A woman tells me that back around Christmas she was watching a Saturday late night movie on TV with her little boy who had fallen asleep. A terrible feeling of fear suddenly came over her and her "heart jumped a mile". She heard someone in her kitchen. She got up, went to the kitchen and saw a man there. She could see because she always leaves the stove light on at night.

She says she was "so petrified I couldn't speak, I was in shock, my heart was going like a machine gun". The man was looking at "the hand of God leading the little child and all the thorns" card she has on the door of her fridge. The man stared at it for the longest time while she just stood there "paralyzed, scared right out of my mind and ready to kill". Then the man said "I'm sorry", turned and went out. She heard his footsteps on the deck and down the steps, then she heard the gate clank shut.

Her little boy came up to her all sleepy and said "What?" She said "I was totally calm, totally serene, heartbeat was totally normal, I felt wonderful". She told the boy "There was a man who was lost. God is showing him the way now." She went on "That was a strange thing for me to say, I am not the kind of person who would say something like that, I just knew it was true. I felt totally wonderful, I didn't even call the police or anything. I just want you to know that I have always believed in God. Well I do not have to believe anymore. I know there is God. We are all in God's hands. I know God is with me and I am with God. I found your phone number on the back of the card when I was cleaning the fridge just now, it’s called ‘Remember - But Go Forward’. I just had to tell you.”

A woman who described herself as an interstate director or coordinator or something in the Right To Life organization called simply to tell me that they use the pictures in their work and that she was led to call and wanted me to know that the Visions From Faith have saved many lives. Not just the babies - the mothers too.

Within a couple of days I met with a woman who has been a counselor in an abortion clinic for over 10 years. She made a point of informing me that they use the artwork in the clinic and wanted me to know that the Visions From Faith have saved many lives. Not just the mothers - the babies too.

An old Hollywood friend sent me the following, (severely edited!):

Jonathan - here is a true story, swear to God. We were having a production conference around a vat of Margaritas lamenting that we could not smoke anywhere anymore and M.G. said he didn’t care because he beat the habit. What??? He of the Sepia Stained Fingers??? We are in awe. He holds up immaculate hands. Who knew?

But! The question, the question! How long oh saintly one, how long?

Since Labor Day weekend last year he has not had a puff. Not tobacco anyway, not the devil’s weed, not one cancer stick has he consumed! Oh he still smokes a little grass from time to time, turns out he is not really a saint. Thank God for that, we would miss him.

He pulls out this little business card. It’s got one of your famous pictures on it, the one called “Victory”. I said hey yall, we know this guy, Jonathan Rogers, remember he used to do that GI Joe crap. (Sorry. Truth.) Now he does all this inspirational crap. (OK, not crap, in fact it is pretty good stuff brother, what is all this about? Dish!)

M.G. informs us that a guidance counselor at his kid’s school had this picture on the wall of his office and he could not get it out of his head every time he smoked, because he had wanted to quit since he started in Kindergarten but he never could. Then he says he prayed to God for the strength to quit. And whaddya know, he has not smoked since. He absolutely insists that this is what happened and he carries the little card in his wallet just in case - but he says it’s over, he says he is an ex-smoker. (He says if he had known you did the picture it never would have worked.)

We all poured another Margarita and drank a toast to your memory, but don’t worry, nobody misses you. I looked up your website again. Send me “You Are Not Alone”. I think I need it.

A guy calls me. Says a woman gave birth to premature twins. Despite the heroic efforts of the hospital staff, one of the babies died after three days, the other lasted another couple of weeks and also died. The young mother took it terribly hard. She seemed to go into some kind of shock state, deep depression, she was “unreachable”. The family was extremely concerned as were the people at their church. The whole congregation was praying for her. The man said that he saw a print of “Soulmates” in a church bookstore. He was moved to purchase it for his sister, the young mother. When she saw it, she was immediately healed.

What actually happened I do not know, all he said was that she was immediately healed and that he thought I needed to know.

I had always assumed that Soulmates was for couples in love, newlyweds and all that.

Reverend Pete came to ask me if I would give him another print of “The Comforter”. Of course I will. But I gave you one Pete, what happened to it? I asked him suspecting that his answer might be interesting.

The hands in this vision are based on Reverend Pete’s hands. Like all pastors my friend Peter is on the go all the time, but when he told me about this idea for the comforting embrace of our Lord Jesus I asked him to stop long enough to let me sketch his hands for an hour. It was a great start. Later when it was finished I gave him the first print. He had it framed and hung it in the prayer chapel off the sanctuary in his very poor, very grand, old downtown cathedral church. It was an inspiration to many, according to reports.

One of the people for whom it was especially meaningful was a lifetime member of the congregation, an Elder in the church. Not long ago as this man lay ill in the hospital Reverend Peter knowing his affection for the print brought it to him to have in his room while he was there. The picture generated such a wonderful feeling of peace and reverence in the man that Pete was moved to give it to him, in fact as Pete explained he could see that it very much belonged to him already. The old man never came home, he passed away in the hospital. Before he died he asked Peter if the picture could be buried with him, and so it was.

A man phones me. Hard to understand all he says because he breaks down from time to time. Wants to tell me that their daughter has been a terrible problem, a problem for the whole family. She stayed in her room all the time, wouldn't even eat with the rest of us, never said anything to us, never spoke, she was never there, she was always away in her room. He says he got some of the prints a while ago and had them spread out on the living room floor, everybody was there. Surprise - the daughter came in. She caught sight of the one called First Step, pointed to it and exclaimed "That's me! That's me with God in heaven!"

