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Commemorate, celebrate, inspire. As the RAF comes to its hundredth birthday, it’s those three words that capture how the Air Force is marking its centenary. They’re great words. And they’re words that are intended to do more than simply recall the RAF’s achievements over the last hundred years. Mention the RAF, and frequently the images of iconic Spitfires and Lancaster bombers come to mind. For others the picture is more contemporary, such as that of a Chinook flying in to move troops from one place to another, or to deliver aid to those in need. But the RAF has always been more than the aircraft it operates. It is the people that define the history. So we commemorate those who’ve gone before, celebrate all that is presently being done and seek to inspire the next generation with the story. As a chaplain, it’s my privilege to walk with those who serve, their families and the civil servants and contractors – all who make up the RAF family. To be there with them in the places and situations where they are, to share with them in the joys and frustrations of life. The importance of that was vividly brought home to me when I first deployed and went off to Afghanistan. I sometimes observe that when our airmen go away they frequently only get to see four places: where they sleep, where they eat, where they work and the gym. As a chaplain in Camp Bastion I had the freedom to move around and visit our military personnel in the great variety of places where they were. I got to see aircrews planning their flights, the air traffickers controlling the runway, the RAF police providing security, the engineers working on the aircraft and many others who make the RAF work. And that walking alongside was all the more important when times of crisis arose. When a friend or colleague was injured, or when a repatriation needed to take place, to be with people in those hard places matters. It is to be there to offer love and hope at a time when things feel hopeless. It is to try and do as Jesus did with the people he met in the time of his earthly ministry. As the apostle John puts it, ‘We love because he first loved us’. The actual hundredth anniversary for the RAF coincides with Easter Day. And for Christians the events of that first Easter are the supreme place where we look for evidence of God’s love, the place we go to find hope. That is why we commemorate his death on a cross, celebrate his victory over death and are inspired by the love and hope he offers. And that’s why as chaplains we keep walking with our remarkable colleagues in the RAF.