Skelton Show - July 2024

Show day arrived with early morning sunshine and while the weather forecasters were indicating the prospect of rain by mid-afternoon, this never arrived. The show’s opening hours were blessed with sunshine and blue skies all day. This brought out the crowds and those on the van were kept busy all day.

It soon became obvious that a scheduled dog show had interested many owners resulting in a predominance of passers-by having a dog in attendance. A dog drinking bowl attracted all manner of breeds (we even had a visit from a Siberian Husky) to take a break. Sometimes this was not the owner’s desired action, but it did mean that they were forced to pause while the dog drank, and it provided an opportunity for conversations to be held. Once having satisfied the dog’s thirst all were happy to leave after accepting the tract ‘’A man’s best Friend’, We pray that they may have their thirst quenched by meeting with the one who can provide the Living Water.

The Guessing Box was once again a source of attendance and David/Robert were kept busy speaking with those attempting to identify by touch what was in the box. These conversations always reveal the extent of the child’s knowledge of the Bible. Sadly it is not unusual to find that many children have no knowledge of the scriptures. Some confessed that they had received no Bible teaching at school, do not attend church and have never been to Sunday School.

One articulate and intelligent middle-aged gentleman came to the van and proudly announced that he was an atheist. He identified himself as being a scientist and was very open to discuss his beliefs and the reasons for them. It seems that in his early years he had attended a church and Sunday School, but when his friends were about to be confirmed he had refused. His view was that God and Creation did not exist. All present life was the result of evolution. As evidence of this he pointed out that rabbit skeletons have never been found when dinosaurs were around. When he first approached the van, I had just finished reading a new tract ‘’The Evidence of God’’, written by a former atheist. This tract was readily accepted by him and there followed a long discussion on its contents. When his wife returned (after approximately 45mins) he was very happy to take with him ‘’The Evidence of God’’ together with ‘’It Just Happened’’.

During the course of the day many tracts were given out and conversations held. We pray that the seed sown will bring forth fruit.

David Johnston and Robert McGibbon