Reverend Michael Cocks
Rev Michael Cocks of Christchurch writes as follows: In 1991, when her daughter’s rare, hand-carved harp was stolen, Lisby Mayer’s familiar world of science and rational thinking turned upside down. After the police failed to turn up any leads, a friend suggested she call a dowser—a man who specialized in finding lost objects.
With nothing to lose—and almost as a joke—Dr. Mayer, a teacher at Berkley, California, agreed. The man she called, Harold McCoy, president of the national dowsing organisation, lived in Arkansas, 2500 kilometres away. He asked for a map of the city in which the harp was stolen, and quickly said that the harp was still in the city, and was at a particular house in a particular street.
Unwilling to go directly to that house, Dr Mayer distributed leaflets in the neighbourhood, inviting the return of the harp, no questions asked. Within three days it was back in her hands. The experience turned her picture of reality upside-down. “This changes everything,” she said to herself. ... Hear her tell the story herself.
What does this amazing happening tell us about our relationship to God?
Firstly, it conveys the same message as Psalm 139:
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day,
The story of the harp that came back, also confirms the words of St Paul in Acts 17:28 For in him we live and move and have our being
We are living in sin to the degree that we think and act as if this were not the case. People sometimes picture God as if he were a Great Punisher Up in the Sky. That belief certainly separates us from Spirit, from the loving God who brought us into life. Salvation is the real knowledge that we are children of God and made in God’s image.
God's insights do come to us
When we really know this, sometimes the knowledge that is God’s comes to us, as in the case of Harold McCoy and the stolen harp. We don’t normally associate dowsing with Christianity.
Dowsing is sometimes regarded as weird and “occult”, But we do read in Matthew at chapter 7 verse 7 , "Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and you will find; knock and it shall be opened unto you:" In the Old Testament we do read about what the Bible talks about extensively, is the use of the "rod of God" to find water, feed people and measure things.
Speaking for myself, an Anglican priest for the past 64 years, I often give thanks for the love and inspiration I have received from the Bible, and congregational worship. I need all this as a spiritual home.
But when sharing the Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion, I often picture the walls of my church evaporating and including in the Communion the rest of the human race, and All That Is.
Michael Cocks [thegroundoffaith.net]
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at
http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html
Dr Mark Tronson - a 4 min video
Chairman – Well-Being Australia
Baptist Minister 45 years
- 1984 - Australian cricket team chaplain 17 years (Ret)
- 2001 - Life After Cricket (18 years Ret)
- 2009 - Olympic Ministry Medal – presented by Carl Lewis
- 2019 - The Gutenberg - (ARPA Christian Media premier award)
Gutenberg video - 2min 14sec
Married to Delma for 45 years with 4 children and 6 grand children