Since then she is transformed. She talks with all of us, she laughs, she does not spend time in her room, she eats her meals with the rest of the family, and she even helps her Mom around the house!

Well, that's remarkable I am thinking but did not say, I get calls like this a lot, thank you very much, but also I am in the middle of my dinner. Then the guy says, choking "Our daughter is handicapped, she has been in a wheelchair all her life. Thank God for you sir, you are chosen." As I was trying to think of something to say he hung up the phone.

I was signing prints one morning amongst a few people in a little 12 Step shop. I noticed an older guy come in, a very clean guy, grey brush cut, pressed slacks. I thought I saw a grey woman too, but I am chatting away with some folks. A little later I see the guy bent over at the waist over the table where some prints are laid out. He’s got a print held tightly to his face, his neck is all red and he is convulsing. All talk ceases, everybody is paralyzed. The woman goes over to him, puts her arm around him, whispers some words. Gradually he puts down the print, she guides him out and away. Everybody starts breathing again, the chitchat resumes.

Later in the afternoon I see the woman return. She looks beautiful. She is radiantly happy, rosy cheeks, tears streaming down her face. She tells the proprietor that she has come back to make sure that the artist who drew the pictures would be told that the man who broke down this morning, her husband, was a Vietnam Vet. He came back from the war a changed man, like changed to stone. He had hardly spoken in over 25 years. Nothing helped, not medication, not counseling, not prayer. You learn to live with it she said.

She had just spent the last few hours with him as he poured out his terrible story. He told her that when he saw the picture, that one called “Let Go and Let God” he realized that God was looking after him and that God was looking after his buddies who had been killed beside him. She said she had left him peacefully asleep. She said that he looked just like the young soldier she had married so long ago. She said she hoped someone would be sure to tell the artist and thank him for bringing her husband back to her.

I was an impromptu participant in a little “art in the park” show in a little town in Indiana. All the artists had their works up on easels along the sidewalk and we were all behind yakking away. All chatter stopped as we noticed through a gap between the easels that there is a child about 9 or 10 years old standing dumbstruck looking at one of my prints. I did not know which one because I was not paying that much attention when I pinned them up.

Her eyes were staring, her mouth hung open and she was tilted forward as though she would fall any second. Everybody was paralyzed. She stood there and stood there. Presently a woman came down the street with a few other kids and collected her up.

As they passed another gap between the easels the woman looked at me and said loudly “Her mother died last year, we are just looking after her” and kept on going.

I was jolted into action and went over to see what the kid had been looking at. It was “You Are Not Alone”. It took me a few minutes to roll up the print and I ran off after them. As I approached the child stopped and turned around. I held out the roll to her, she grabbed it and clasped it to herself. She gave me a look of the purest rapture that I will never forget and without a word turned and ran to catch up the others.

This is a modified transcription of a recording on my voicemail:

Seven years ago I was down and out. I was kind of messed up. I had a bad drug habit, I was a user, I was messed up, you know what I mean? When I got out of prison I had no job, no money, all I wanted was to get back on drugs. I was headed back to prison, I was on parole, I mean I had to get blood tests, I was going to fail for sure.

So anyways I went out one night to score some more stuff and I am walking along past a picture framing place and there was this picture in the window. I stopped dead. I could not take my eyes off that picture. Something just came over me. I remember knowing inside - I WANT TO BE THAT KID WITH GOD! Not I want to be like that kid, no, not like him, no, I want to BE him, there is a huge difference, it is not the same. God came into my life right then and there. Right at that moment in time, God came into my soul and I gave over my whole life to God right then and there. I forgot all about the drugs, I just forgot about them. I just walked and walked all night. I was not the same guy anymore. I never went back there again and then I moved away. I never saw the picture again.

I started going to this church and met up with this guy Richard. We got this business we started. We got machines and equipment now and all that, hey it’s a factory, but we only do one thing, OK? We started making this great product and we started selling it. We sold some, we learned a lot and we started making more and we got our own set-up in Rick’s garage. Then we had a fire, and we ran out of money and we were working all nighters and everything went wrong, it was unbelievable. Nothing worked, but we prayed and we just kept on going. I do not know how we did it, but we did it.

I am starting to go out more, like for years I didn’t go out, I did not go anywhere or do anything I just stayed in all the time, but I read my Bible and I learned about Jesus and I learned what prayer really is. And now we have this business. We are still small but we just fixed up a whole new packaging space and we are maybe going retail. And that was less than five years ago we started.

So then this woman Trudy, she does some bookkeeping for us part time and last week she brings in this computer mouse-pad and the picture on it was the one that changed my life! It’s called “YES!” I just about went nuts. There it was! I mean it just hit me all over again. Thank you Jesus, praise God , praise God! I just cried man, I just fell apart. I have faith in God see? And God has faith in me! Everybody wondered - what the dingdong is going on? So I told everybody. It came true you see what I mean? I was the kid, it’s ME now, there’s me in that picture that is exactly how I feel and it’s all because I saw that picture that night. I thank God, praise Jesus, praise God.

Next day he called again to make sure I got the message. We had a nice talk.