A great man

A lovely and very fitting funeral service today to remember the life and character of one of the best men I have ever met. I met Jim, his wife Rita and most of the rest of his family in 1994 when I came up to uni and started attending their church (though it wasn't my first association with the McNeill family, the world being a very small place his daughter Angela had been one of our favourite supply teachers when I was at Pirnmill Primary School on Arran). Jim and Rita were in many ways like grandparents to many in the church (not just their actual grandchildren!), a wise, godly couple who looked out for people, were real prayer warriors - one man from my current church told me about telling Jim a few years ago that his son had become a Christian. Jim was delighted to hear the news, it turned out he had been praying for the young man at least once each day for 16 years. I wish I could share the same perseverance and love for others to which that story testifies. His health failed badly over the years I've known him, but his humility, kindness and gentleness shone through, even when he rarely made it out to church. While it's sad to think that he's no longer with us, we know he's in a far better place, where Parkinson's is no longer destroying his body, and he's continuing to serve the God he loves so much.

It was great to see and catch up with old friends, whether from the McNeill family, and my old church, as well as a number of blippers - see inimmoralclaws for another Jim McNeill blip, and caravancrazy, celiaspider and Gillipaw were there too.