Sometimes Jack gave a special, personal tour
of Chick Publications.
One of the first stops was always the same: this painting.
It has a story to go along with it.
And since we've printed up a bunch of them,
and some of you have bought copies of it,
I thought it would be nice to tell you the same story
that Jack told, every time
he showed someone this painting.
Then you can tell others the same story Jack did.
Want to know what makes this painting special?
Hi, I'm David Daniels from Chick Publications.
From the time that Jack and I started to work together,
in August of 2000, I went along with Jack
as he gave his tours.
After a few years, he let me give the tours.
And he let me tell the story.
This painting was made by Fred Carter
in the 1970s (1976).
It, along with a few other paintings by Fred,
was made available as a frameable lithograph.
One day a missionary came back from Mexico
and told Jack that this painting
had made a big difference in winning souls,
in the mountains of Mexico.
This missionary had gone to a place where the ancient Conquistadores
(conquerors from Spain) had decided to settle down
with the local inhabitants, and they started families.
It was not very easy to get into that valley.
On his way, the missionary rode his donkey
through a mountain pass.
But the trail narrowed down so much that he couldn't
even pull him by a rope.
He had to leave the donkey behind.
So there he was, clinging to the side,
with the wind rushing past him, on a narrow trail.
It was dangerous.
But he finally made it into that valley.
One family that he met there got saved.
And he gave the family a printed copy of this painting.
About three years later, he went back to see
how the Christians were doing, and he came to that house.
The family had hung it up in the living room.
So they showed him the picture on the wall.
Then they told him that people who saw it,
told others about that picture.
They came to this house from all over the valley,
to see and hear the story about the woman who died.
The family used this picture to preach the gospel!
Take a look at it.
Who in the picture notices what is really happening?
I ask this every time I give a tour.
Not the doctor.
He's sadly looking at the departed old woman.
Not the couple.
They are grieving over their loss.
It's the dog!
He's looking right at the angel.
And what's happening?
We can see she was an old woman.
There are her false teeth in the glass.
There are her medications.
There are her glasses.
There is the glass of water with a straw.
And there is the bedpan.
She was obviously under the care of that doctor.
But look at what else is here!
There's her Bible.
The cover is worn.
It's not new.
It's probably been used for years.
And look up here. The embroidery says, "Only one life.
'Twill soon be past.
Only what's done for Christ will last."
It looks like that woman was a Bible believer,
and a Christian.
But there's more.
Look at her.
She's smiling!
And then look!
An angel has come to her, and raised her spirit up
from that frail, old body.
And now she looks young and alive!
That's the hope that Christians have.
We can live forever with Jesus, and we will never
grow old and die again.
Now in our poster we put a verse portion:
"Absent from the body... present with the Lord."
2 Corinthians 5:8.
And any person who trusts Christ like that woman did
can have the same hope of eternal life!
At this point, we can talk to
whoever views the picture about how
they can have that same hope as the woman in the picture.
So there you have it.
So many have asked us for permission to photograph it,
that I digitally went over the image carefully,
so we could make it available.
Now you know the story of this painting,
the woman who died.
And if you want, you can use it
to tell others of the hope of eternal life.
God bless you, and have a wonderful day.