On Wednesday 7th August 2013, Marshall Meek went home to be with Jesus. He was 88 years old and had been ill for some months but had still found the strength to speak at our monthly Men’s Breakfast last May and, indeed, had attended what turned out to be his last Breakfast meeting just a few days before he died.
Marshall was passionate about reaching out to men who did not know Jesus. He wanted them to have an opportunity to consider who Jesus is and to be able to discuss the Christian faith freely without any pressure. To that end he founded the Mid Northumberland CVM Group and for the last five years he was its driving force. At the North East meetings in Northallerton he met up with other men from his area and encouraged them to set up breakfast meetings as well. To date, four new groups have started as a direct result of his gentle urgings with another new group in the pipe-line.
He was always so thrilled – and I suspect a little surprised! – at the success of the Group – but he always put it down to God blessing the simple obedience of Christian men seeking to put into practice what was on God’s heart.
Billy Graham, in what will likely be his last book, “Nearing Home”, speaks of those men who “walk the last mile of the way triumphantly”! He could well have been speaking of Marshall Meek.
Those of us who knew him have lost a true Christian friend but we cannot be sad for heaven is all the richer for his presence there – for Marshall has finally made it home.

Our June 2013 Breakfast saw us guys debate the vexed issue of “why the world needs men”! You can imagine the way the discussion went!
Did you know that women like silent men? The trouble is they mistakenly take this to mean we are listening!
But then one teenage boy was heard to say to his mum, “When I grow up and become a man..” but he was interrupted when his mum said, “Don’t be silly, dear, you cannot do both!”
We may know that women seldom admit to their age – but that is no excuse for men to act their shoe size rather than their ages!
We had a good laugh but reached a serious conclusion. It is not simply that the world needs men – it is more about the SORT of men the world needs! Men of integrity, honesty and purity. Men who are open about their feelings but strong enough to stand up for what they believe.
The old John Wayne “macho man” image does not cut it anymore. Women are stronger, cleverer, more accomplished and accustomed to power and influence in today’s world. They are not going to be impressed by the old chauvinist, macho attitudes of yesterday’s men. The modern man needs to be open, mature and wise – to be pure, strong and, above all, loving. Does that sound too soft? Well, when was it ever easy to love someone else when that love is shown sacrificially and selflessly?
In the Bible, Paul writes to the men of Corinth saying, “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like a man, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.”
 

 
It is often easy to stand alongside our brothers at a football match, or at the bar, or on a healthy hike. These are good “blokey” things to do. They feed our sense of worth, appeal to our desire to be seen to be “manly” – and they are good fun!
However, I wonder how we manage when standing alongside a guy means being with them when they go through tough times. It’s not so “manly” when men are asked to show compassion to one another.
Many of our guys here in the Mid-Northumberland Group are on the older side. At our breakfast yesterday we realised how some of them are frail and unwell. Just before the breakfast, I received a number of calls from guys unable to come. One was about to begin six months of chemotherapy; another had suffered a stroke and had become very frail; for another it was the anniversary of his wife’s death; and a few others were simply “under the weather”.
It’s easy to stand by a brother in celebration, in fun activities and when the sun is shining. How easy do we find it when sadness, illness or problems arise?
In The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers writes “The most fatal thing a man can do is try to stand alone.” Turning this on its head you could say “The most life-giving thing a man can do is to stand by the lonely.”
Jesus was not slow to show his feelings or his support for those in need. Do we sometimes let being “a real guy” get in the way of our doing the same?