Kapi
Forum Supporter
I love being the hands and feet of Jesus! Another great return today. It started with Dick and I meeting up at Mickler's beach, something we don't do often because it's far and having a jeep that get's probably 14 mpg I try to stay close to home. Not many targets there at all so we did another thing we've never done. We left and headed for Vilano.
Once at Vilano beach Dick was approached by a young man named Anthony who stated he'd lost a gold chain with a crucifix in the dry sand about a week and a half ago.
After finding out where Anthony thought he lost it our hearts sank. He'd taken it off to go swimming and when he got back he grabbed his towel and left, forgetting the cross. He was crushed and heart broken. Vilano is a small beach where everyone packs into a relatively small area and it's hit by numerous people that detect daily.
Twice a month the tide goes way out on all beaches due to the positioning of the moon and as people that metal detect we look forward to hitting the low tide area on those days because the tide goes so far out we can get to spots we can't normally get to.
Though we wanted to search the low tide area we instead decided to spend our time grid searching the dry sand even though we knew it was unlikely that the necklace was still there. Plus it's really painful to work the dry sand for both of us!
As we searched, a woman approached Dick and stated "If you find a gold cross necklace I know a young man named Anthony that lost it." and she stated that she herself had tried to find it with a metal detector without success. Dick told her that is what we were looking for and showed her where the young man was sitting further down the beach. It was just about then I found it.
Sweeping the beach in a grid search pattern I heard what sounded like gold. Many things can sound like gold for instance nickels, aluminum foil, copper, small brass, pull tabs etc. I dug every target and after about 15 junk items I saw the cross and chain in my scoop. Dick was still talking with the other woman that had detected trying to find it and I called out to him giving him the thumbs up. Thumbs up is our sign of "I found gold!" The woman was astounded realizing she'd missed it in all her searches.
We decided to drop my detector off at my car and grab my phone and head over to see Anthony. With the necklace tucked in my hand hidden under the phone I asked Anthony to again describe exactly what the cross looked like. He went into detail... The cross was his father's and it was blessed by the Pope. It was worn by his father until his father died. It was then given to Anthony and to him it is priceless. The cross he said is 18k gold with Jesus on it, not flat but thick.
Uncurling my fingers I said to him "So it would have looked exactly like this?" as I displayed his cross in my hand. His eye's widened and he reached for it almost hesitantly as if not believing this was real. We had told him the odds of it still being there were slim. Realizing it was his he grabbed me and cried. He hugged me so hard I thought I might break
He hugged me for what seemed like minutes. I think we all had some tears in our eyes.
There was a young man with him and he said "Now I believe in God." Anthony then said "He,(referring to his friend) had said "If they find that necklace THEN I will believe there is a God." The whole group of young men and one young woman were from a special youth center here in St. Augustine. I told them God is real and though there is an enemy around that is here to kill, steal and destroy God can make good come from it. I was able to tell them how much God loved them. Yes we live in a fallen world and bad things can happen but one of the ways God can make great things happen is through us!
I am so grateful for being used by God to show people His love.
This is the second successful return Dick and I have had working together
Once at Vilano beach Dick was approached by a young man named Anthony who stated he'd lost a gold chain with a crucifix in the dry sand about a week and a half ago.
After finding out where Anthony thought he lost it our hearts sank. He'd taken it off to go swimming and when he got back he grabbed his towel and left, forgetting the cross. He was crushed and heart broken. Vilano is a small beach where everyone packs into a relatively small area and it's hit by numerous people that detect daily.
Twice a month the tide goes way out on all beaches due to the positioning of the moon and as people that metal detect we look forward to hitting the low tide area on those days because the tide goes so far out we can get to spots we can't normally get to.
Though we wanted to search the low tide area we instead decided to spend our time grid searching the dry sand even though we knew it was unlikely that the necklace was still there. Plus it's really painful to work the dry sand for both of us!
As we searched, a woman approached Dick and stated "If you find a gold cross necklace I know a young man named Anthony that lost it." and she stated that she herself had tried to find it with a metal detector without success. Dick told her that is what we were looking for and showed her where the young man was sitting further down the beach. It was just about then I found it.
Sweeping the beach in a grid search pattern I heard what sounded like gold. Many things can sound like gold for instance nickels, aluminum foil, copper, small brass, pull tabs etc. I dug every target and after about 15 junk items I saw the cross and chain in my scoop. Dick was still talking with the other woman that had detected trying to find it and I called out to him giving him the thumbs up. Thumbs up is our sign of "I found gold!" The woman was astounded realizing she'd missed it in all her searches.
We decided to drop my detector off at my car and grab my phone and head over to see Anthony. With the necklace tucked in my hand hidden under the phone I asked Anthony to again describe exactly what the cross looked like. He went into detail... The cross was his father's and it was blessed by the Pope. It was worn by his father until his father died. It was then given to Anthony and to him it is priceless. The cross he said is 18k gold with Jesus on it, not flat but thick.
Uncurling my fingers I said to him "So it would have looked exactly like this?" as I displayed his cross in my hand. His eye's widened and he reached for it almost hesitantly as if not believing this was real. We had told him the odds of it still being there were slim. Realizing it was his he grabbed me and cried. He hugged me so hard I thought I might break
He hugged me for what seemed like minutes. I think we all had some tears in our eyes. There was a young man with him and he said "Now I believe in God." Anthony then said "He,(referring to his friend) had said "If they find that necklace THEN I will believe there is a God." The whole group of young men and one young woman were from a special youth center here in St. Augustine. I told them God is real and though there is an enemy around that is here to kill, steal and destroy God can make good come from it. I was able to tell them how much God loved them. Yes we live in a fallen world and bad things can happen but one of the ways God can make great things happen is through us!
I am so grateful for being used by God to show people His love.
This is the second successful return Dick and I have had working together
Nice job!
