I love a good book. I always have and I think I always will.

In fact, I can still remember being given copies of ‘Grimm’s Fairy Tales’ and ‘Tom Brown’s Schooldays’ when I was confined to bed with sunstroke as a young child. Reading has been an essential part of my daily diet ever since.

My family are very much aware of this which is why they find choosing Christmas and birthday presents a very simple task.

As a result, I’ve been given some brilliant books over the years. Books such as ‘The man who created the Middle East’ by Christopher Sykes and ‘The Rest is History’ by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. I devoured these the moment I was given them knowing that I could go back and feast on them any time I choose, which I often do

The most recent addition to my library is ‘Killing Thatcher’ written by Rory Carroll. It tells the story of how close the IRA came to killing Mrs Thatcher at the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton in 1984. Remarkably, both she and her husband Denis survived although sadly several people were killed and many others injured.

It’s a compelling read and it contains a wealth of fascinating information, but if I had to highlight just one thing it would have to be the story of Mrs Thatcher’s Director of Communications, Harvey Thomas.

Thomas was clearly a gifted man. A very committed Christian who acted as the director of Billy Graham crusades for 16 years and served with Trans World Radio United Kingdom for 30 years, much of that as board chairman.

Thomas jumped off the page for me when I learned how he reacted when a fireman heard a cry for help and shone a torch in his direction. Asked if he could see the light, Thomas, who covered in rubble and blinded by mud replied: “I saw the light years ago, brother, but I can’t see yours.” 

I loved that story, and it prompted me to do a little more research. As a result, I discovered that he had another very enlightening moment some years later too when he was preaching in America. He was focusing on the section of Matthew’s gospel where Jesus tells us we need to forgive if we expect to be forgiven.  He realised that he had never forgiven the bomber and so when he returned to England he wrote to him and told him that he would do so.

Sometime later when the man who had planted the bomb, Patrick Magee, was given amnesty and released, Thomas reached out to him again and the men met in Dublin. That began an unlikely relationship that also included Thomas’ family.

As I pondered on this amazing story, I was reminded of the Book of Hebrews where we find a list of some amazing people who lived in ways that show us what genuine faith is truly like. If he were writing it today, I think our unknown author would have been tempted to add Harvey Thomas to his distinguished list too.

Thomas certainly followed the advice of the unknown author of Hebrews who challenged his readers to focus on Jesus and never lose sight of their ultimate destination. In doing this his story is both a challenge and an inspiration to us all.