Obituary

Paul: One of the teams we have in the UK works alongside members of the business community in Birmingham to help them develop personally and grow in their understanding of their spiritual journey. I've been involved (when I'm in the country) for a few years now and am currently involved in a course called "Habits of the Heart". It is designed for those of faith or not "to help you rediscover a sense of balance, purpose, integrity and spiritual energy in the midst of a busy working life" and it's great fun!. I'm coaching a guy named Alex who owns and runs a Chinese restaurant. Alex isn't a Christian, but is very open to talking about issues of faith and the things that draw him towards God and those that push him away.

One of the exercises we both undertook last week was to write our obituaries. It's a really helpful exercise in getting you to reflect on how you want your life to be remembered and therefore how this should be reflected in your priorities right now. Having rather unwisely put my 'Facebook' status as "Paul is finalising his obituary" last week, (and got appropriate "what??!!!!" responses back) I agreed to post my obituary here for you to read. It still feels a little unfinished, but I'm not planning on using it for a while! All comments or thoughts gratefully received! You may want to have a go yourself......

Here goes:

"Although as a boy he never showed much aspiration, through his late teenage years, Paul had a growing passion and desire to make an impact on the world he lived in. Birthed in the frustrations of his time in the insurance world and growing during his years as a youth worker, this passion found an unexpected home for a while in the world of Human Resources.

Paul’s impact was multifaceted. It was professional, striving towards excellence in all that was done particularly in staff care and development in the charity sector. It was personal, being convinced that care and development happens one life at a time, person to person; and it was spiritual, knowing that true and full transformation can only happen with God’s power.

His recurring prayer ‘to be a blessing to those he came into contact with’ expressed itself in his smile, his (often inappropriately timed) laugh, his inquisitiveness about the lives of friends and strangers and his desire to see all of them continue on their spiritual journey and come to know God in ever-deeper ways.

After God, Paul’s delight and priority were Lesley, Charis and Joel whom he loved more than life. He was their coach, their advocate and friend and his greatest pleasure was seeing them grow into the people God called them to be. The ‘bride of his youth delighted him all his days’ as increasingly day by day he realised exactly the amazing woman she was and the blessing she was to him.

The pains and struggles that are common to man may have knocked him along the way, but never knocked him from the arms of his Saviour and Friend."

Thanks for reading!