In the dark

The Tardis always waits for Teapot's return with expectation. The window boxes ready for inspection, the remnants of last night's meal removed from sight and the sink spotless (well sort of).

So when Teapot came back yesterday and said "you've switched off the porch light" I was a bit wrong footed. After all it was daylight?

Of course she was right. You see we normally (i.e. when Teapot is here) leave the porch light switched on all the time even during the day because it has a special kind of light that only seems to work in the dark. Get it? And so it doesn't like being switched off. Sort of confusing isn't it?

Teapot likes this kind of gadget. No matter that the new school across the road is often lit up like an ocean liner and we have a new street lamp right outside the house so much so that we now have blackout curtains in the front bedroom.

We also have timers on certain lamps in the house and very disconcerting it is when they come on midway through the evening or switch themselves off. It's at times like that you need someone like Wesley to talk to, I can tell you!

Camp Quest

Camp Quest is a network of summer camps for secular kids in the US. A sort of counter to the Bible camps which are a feature of the long summer holidays across the pond.

These are not strictly camps for atheists. Campers are not told there is no God but to rather weigh the evidence. Kids who go there find reassurance in their unbelief in a society where in many places and schools being a Christian may be the norm.

There are lots of outdoor activities, swimming, canoeing and the like. Campers are told how invisible unicorns inhabit the area and offered a prize if they can prove they do not exist. A sort of lesson in how difficult it is to prove God doesn't exist either.

A long way from the UK you may think. But Timelord is struck by all this as his friends prepare this week for the Boys Brigade and Girls Brigade Camps in Exmouth starting Saturday. Sure there will be loads of fun and activities. The weather we trust will be kind.

Yet this too will be Camp Quest for all who go: those with faith however small and those with no faith at all. Those who have been to camps lots of times and those going for the first time. A quest to discover and connect with Jesus the Son of God, to weigh the evidence, to commit, to encourage and be encouraged.

So go for it guys and don't worry about the unicorns. I have it on the best authority they will not come within 7 leagues of the smell of burgo.