Potato Shindig

Yesterday we spent most of the day at Willows Farm. The girls love going there and we make sure that we make full use of our annual membership.

During weekends in September they have their Potato Shindig. One fork per family, all the children get a plastic spade and a bucket - then it's off to the potato field to simply dig potatoes and fill your bucket. It's the potato equivalent of 'pick your own'.

Guess what Nanny, Granddad and Auntie Carol are having for tea when they visit on Monday! The crop we picked a few weekends ago lasted about 2-3 weeks.

Next month we get to pick pumpkins.

In the news for the wrong reasons

Those of you who have read the blurb about me over to the right will know that I have worked in both Kenya and in Peshawar, Pakistan. It is sad to find both countries in the news today for all the wrong reasons. Praying for all those affected.

Chris Froome, who grew up in Kenya, on his twitter feed today said, 'My thoughts are with those affected by this horrendous attack'. In an early tweet he said, 'Feel ridiculous for being nervous about the TTT today while people are busy being held at gunpoint in Nairobi #perspective #westgate ' [TTT = team time trial].

On a different note one of the drivers in the Grand Prix this afternoon whose car broke down on the final lap commented, 'someone somewhere is having a worse day than me'.

Yes, Mark, yes they are.

The Tour of Britain visits Devon

Today the Tour of Britain visited Devon, passing right outside the house where we once lived in Moretonhampstead. I had hoped to catch a glimpse of it on the TV coverage - except they went to an ad break and missed out the whole of Moreton altogether - by the time they returned the cyclists were well on their way down to Bovey.

But I have managed to find a YouTube clip of the race going through the centre of Moreton.

How will they hear?

I became a Christian on an August Thursday night, in the dark, in a tent, in a farmer's field in Cornwall. Although I had grown up in a Christian home, where I had heard all about Jesus and gone along to church pretty much every Sunday of my life - I knew on that night that I had a choice to make. I knew in my head that Jesus had died on the cross to save me from my sin - but did I want to respond to God's love for me and follow Jesus?

The next morning I went to speak to the man who had been doing all of the main talks at this young people's camp, to tell him that the night before I had become a Christian. I had decided that yes - I did want to respond to God's love for me. He got out his Bible and turned to Romans 10:9 - if you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

He wanted me to be confident in what happened. He knew that there would be times in my life when I would question whether or not I was a Christian. When the enemy would bring doubts and try to sabotage what God was doing. When I would question God - maybe even wonder whether there was a God. And he wanted me to remember this choice I had made and what that meant.

And for those of us who are following Jesus, Romans 10 also brings the challenge of telling others. We can't force people to believe anything, but how will they hear about Jesus unless someone tells them - and who's going to tell your friends if it's not you? 

Here's the short video that we watched on Sunday.



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