Seeing is believing

We farmed at Trevigro in the South Hill parish. I remember many happy days bringing in the hay bales when I was young. In the early 1980s we changed from making 7,000 small bales of hay to round bale silage. At the time it was a new thing and very few contractors had a round baler. The nearest contractor was Bernard Strout from Boyton and that first year we baled 2,400 bales. It was a great success and the following year we invested in our own Welgar round baler.

My Granddad was born during the reign of Queen Victoria and had seen a lot of changes during his lifetime. He started farming with a team of horses; he saw the old threshing machines and the introduction of the combine harvester, the stationary baler followed by the trailed small baler. When I tried to explain the concept of round bale silage he just could not understand, so one day during silage time, while I was having my lunch, Granddad, who walked with two sticks, somehow managed to get on the trailer that I used for carrying the bales. He was going to see for himself how the round bales were made. He held on for his life as I trundled across the fields to where my Dad was baling the silage. “My life and days”, he said. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t see it with my own eyes!” He was well impressed!

So often we say it would be so much easier to believe in God if we could see Him. Saint Thomas was like that. He was the only disciple of Jesus not to be present when Jesus appeared to them after his death on the cross. Thomas said, “Unless I see the nail prints in his hands and can put my finger in them and unless I can out my hand into his side I will not believe!”.

Jesus appeared to the disciples again. This time Thomas was there. “Thomas”, Jesus said. “Place your finger on my hands and your hand into my side”. Thomas said, “My Lord and my God”.

Do you ever feel like Thomas? It can be so hard to believe in this incredible miracle that Jesus had come back from the dead, but if you take that step of faith and put your trust in God and believe in Jesus, He will make an incredible difference to your life.