soul friends

We ran a men’s retreat earlier this week. I was amazed by the positive take up and the way the spaces I’d booked at the conference centre quickly booked up. There is obviously a real hunger for men to get together.

We had a brilliant time together exploring mentoring with Tony Horsfall and Rick Lewis, 2 guys I know well. What really struck me was spending time with an old friend and colleague called Carl. We’d worked together years ago, laughed and cried, shared moments of great triumph and real frustration (often with each other!), but we’d just not seen each other for probably over 10 years.

In the few minutes we had together over our 24 hour stay  it was great to connect again. As Christians there are deep bonds forged when we open ourselves up to one another, soul friendships is a term that’s often used. I realised that although we don’t keep in touch now , we still have a real bond, it was so easy to talk together. Brothers in Christ is what we truly are and seeing my old friend again did me good.

Tragically often as men we never bond at significant times and in significant ways  and our lives are the poorer for it. I learnt a lesson this week. We’ve both moved on but in our hearts there is still a genuine knitting that God’s Spirit has forged between us when we walked the road together. God bless you Carl, thanks for the memory