are pulled off to reveal the actual chicken in the second image. You can see the discarded pile of supports.
Finally, in the third photo, the chicken is starting to receive some color, but it is not complete yet.
This process of 3D printing makes me think about our lives when we struggle with habits and focus too much on ourselves when thinking about our spirituality. That is like the first photo.
Then when we learn that God freely forgives us and the most important thing God wants from us is to love others, we start to shed those restraining ideas like in the second photo.
As we learn what God’s plan of love is all about, we start to see the real color in our lives. But because we still have a lot to learn, and our environment may not be fully loving, we are never quite finished. The thing that matters is the process of heading in that direction.