When Honour is Important
We made it safely back to Northern Ireland, spent ten days in “self-isolation” and received daily phone calls to check up on us during that time. My “daily government phone call” actually became a source of amusement as I cracked jokes with the people phoning us and teased them a little bit too. (“No, I’m not quarantining, because I am not sick!”, etc.).
Last Sunday we were out at our newly merged “sending church”, and received a royal welcome from old friends and new. The honour being shown us then, and by our “new” pastor at my first meeting with him yesterday, was staggering and heartwarming.
This month so far - surprise, surprise - has all been about wedding preparation! And yesterday was quite a day in that regard on two fronts.
My oldest daughter has wanted to honour my Dad’s memory - the grandfather she never met - by having something in the wedding that would touch on her roots. She mentioned the idea of being piped out of church and into the reception (like her Mum and Dad were on their wedding day!), and so I contacted Dad’s old regiment to see if we could locate a piper who would do the honours for Alexandra on her wedding day.
The other major blessing for the day was concerning someone dear to our family, who had promised Ale and Angus, before they were even engaged, that he would love to marry them. Canon Andrew White, known internationally as “The Vicar of Baghdad”, was ill for seventeen weeks in hospital and nearly died of Covid-19, and so, when I rang his office I did not expect him to answer the phone!
When with tears he recalled Ale and Angus, whom he had only met once in his life, I was deeply touched by his love for them and honoured beyond words to hear him say he would come over to Northern Ireland to be present at their wedding and to marry them.
Another phone call to a dear friend, who had hosted that initial visit of Canon Andrew a couple of years ago, was my next move. I wanted to find out how to honour and care for this dear man and his entourage when they come to be with us for four days. Imagine my surprise, towards the end of the phone conversation, when this friend told me that, if the army could not provide a piper for us, he had several members of his family who are pipers and he would be delighted to arrange some bagpipe playing for the wedding!
As I reflect on these past twenty-four hours, I am stunned at the honour the LORD is showing me/us, and my responding yearning is that in everything in these next months (and years) of my life I might be able to honour Him who, through His suffering and love for me, is worthy of much reward!