Pilgrim Soldier

Over the last month my life has been touched by a young man I’ve never met and who died two months ago, and today his life has been a real challenge to me.

A month ago I received an e-mail that was requesting a Salvation Army band to take part in a Memorial Service for a young man who had died in December aged just 30. Along with his family, he had been involved in The Salvation Army as a child and his mother has maintained a link with the officers who were commanding the corps at the time. Due to this link they wanted us to supply a band for the occasion, something we were more than happy to do. So along with members of the bands from my corps plus 2 others we went along to the service and played for the 4 hymns.

The preparation for this has involved a little of my time and I’ve been interested to get to know something about this man as I’ve been preparing. Today, I was able to sit in the church and listen to some of the tributes that were given in his honour. During one tribute his brother said something along these lines:

My brother seemed to have a profound effect on everyone who met him.

I couldn’t help but think about my own life. What sort of effect do I have as a follower of Jesus on those I meet?