The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! Official Sony Pictures United Kingdom Movie Site

I still love the cinema, I love it even more when it is very empty and not too loud!

Yesterday evening, I went with Lucy to see the Aardman adventure (and dare I say classic), after I put out a plea on facebook to ask if anyone wanted to come with me.

For once the £8.25 I spent, I felt like I got my money's worth. Stop motion animation runs closely with musicals for top space with me, as well as Disney of course and Aardman have not disappointed me at all. The detail is epic, every time the scene changes you have to keep your eyes open for the different things you might see.

We laughed for most of it, and wondered at the detail. There was a pub name I loved, but can not remember. And the monkey... Aardman do very, very well at animating those who don't speak. I see a new sidekick!

I hope that this gets picked up by the British public as a truly British movie. They mess with history a little bit, of course, but that's ok, because it is a brilliant story and a DVD that I will definitely be buying.

Also looking forward to using The Lorax for everything over 2013, looks like a cracking moral movie!

Finishing Touches

I have been in my new flat for a little over a month now. I am just settling in, work has (and never is) not been normal recently, so some days I come home and slump in my chair (sofa is imminent) and other days I am feeling nervous about being on my own. I keep adding things to what I have. Some people have given me things (thank you very much) and I have been buying things as well. So here's a couple of pictures of the finishing touches after my Dad said that I needed something to 'finish off' my bookcase.

Lounge Window

Hall Table (which I know Mandy will love!)

Bookcase a la Elephants (Thank you Kerrie!)

And finally my bedroom window.

Currently I can not decorate, hence the plain looking walls, but I can jazz up the windows, and there's the furniture as well.Also what you can't see and won't see is the mess! Today, I have been unscrewing the stupid bins in the magical cupboard to make way for the hoover. So everything is put away now! And if you only looked in the cupboard you would think I was a perfectionist! and if you looked in the sink you'd think I never did the washing up and lastly if you looked next to the fridge, you'd think I was an alcoholic!!!

Here's hoping for a post-Easter house warming and eventually some colour on the walls!

HELP!

I have made a little video for the Girl Guiding groups in Billericay. They are in need of some help, especially with Rainbows.

It is so sad that packs are closing down because there aren't enough leaders. If you know of a pack, please offer your help, obviously if it is appropriate for your situation.

I am a Brownie leader and I love it, so much. I almost cried in church this morning because I don't want anyone to miss out. Please help where and when you can.

Beautiful Things

Levitate Architecture and Design Studio : Bookcase Staircase, London

Apologies for the silence recently, but I have been taking stock of things, moving house and finding myself in places where I thought I wouldn't really be!

Here's something beautiful for you to cast your eyes over if you have a moment.

And I promise that when I have the broadband installed in my new flat I will show you all how wonderful it is!

On Retreat

This week I have been on retreat. a chance to get away from it all, think about nothing else but me and spend time with God and other youth workers from across the diocese.

After 4 years of doing this and seeing people regularly in that time, we're starting to feel a lot like a family. We are relaxed with each other, we laugh and joke a lot of the time, and I do go back to normal life very relaxed.

Andy, Rachel and Alice do a sterling job as our youth advisers  (and all the other things they do!) and being on a retreat with them makes all of us realise that we are very fortunate to be in jobs that we love doing. We are ready to pray, listen, help each other out in the best way.

It is really nice to catch up with people as well and spend the time getting to know others.

We were really blessed this year by a guy called Andy Freeman, who is the author of Punk Monk, he's involved in 24/7 Prayer and knows one very important person who set me on my youth work way - Carrie Hayward! He gave us time, to sit and listen to God, to go through our thoughts about things, to pray for those things that we had given up on.

I did come away content, happy to move on and ready. There is a lot to do over the next month or so and then we'll be getting ready for Easter!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I had another chance to go to the cinema yesterday - this time with someone - huzzah!!

We had decided that we wanted to see Chronicle, and forgetting entirely that it was Orange Wednesday's, we didn't buy our tickets when we decided, but waited until just before the start of it to buy our tickets, which meant that we missed out. So instead, with caution on my part, we opted for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

We settled with ice cream and a little bit of hope. It started exactly like a Bond movie, and a dark one at that and with Daniel Craig popping up as the main character, it feels like Bond, but without the gadgets. You still fear for his safety and hope that he will come out saving the world in the end, without the world actually being at risk.

A young girl goes missing and the task is to find who killed her and why. Daniel Craig is employed for the task and asks for help, which comes in the form of a woman who is described as insane by the state. These two characters are leading very separate lives, you find out about them, and they are thrown together, they solve the mystery and everything, sort of, turns out ok.

Now, this movie is an 18 certificate and for the first half an hour we were wondering why and then you find out why, it quite a dramatic way. I am pleased I am 27 and not 18, this is not a movie I would watch again, and it does worry me that the scene was allowed into the final cut, but then, it is an 18. I did not look at the screen for the duration of some of the movie.

