I didn't know Mark until October 2020, although we loved to speculate that our lives probably first touched at the hugfests that were Greenbelt in the 80s. 

The Lord sent me to him, asked me to be with him despite all the indications to the contrary, and we we loved each other through a difficult part of his life, through lockdown and before and after his mum's death. There were ups and downs but so much love.

During one of the downs he moved to Stornoway but we were hoping and planning for him to come back to me in Suffolk, to be part of our forest church and community.  

He told me stories of his past, his times in New York and London, in the music biz, working with the homeless, and his friends in the alternative church. So many amazing stories. And he was still that person. He still lit up a town by living in it. Sudbury and Stornoway are full of people who he showed love to, who smile when you mention him, who know he loved the Lord. He had a wonderful plan to write an 'alternative' evangelistic tract and distribute it with the 1000 copies of John's gospel which I daresay await me in Stornoway. 

I'm so grateful to God for putting Mark into my life. I loved him very much. He was so beautiful, inside and out. My Mark was dark and shadowed but I could see the gold. I could still see the prophet, the rejected brilliance, the punk. When he spoke of God the darkness fell away.