Bearing Witness to a Miracle (2)

In part one of this two part blog I described how I learned about the incorrupt body of Saint Bernadette at a seminar and the profound impact that this had on me.   Over the months that followed I attended many more of Carol Lamb’s seminars before joining a spiritual group that she’d established. During this time I discovered that extraordinary events can occur outside of the bible and the lives of the saints.  I’ve described some of these incidents in this blog.  You may find some of them hard to believe but all the events outlined below happened exactly as described.

Miracles can happen today!

These seminars seemed to be a catalyst for strange, paranormal phenomena, some of which were quite dramatic. On one occasion, an electric blue ball of light suddenly flew into the room through a wall and immediately exited through the ceiling. It was all over in a fraction of a second.  I might have questioned whether it had really happened but for everyone else having also witnessed this extraordinary light show. Other incidents were more subtle. For example, when someone made a key point, the lights in the room would often flash momentarily, or we’d hear the sound of car horn, or a dog barking. When this happened once, twice or even three times, I thought it could just be a coincidence. But when I witnessed this happening time and time again, I was in no doubt that unseen forces or guides were confirming the importance of what had just been said.

Similar things would happen during meetings, particularly when we were discussing important decisions. It was never a good sign when we heard the sound a police siren or car alarm immediately after someone had offered a suggestion. On the other hand, a butterfly suddenly appearing at the window was a very good omen. And during meetings with Carol we would often notice butterflies fluttering at the window, usually on the inside. They frequently showed up at key times, even in the depths of winter when butterflies are rarely seen and windows are usually kept closed. After a while, the idea that a butterfly might suddenly appear out of thin air didn’t seem strange any more.

One day, Jennifer, a friend of ours, mentioned that a picture had disappeared off the wall of her bedroom. Neither she nor anyone else had moved it but it was nowhere to be seen. After meditating on this, she received a clear insight into the reasons for the dematerialisation, which was to draw her attention to a specific difficulty that may affect her work in future.

The picture reappeared several days later.  Jennifer found it behind a piece of furniture that was immediately below where the picture had hung. I asked her whether it could have fallen off the wall and been hidden from sight behind the furniture but she was adamant that she’d looked there when it initially disappeared.  It was, after all, the obvious place to check.  Carol then asked me whether I believed that the picture could miraculously dematerialise and reappear. I said that I did, to which she replied, “Then why did you suggest it might have fallen down instead?”

As much as I wanted to believe that the picture had disappeared as Jennifer had claimed, Carol was right. I clearly had some doubts. I believed that Jennifer would have checked that the picture had not just fallen down behind her furniture but I still wished that I’d been there to see for myself in order to be sure. The words of Thomas the apostle came to mind, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” I was forced to admit to myself that in spite of my best intentions, I was a ‘doubting Thomas’.

Jesus Appears to Thomas

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Gospel of John Chapter 20 verses 24 to 29

The mysterious airline tickets

A few months later, my wife Lynne and I decided to go for a week’s holiday in Turkey. I arranged accommodation and then rang a travel agent to book two return flights from Manchester to Antalya. The travel agent told me to expect the tickets to arrive no later than ten days before departure but with just one week to go before flying out, they still hadn’t come. I contacted the agent who apologised and arranged for the airline to issue replacement tickets. She said they’d be sent by first class post to arrive the next day and sure enough, they did. I then opened the rest of the post and to my surprise found that I’d received a second set of airline tickets for the same flights. Clearly the original set of tickets had turned up on the same day as the replacement set but I couldn’t tell which ones were the replacements. I decided to play safe and keep hold of both sets of tickets until we checked in at the airport.

On the day of departure, we arrived at the airport and approached the check-in desk with both sets of tickets. I explained what had happened to the attendant who took one of these sets, removed the outbound pages and entered the details into his computer terminal. Everything worked fine and after handing me our boarding cards and our return tickets, he suggested that we get rid of the duplicates to avoid any confusion. Lynne and I tore them in half and dropped them into a nearby waste bin.

After an enjoyable holiday, we arrived at Antalya airport to catch our return flight home. We walked up to the check-in desk where I opened the wallet which contained our passports and air tickets. I removed them from the wallet but then noticed that behind them was another completely intact set of tickets.  I was astounded. They definitely hadn’t been there when I’d checked the contents of the wallet earlier that day so I’d no idea how they’d got there. 

I was in a state of shock throughout the check-in process and as soon as that was completed, Lynne and I took a closer look. Incredibly, they were tickets for return flights between Manchester and Antalya in the names of Lynne and myself, for the same departure and return dates that we’d booked for our holiday. They were identical to the tickets that I’d torn up and binned at Manchester Airport one week earlier. We’d both witnessed me doing this so there was only one possible explanation: they must have re-materialised!

This was clearly a miracle but why did it happen? Was it a prompt that we should return to Turkey soon? After arriving home I spoke to Carol about the reappearing tickets and asked her what it might mean. She reminded me of my doubts about her picture disappearing several months earlier and said she was pretty sure that the reappearance of the tickets was a sign for me personally. The purpose of this miracle was, she said, to give me proof that physical objects can indeed dematerialise and then reappear.

Carol apart, I’ve told very few people about this incident until writing this blog. Those I have mentioned it to have usually reacted in ways that suggest they’re far from convinced. And why should they be? After all, despite all the inexplicable incidents that I had seen, I still couldn’t totally accept that Jennifer’s picture had actually dematerialised and returned. At least, not until I had witnessed the miracle of my reappearing airline tickets.