Roger W Thompson - My Best Friends Funeral

Praise for My Best Friends Funeral

With the Pacific Ocean as his backdrop, Roger Thompson paints a firsthand picture of the reality that life is not easy. Its cruel, challenging, and hopeless; and being a Christian doesnt make it easy. He questions Gods authority in the face of loss and rejection and draws closer to his Heavenly Father in the process. God has taken him on an incredible journey; one that we can all learn something from.

JOSH TURNER, MULTI-PLATINUM MCA NASHVILLE RECORDING ARTIST

Life doesnt always turn out like we expect, and we must learn to celebrate every gift and mourn every loss. My Best Friends Funeral will teach you to do both with resolve and grace.

MARGARET FEINBERG, AUTHOR OF Fight with Joy

A remarkable true story of a deep and true friendship. Its an emotional journey through joy, sorrow, and hope. With insight into living and loving more fully, my friend Roger shows us how to find meaning in the hardships we cant explain, and how love can grow from our deepest loss. Brutally honest and beautifully compassionate, it will inspire you to, once again, tell your family and friends how much you love them. Youll love reading this book.

MICHAEL W. SMITH, SINGER-SONGWRITER

Roger has been a close friend of mine for more than a decade. But in some ways this book introduced me to him for the first time. His writing displays incredible insights into life and loss that cut to the heart and will inspire you. His candor, warmth, and hope encourage us to become better fathers and mothersand friends. I think youll love this book.

DAVID KINNAMAN, AUTHOR OF unChristian AND You Lost Me

A profoundly moving, heartbreaking, and surprisingly hilarious story of an extraordinary friendship. Roger takes us to almost unbearable depths of grief and then through laughter and tears leaves us with the assurance that even our greatest suffering can turn to joy. It is a must read.

MIKE FOSTER, AUTHOR; FOUNDER OF PEOPLE OF THE SECOND CHANCE

With raw honesty Roger Thompson invites us into his narrative of abandonment, friendship, and redemption. Thompson gives a poignant reminder that our stories shape us, and at the center of every story is the need for relationship.

PASTOR CHRIS SEAY

A gutsy and transparent memoir about the most important and difficult issues we face in this lifetime. Its a true story well told of friendship and fatherhood, love lost and found, grief, forgiveness, and ultimately, redemption. It speaks to me as a father and a manand inspires me to be better at both.

MARK STUART, LEAD SINGER OF AUDIO ADRENALINE AND COFOUNDER OF THE HANDS AND FEET PROJECT

A beautiful, poignant memoir of loss and life. My Best Friends Funeral is a rare gift that will bring comfort, hope, and even companionship to those navigating the valley of the shadow whilst aspiring to the heights of a life well-lived.

PETE GREIG, AUTHOR OF God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer

Everybody has a secret fishing hole they are looking for. A place where everything makes sense and puts one at ease. Roger takes us on a universal search for the meaning of life. Then he shows us that it may have been right in front of us all along.

JUSTIN HARDING, PROFESSIONAL FLY-FISHING GUIDE, UTAH PRO FLY FISHING

My Best Friends Funeral will take you on a journey through the universal struggle of youth, first love, addiction, loss, marriage, the highs and lows of adult life, fatherhood, finding God, and the untimely death of a best friend. Rogers openness will leave you stretched and challenged to live a life of sincerity and honest humility. In these pages is a beautiful roadmap of how to do friendship well. This story will move your heart in a very deep way, and leave you with much to consider.

CHARLOTTE CROTTY, LONG-TIME FRIEND

My friend Roger writes a captivating, raw, touching memoir. It will make you laugh and cry, and cause you to regard your friendships as the greater gifts they are.

BRITT MERRICK, FOUNDING PASTOR OF REALITY CHURCH AND AUTHOR OF Big God AND Godspeed

Enter this book. Please. Take yourself and enter. For from within it you will know what the Celts knew, how to be AnamCara. Anam is the Gaelic word for soul; cara is the word for friend, together they equal soul friend. Lost are the days of soul friends in our contemporary life, lost are those friendships that cut across all convention and category, friendships that convey deep recognition and belonging, friendships that see each other as whole people and help each other become whole and better versions of themselves. This book, these lives, they teach us, challenge us, carry us, and renew us once again toward the soulfulness of friendship. I know this to be true, for I was taught personally, and so can you. Read.

GREG RUSSINGER, FRIEND OF TIM AND ROGER, AND FOUNDING PASTOR OF THE BRIDGE COMMUNITY WHERE TIM SERVED, LOVED, AND TAUGHT US TO BE SOUL FRIENDS

A beautiful and brave tribute; casting light onto what it means to grieve and process the monumental loss of a parent and a best friend. I was engrossed by Rogers forthright writing; he lays himself bare about the things that we grapple with the most. What happens when we lose people we care about? What do we do next? Affirming, spiritual without being preachy, and above all, honest. Kudos.

MARIO CALIRE, MULTI GRAMMY-WINNING DRUMMER (WALLFLOWERS, OZOMATLI)

Taut with the suspense of life itself, hung precariously between dark winter and brimming springtide. Like the Psalms, it shimmers with both sorrow and hope. The journey is lyrical, haunting, deeply personal yet rich in treasures for all. Amidst it all, Roger Thompson reminds us that the place of our greatest ache can be also the source of the greatest gift God gives others through us.

JEDD MEDEFIND, PRESIDENT OF THE CHRISTIAN ALLIANCE FOR ORPHANS AND AUTHOR OF Becoming Home

I could not put this book down! A refreshingly raw, honest, insightful behind the scenes look into a friendship that God worked through to impact this entire generation! Each of our lives are difficult at times but reading this book reminded me of how God uses our pain and suffering to draw us closer to Him and to refine us so we can shine brighter.

BRYAN JENNINGS, FOUNDER OF WALKING ON WATER

This is a beautiful book about friendship, failure, and fighting with God and others over lifes mysteries. Roger provides the reader a poetic, playful, and generous place to marinate in the experiences that flavor our lives. His stories moved me deeply, not only because of his engaging and humorous wit, but because I had the incredible privilege of sharing some of these memories with Roger and Tim. You will be encouraged by Rogers vulnerability and authenticity, and invited to open up your heart a little more to love and be loved.

SCOTT GRABENDIKE, SENIOR PASTOR OF WESTBROOK CHURCH

2014 by Roger W. Thompson

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Nelson Books, an imprint of Thomas Nelson. Nelson Books and Thomas Nelson are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

The back cover photo was taken by Jesse Giglio. Interior photos came from the authors memory box. All interior artwork, sketches, and diagrams were provided by the authors mother.