Amazing Joan

It's probably the most riotous 80th birthday party I have ever attended but then what did we expect as we travelled from all over the country to her Midlands home of Rushden.

It was there at the age of 17 that Joan became a Christian and thus begun a lifetime of joyful Christian service that has included no less than thirty Pathfinder camps (Christian youth camps), numerous trips to Uganda,  service as a Reader and a Churchwarden in Streatham (where we met her as a young married couple), service for Christian mission agencies CPAS, CMS, the London City Mission and the Diocese of Southwark, a full-time teaching career.

And she has always been a great encourager, a nurturer, a spotter of talent.

She has faithfully prayed for, loved eight and cared for eight God-children (including one of our daughters), interviewed goats in a church service, taught children called Marolyn Munroe, Charles Dickens, and Jane Eyre, been air-lifted from a flooded village by an army helicopter, walked through Interlaken in her swimsuit, and notwithstanding her notoriously bad singing voice (it rivals mine), has continued to praise the Lord loudly and vigorously at every opportunity.

Today (typically) she had organised all kinds of people to do all kinds of things, was (typically) the life and soul of the party, insisted (typically) that in all the fun there was a serious Gospel moment, and, of course, she starred in the sketch as Cinderella, and who else would lead the dancing but the birthday girl?

I was honoured to be asked to give the closing thought for the day, on our remarkable Joan's 80th birthday.

I quoted these words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 1: ^' I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy  because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.'

Joan has been a great partner of the Gospel from the day as a 17 year old girl that she became a Christian, to now, and there's not much chance of her retiring any time soon.

Today all her friends and family thanked God for her.