The Perrett family (Ed, Katy, Emma, Alice and Ben) joined The Point at the start of 2021. Ed has been a Christian for over 35 years and here shares how God has been leading him over recent years.
We moved from London to Burgess Hill in 2014 to be closer to my parent’s farm (The Oaks Poultry Farm in Ditchling). I had just been made redundant from my accounting job at Sky Television, and was out of work as Mum and Dad felt the family business could not financially support my family as well in its current format. That Easter, we went to Spring Harvest as a family. There, I noticed that Rob Parsons from Care from the Family was leading a seminar. After his talk, I found myself walking up to the front to chat to him. I explained my situation to him and he gave me a verse from Ecclesiastes 11 v 4. “Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap”. I went back to our chalet and got my bible out to read the whole chapter and I was really struck by verse 2. “Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight”. I then took an accounting job at Park Cameras before moving on to a new start up business in Brighton to assist an American tech company establish itself in the European Market.
Fast forward a few years to New Wine, 2018, where on arriving and unpacking we realised we had forgotten Alice’s prescribed medicine. To avoid a long return trip home, I went to the on-site medical centre to see if the doctors could write me a prescription that I could collect locally and thankfully they were able to. They also said that they liked to pray for each patient, so they kindly prayed for Alice. During the prayer time, the doctor said she had a picture for me of a new pasture with flourishing plants and flowers. She asked if we were currently planning to move house or jobs for example, but at that point, neither of these were planned. We had an amazing time at New Wine and this picture stayed with me as I wondered what it meant.
I didn’t have long to wait. I returned to work after New Wine and in my first meeting with my boss he announced that they had decided to move my role to America and therefore I was being made redundant. I thought, “that was quick God!” I met with Mum and Dad that night and as my father had been suffering from Parkinson’s recently, we agreed that now was a good time to join the family business and I started working in December 2018.
After working with my father for 10 months, he died suddenly of a massive heart attack. It was a big shock for us left behind, but we all felt at peace with God’s timing in calling him home. Mum was amazing as she dealt with becoming a widow and continuing to run the farm shop. It was a massive learning curve for me from being an accountant to becoming a farmer, but God has blessed us with the right people to assist us.
The vision for the farm is to create an environment for the local community to enjoy themselves in, and families to spend time together. Dad had 3 branches of his business – the farm shop, business unit rental and caravan storage. We have recently added a café/tea room (run by Katy), a dog agility field and a campsite for the summer. With a small children’s farm and fishing lake planned for the near future, this would take me to 8 ventures, which I believe was in the verses I received from God through Rob Parsons.
God has really blessed us through Covid as people have shopped local and supported our Farm Shop. We are very excited for the future and look forward to seeing what God has planned for us. I would encourage anyone who is struggling in their work place or recently has been made redundant to trust God as he has an amazing plan for you!