Secondary School onwards
“…. but Rachel was lovely in form & beautiful” Genesis 29:17b
Friends, girlfriends all part of the excitement of those teenage school years. Jude had a long-standing boyfriend and at the time I never thought our paths would cross. For some reason Jude split with her boyfriend and her friends began to play games with me saying Jude was interested in me, but also another. Jude later denied there was another interest and we soon became boyfriend and girlfriend. Jude would often remind me that she could hear the clip clop of my rider boots coming down the school corridor before she saw me!!
As school came to end, I ended up at college then took a job with the Inland Revenue. Jude became employed in retail work and over those late teenage years we continued to strengthen our relationship. The first car came, we had more bar meals and visited practically every pub and restaurant on Teesside. We developed a great love for the Lake District which would become a regular holiday spot for nearly forty years including our honeymoon,
Eventually we became engaged and on the 12th April 1986, we married.
Oh, go on then I’ll tell it! I loved my Sunbeam Imp and we drove in it to the fabulous Borrowdale Hotel in Keswick for our honeymoon. After a wonderful time and just as we were leaving the hotel, the clutch went and we drove all the way home-96 miles-in top gear. Don’t ask me how we did it, maybe angels were helping but I remember timing and navigating roundabouts all the way. Jude never let me forget and many years later we returned to the Hotel for a treat and a make up!!!!
I thank God for His sovereign move even before we knew Him……. she was as I said, at the celebration of her life…. “The best catch of all!!“
Prayer
Father, the psalmist says that you knew us before we were formed in the womb and therefore looking back to our early formative years, even before we were born again, you already had our lives mapped out.
I thank you Father for choosing Jude to be my wife and rejoice at the many great and sometimes challenging moments in our marriage which made it what it was-a true love match.
Help us not to take every day for granted but to live fully and faithfully for Christ and to watch over our marriages jealously and thankfully.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen
Jude Gray 