Thought for the week –​The greatest honour is meeting God - ​Rev Jim Rea MBE,

​My earliest memory of Her Majesty was her coronation on June 2, 1953, when I recall my father listening to the service from Westminster Abbey on a crackly radio.

In the cobblestone street in north Belfast where we lived there was a street party for the children, with lemonade, buns, sweets and a bit of music to add to the occasion.

In November 1995, I was honoured to go to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen. It was all over in a few minutes, and I can hardly remember what she said to me or how I responded.

It was, however, a memorable moment, an unforgettable occasion when I was in the presence of a woman I greatly admired, and who arguably remained the most respected leader in the free world.

On the day the Queen was crowned in 1953, she placed one hand on the open Bible and took a solemn oath to Almighty God "to uphold to the utmost of my power, the Laws of God within the Realm, and the true profession of the Christian gospel".

Throughout her reign, particularly in recent times, secularism is on the attack and much of our society dismisses Christianity. Queen Elizabeth II remained faithful to her calling and upheld her allegiance to Christian values, never afraid to mention in her Christmas Day broadcast the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

To receive that calling to meet the Queen on November 30, 1995 is forever etched in my memory - a life-time privilege. Yet I am reminded every day of my greatest calling, as for any Christian believer, to follow Jesus Christ, the One to whom the Queen herself gave precedence.

Being ready to meet Him some day is of ultimate importance and the greatest honour of all, undeserved but freely offered to us in Christ with the forgiveness of all our sins.