My friend David is no longer well enough to take part in our weekly coffee jaunts, so this week I went to visit him…at home with his wife and daughter.
We continue to pray for him.
Along with a group of friends, I have been praying for his complete recovery from this terrible disease which has been slowly robbing him of his health, his strength, his sight and his dignity; but God’s wisdom is greater than mine and He is taking David home to glory.
David is a true genius with an incredibly generous heart, who has spent his whole life helping and serving people.
He has loved working with youth groups to improve the self-esteem of young people, releasing their talents and creativity.
I first came across David when we were at school together in the early 1960s. We lost contact and did not meet again until 2003 when, serendipitously,  we both started working for an incredible Christian Charity – Liverpool lighthouse – based in Anfield.
By this time he had developed into an unassuming polymath, having, in the intervening years amassed an unbelievable knowledge and enthusiasm for an amazingly diverse range of subjects, – from railway engineering, through aeronautical design, ornithology, environmentalism, to rock music,- with detailed knowledge and appreciation of every blues and rock guitarist from Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters, through Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler, to Joe Bonnamassa.
We have both spent many happy hours at Wirral Guitar Festival events and Gary Murphy gigs.
David developed an uncanny ability for writing funding bids on behalf of charities and this is what brought us to work together at Liverpool Lighthouse. He has, over the past decade, raised literally millions of pounds for projects that have helped very needy people in the most deprived parts of our region.
The miserable disease that is cancer, may be robbing us of a gentle genius, but I know that he’ll continue rockin’, when the gig rolls in to Heaven.