My week at spring harvest ended on the Friday so it was great to get a Saturday off with Robert and even better was that mum and dad were coming to stay for the weekend. So we had a wonderful day out at Ripley castle www.ripleycastle.co.uk . When we arrived in beautiful sunny weather we decided to have our picnic first in the enormous car park. And after 4 hours walking around the gardens (we do take our time) we treated ourselves to the famous Ripley ice cream. It was a lovely day.
The view from the car park

The next three pictures are some of the views from the castle, the first with the dear in the distance.

A part of the castle.

The majestic gate house from inside the grounds of Ripley castle.

The reason we visited Ripley castle at this time of year is because they hold the national collection of Hyacinthus and many variates of daffodils.

Robert with mum and dad having a rest and taking in the surroundings.

This lovely door way lead to the walled garden with a boarder of herbs, veg, fruit tree's, rose's (but they were not out yet) box hedge's.

A lovely row of delicate friterleria growing in the grass very natural.

This is the lane into the village of Ripley opposite is the large car park where we had our picnic.

A lovely display of white daffodils with the old ice house in the back ground and a blue sky.

Spring Harvert 2010

What a fantastic week iv had away at spring harvest in Skegness at a Butlins holiday camp for a Christian convention. The title of this year was "Different Eyes". Different groups of people respond differently to the same situation because of different beliefs. Christian ethics are not just anyone ethics we follow Jesus or try to. We had expert speakers who helped us get to grips with this theme as they taught us from the Bible, gave testimony and spoke of there own experiences.
After the 9o clock all age service "the big start" we had our daily Bible readings read by Krish Kandaih he was so full of life and was a great evangelical. The rest of the day there was a number of seminars, workshops, sport activities or the Butlins facilities.
The evening worship and study was Esther each night read by different speakers. Steve Chalke spoke on several occasions and i found him most interesting and have never been bothered about politics but he made me more aware of the importance. Its hard to express the joy and experience I got from my week and I'm not literate enough to write all that went on."

There were six of us in this small chalet but we managed so well. I tended to keep out of the kitchen except to eat and I did wash up. I could not have asked to spend a week with such lovely people. We went to most of the meeting together but also did our own thing as there was so many things to go to. Leana and I went swimming one afternoon, but although it was very large it was a fun place not really meant for swimming lengths. Leana really enjoyed the pool with the rapids you could just lay back and be moved along in the water.

A wind swept walk, Vi, Val, Jenny and me on a walk in between seminars. Vi in the red coat was 85 years old whilst we were away.

The beach at skegness looks like it goes on for miles. We were very lucky with the dry weather but the wind was so strong and made it feel cold. We had a walk a couple of times when we got time.

Not that you can see very clearly but this is Graham Kendrick and his band leading us in worship. We learned some new song and sang some from the past. There is nothing quite like four thousands people praising and worshiping our Lord. This is the best photo's I managed to take, it doesn't really give the best image just times it by 40.

A drama company called saltmine did a sketch every day and one evening we went to see them in show, a Christmas, sound of music, rock, angle of the north show. Sounds odd but it was great they really put the message across. They have a DVD of the show and some of there other shows. One late night we went to see a wonderful singer Hannah Franklin. she sang so beautiful with such emotion and gave her testimony. Her songs were mainly women from the Bible and love. All the people iv mentioned can be looked up on google.

GOOD FRIDAY

Crucifixion 02 Apr 2010
'And they crucified him.' Mark 15:24
In The Expositor's Bible Commentary C Truman Davis, MD writes, 'What is crucifixion? A medical doctor provides a physical description: 'As he slowly sags down...on the nails in the wrists, excruciating pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain; the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As he pushes himself upward to avoid stretching torment, he places the full weight on the nail through his feet. Again he feels the agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the bones of the feet. As the arms fatigue, cramps sweep through the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe. Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. He fights to raise himself in order to get even one small breath...hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins: a deep, crushing pain in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. It is now almost over; the loss of tissue fluids reaches a critical level; the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues; the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. He can feel the chill of death creeping through his tissues...finally he can allow his body to die.' The Bible records it in these words: 'And they crucified him'. What wondrous love is this?
Bible in a Year: Gen 22:1-18; Matt 26:69 - 27:50; Ps 22; Is 53;