Walking A Christian Path by Graham Pockett - HTML preview

The Leather-bound Family Bible
– Graham’s Testimony –

The following is an adaptation of a ‘Letter to the Editor’ sent to an Australian Christian newspaper in 1996 about an expensive Bible, given to me when I was a 10-year-old rebellious child. It was a present from two young women, who barely knew me, and who could not have imagined that I would carry that Bible throughout 25 years of living in a spiritual wilderness.

During the school holidays early in 1958, a 10-year-old boy was befriended by two young women at Benwerren, a Christian holiday farm at Yarra Junction (near Warburton) in Victoria, Australia.

He only knew the women as Christine and Dorothy. They were about 18 years old at the time.

A few months later they sent that young boy a beautiful leather-bound family Bible – full colour plates, concordance, family history, etc. A magnificent and very expensive gift for such a young child, whom they’d known for only a week.

That boy wandered away from the Lord, finally spending 25 years in a wilderness of his own making, cursing the name of Jesus and ‘proving’ to all who’d listen that Christianity was not just wrong, but evil.

For 25 years, that same ‘anti-Christian’ carried with him that leather-bound family Bible as he wandered Australia. He even admitted that, whenever he went near that Bible, it gave him goose-bumps!

That 10-year-old is now a 48-year-old man – me.

Just over two years ago I again found the Lord, though thankfully the Lord had never lost me. After 25 years of denial, I can deny no longer – Jesus is Lord!

And that beautiful family Bible is still giving me goose-bumps.

I would love to contact either, or both, of those lovely women who invested their hard-earned money on an expensive present for a 10-year-old they never expected to see again.

So that is my testimony, and my plea.

I would love to tell those lovely ladies myself about the feeling that Bible gave me, the lifeline which kept a tenuous link between God and me, even though I was in full denial. I would also like to tell them about the joy I still experience whenever I go near that Bible.

Graham Pockett
April 1996

from the fly leaf of the leather-bound Bible
(the date, 3 June 1958, was added by me when the Bible arrived)

Postscript September 2003

I have spoken to Christine on the telephone, and look forward to meeting her in the near future. Unfortunately, she had lost touch with her friend, Dorothy, so I am still searching for her.

Postscript February 2004

During a vacation in February 2004, I visited my brother in the city of Adelaide, South Australia, about 1,600 km (1,000 miles) from where I live. I said that I would be making a small detour on the way home to see a woman I hadn’t seen since I was 10 years of age.

When I mentioned that I had met her at Benwerren back in early 1958, he produced a photograph taken at Benwerren. (See below.) I had no recollection that group photos were taken at that time, and certainly had no knowledge that my brother had a copy of this photograph. Even though there was no date on the photograph, I immediately pointed out two women in the picture, and said I thought they were Christine and Dorothy. I enjoyed three or four vacations at Benwerren over a number of years and it is amazing that, of all photographs, this one should still survive.

I was able to visit with Christine at her home in Callington, South Australia, and show her this photo. In turn, she related how she came to find out about my quest for her and her friend, Dorothy.

She said that she had been feeling quite unwell, and had been looking at changing her diet to improve her health. A friend asked her to help clean up a church hall, though it was not part of the church she attended. It was also not close to where she lived and, even though she was feeling unwell at the time, she reluctantly agreed to help.

When she arrived, she grabbed a pile of old newspapers to put in the rubbish bin when she noticed that there were already some papers in the bin. A headline about dietary foods made her remove the newspaper on top, and put it aside for later reading. When she did look at that paper she was amazed when she noticed, in the ‘Letters to the Editor’ section, mention of Benwerren and 1958. She then realized that she was one of the two women being searched for in the letter!

An amazing ‘God-incident’!

It was an awesome visit to see her again after nearly 50 years, and to personally thank her for that awesome gift.