“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.”   Rev 19:11

Are visions possible?  I will preface this story with a shorter story.  All the years growing up, I remember my mom being one of those people that would look up into the sky and she would say to me “what do you see?”  I would look up and say, “clouds.”  She, of course, was one of those blessedly amazing people that could pick out dogs and clowns and pogo sticks – okay maybe not pogo sticks, but nonetheless, she could see wonderful images in the clouds.  That is something that I could never master.   So what I am about to share with you is something that completely overwhelms my brain to this day. 

I flew out of Knoxville Tennessee on a late June 2005 afternoon headed to New England.  I was seated on the right side of the plane near the window.  We were flying north, the sun was not coming in my window, as I was flying north, the sun was coming from the East. 

The weather on the ground was much like it has been on most any summer day in the south, very overcast, humid and hazy.  The takeoff was uneventful even with the clouds.  But as you know, no matter how cloudy or stormy it is on the ground, you typically have clear blue skies once you clear the top of the clouds.  This trip was no different.        

The sky was a perfect blue when we broke through the clouds and the sun as so bright.  The tops of the clouds were perfect white as well.  Typically what I’ve seen when I’m flying is… what I’ll refer to as the top of the clouds, which are actually under you when your flying… is that while they are white and puffy… they are “flat”. 

As I said, the takeoff was uneventful and the flight finally leveled off once we reached cruising altitude above the clouds.  The flight was fairly empty, and nice and quiet, so I settled back with a book.  Well we’re cruising along – I had a layover at Washington Regan– so the flight was only about 90 minutes.  After a while of reading I started looking out the window and that’s when I saw what made me do a double and triple take.

Out the window of the right side of the plane and at what I’ll call “2:00”, was the image of the white stallion and it’s rider.  It was the most magnificent thing I’ve ever seen.  Even though the image was completely white, I could see by the shadows the muscles of the horse.  The image was rising up out of the clouds and was taller than the level we were flying at, yet I could distinctly see all of him, including his feet… so it’s almost like he was standing on the clouds… not a part of them.

The stallion’s head was facing upwards with his white mane and his tail blowing back in the wind. His mouth was open a bit.  It appeared that he was in motion… almost like when a horse rears up, with his right leg higher up than his left.  I didn’t see a bridle or reins.  But what I could see was the curvature of every muscle in that stallion’s body.

As for the rider… I could not distinguish a face.  The rider was also completely in white with a long robe that seemed to be in motion too from the wind.  His robe was long and flowing… the back of the robe draped over the back of the horse.  As for his arms… while I don’t remember him holding onto reins, the arms were both up with the long flowing sleeves again being in motion too.  The figure was clearly not just sitting there.  Try as I might, I cannot see a face.  And while everything was in white, I can see a belt of some sort tightened around the waist and I can see sandals on the feet. 

I was flying north and east, so this horse and rider were coming from the east riding to the west.

Like I said the horse seemed to be standing on the clouds not a part of them.  Under the horse and rider, in the clouds I could see faces, just dozens of faces, looking up at the horse and the rider.  They didn’t appear to me to be what we would think of as cherub faces… or angel faces.  They appeared to be all sorts of faces… baby’s, men, women… all sorts of face.  Looking at all of these faces, I did not feel afraid; a sense of awe came over me.  And yet, while excited… I felt peace.

As is typical when you are flying… due to the speed you are traveling… clouds change as you move along.  This image did not change!  It was visible to me for nearly the entire hour that we were above the clouds!! 

As I glanced further to my right, I saw another image in the clouds.  It was to my right of the horse and rider, a distance away, but not that far.    This was the image of a three dimensional cross.  I was looking at it from not quite a side angle and yet not dead on from the front.  Again all in white, but I could clearly see the shadows in light and dark.

This cross was about the same height as the horse and rider, yet it was further back.  The horse and rider were more in the foreground.  This cross stood on a knoll, very high.  There was something at the top of the cross.  I could not distinguish what it was, other than it appeared to be a ring of something… like a crown???  Perhaps flowers???  Perhaps thorns???  That image is not clear.   I just know that there was something on it, draped over it.  To me the image of the cross appeared brighter than the horse and rider.  I don’t remember anything at the foot of the cross or other images around it. 

The amazing part of all of it was that other than these two images rising up out of the clouds, all of the surrounding clouds in the area were (while puffy) flat.

The intensity of the sunlight hitting both of these images was incredibly bright.

As we flew along and I just kept looking at these images, I didn’t feel pain or dread or fear.  I was in total awe…  it was quite a peaceful time actually.

Never before that time, nor since have I have seen any images in the clouds.