An unlikely friendship

This is Roger, one of my closest, and most unlikely of friends. We met when I was a mere twenty-two and, honestly, we didn't exactly get off to the best of starts. I was taking my first steps into schools ministry and he was on my interview panel. He thought it would be an appropriate time to give me a spelling test, after discovering an error on my application form. I failed the spelling test and was quite cross that he'd put me through it on such a nerve-wracking day. I got the job but was a little annoyed to find out that he was to be my line manager. 

In the end, he turned out to be the best line manager I've had. Throughout my North Shropshire days he was one of my greatest encouragers and I think we were just what the other needed. I was just starting out in ministry, he had just retired from ministry and we spent hours grappling with weighty questions, some of which we are still asking now. We always had a vague idea to write a book together but it's one of those things that we'll probably always put off. Since those working days together we've remained friends and we always try at least an annual catch up. These days it usually involves a hill walk followed by a hearty soup and then a quick pray in one of our cars. Today though, as we walked around Oswestry Hill Fort, I noticed a slowing down and slight unsteadiness. It seems being seventy-seven is catching up with him.

Roger will always be one of my greatest cheerleaders, my wisest friends, one of the few people who can still get away with checking my wedding finger, one of the great men in my life who can bring a tear to my eye when they pray and one of the only men I'll let hold my hand. 

I'm grateful to know and love some true heroes of the faith and Roger is, without doubt, one of them.