Carl Tidy works as a graphic designer in the south coast town of Worthing. Early in the morning on 13 January 2005, he was searching for inspiration for a poster he was designing for churches, and stepped outside for some fresh air. When he looked up, he had the surprise of his life.

There, high above him in the blue sky, were clouds which looked strikingly like Jesus on the cross.

"I was frozen to the spot and couldn't quite believe what I was seeing," says Carl. "I must admit there was more than a hint of feeling scared as well. It was one of those moments when you can almost feel your heart sinking to the bottom of your stomach, because you can't really take in what is happening."

Carl had the presence of mind to run indoors and grab his camera. The image shown above is exactly as he photographed it, without any editing or digital enhancement. Says Carl: "It's not the kind of thing you experience every day, especially on the scale that it was. It seemed to cover a large area of sky and was by no means subtle, as the photo shows."

So was this just a random event, or was it sent by God in some way?

Carl believes that at some level, God has a hand in creating all seemingly random events, no matter how obscure. "Whether or not this was a heaven-sent, divine cloud painting by God, or just a striking accident of two planes crossing paths behind a cloud formation, I can't really say. All I can tell you is that I was glad I was there to see it in person, and fortunate enough to have a camera around so I could share the image with others."

He adds: "Even if it was a totally random event, it still made me think about the bigger picture, and how great God is. Hopefully it will have the same effect on others who see it as well."