And the use of the Bible and the law was interesting. I don't want to give too much away, but I can see why the writer has used it and how it will come across that this is a very wrong use of scripture.

A well structured movie, that is easy to follow and pulls together well in the end... could've removed the scene that I have spoken about, but it would still be an 18. Be prepared is all I can say.

The Artist

The Artist (2011) - IMDb

If you haven't seen this movie yet, I would wait a little longer and get it on DVD. It is a piece of genius - but only because it is different from all the 3D out there at the moment. It is not new, it is nostalgic. It is clever, but at the same time there are little niggles. Little niggles like not having enough time to read some of the dialogue and spotting mistakes, because sometimes there is little else to do.

I might just be annoyed because the seat was £8.95, the screen was badly proportioned and the room was so warm, I feel asleep. It takes away from the experience a little. The cinema should be enjoyable.

Anyway, see it, but on DVD, enjoy it for the storyline, the dream sequence, every moment the leads meet and the mild camp-ness that is silent cinema. All that was missing, was the orchestra!

When extreme goes too far

Have a read of this article for a moment and tell me what you think...

Damage To Dummies Prompts Ride Rethink

I am all for extreme rides, I am yet to get to America to try some of the really extreme rides, but this is crazy. Having to re-think a ride because the dummies limbs have been damaged? Surely, in the first place, that is a design failure?

When I first went on Nemesis I though we were going to get smashed into the ground, I still think that we will every time I go on that ride, and that is enough for me. Really.

From the outset rides should be about thrill, closely followed by the safety of riders... if those two aren't at the top of the list, you end up with a boring ride or a death trap!

A reflection

I'm having a moment of reflection, quiet contemplation whilst the world falls apart, financially, in front of me. Debt is the headline and no doubt the world will struggle for a while yet, but as for me, I have looked at a previous blog post and been reminded of the Christmas period, that rushed past me, without much of a comment.

In Blooming Christianity I said that I had never felt what it was like to be in an over-flowing church. Chinese church (Happy New Year, by the way) is experiencing a boom in numbers, which is brilliant news for the people who live there, quite frightening, I imagine, for church leaders. It made me think of Christmas Eve at Christ Church, when we hold our Christingle services.

As a church many hours go into preparing one service, that happens three times. The first one this year, everyone had a seat, everyone, who wanted one, got an orange and it was a pleasant service. The second one was over-flowing. I stood in the corner, by the band, and looked at perhaps 350 people, lots of children sitting on parents laps, and one huge opportunity to tell the message of Jesus' birth. The third one was quieter and everyone had a seat again.

Only now, looking back, I realise that a church that is over-flowing is a beautiful thing. I was happy to be stood up for the whole service, to hear the band play Once In Royal David's City, all the way through, twice, and to see that so many people are coming to church.

It is exhausting, exhilarating and by the end of it, I am often pleased it only happens once a year.

In 2012 we are looking at how Christmas works, with the schools ending so late, we already need to start thinking about it. Forward planning though, means we can have the right conversations with the right people to make the week up to Christmas smooth and as stress free as possible!

Time to Talk

If you live or work in the Diocese of Chelmsford (and that is a pretty large area) you need to have a look at this website

Transforming Presence | Strategic Priorities for the Diocese of Chelmsford

And I mean have a serious look at it. This is what Bishop Stephen is all about at the moment, the discernment process has already started for what the Diocese might be doing by 2027.

Bishop Stephen has written this paper to inspire and begin to instruct the people in his diocese about how we begin to grow, rather than "managing our decline as gracefully as possible".

On Saturday, nearly 1000 people got together from across the diocese to answer a few questions about our experiences of church, past, present and future, and how we can change the face of the church.

The logistics of the day were the first impressive thing - what a way to start, I found my table and a seat straight away! Very impressed with the way the day was run, we started and finished on time, a few disappointing things though - there was no wifi to tell the outside world, I didn't have a hot drink as a tea and coffee abstainer and we always could've done with more time. However, I made new friends, I connected people so that they could be helped, and I got to reconnect with some I hadn't seen for a while.

The next step is wondering how this will filter down to church levels. Yes, we have a website, we have a diocese newspaper, we have vicars and youth workers, church wardens and readers, but all of these people and all of the congregation are busy with the things that we already do. What questions will the PCC's and DCC's have to ask to re-imagine church? What does it mean for the churches that didn't have a vicar or a representative at the meeting last weekend? And how do we recognize the works that are already changing the church?

The questions could keep on going - there are hundreds, to do with young people, schools, ecumenical views, at deanery level, and communities. There are definitely more questions than answers at the moment, but I hope you'll pray with me as the Bishop begins to meet with those who are boiling down what was said on Saturday, that the main themes will come through and the plan will come easily to everyone involved.

Back against the wall

So I have seen an osteopath for my back. I have never seen anyone about my back problems, but after thinking about it and talking about it with the osteopath, it turns out that my history is longer than I ever thought and probably started with a car accident and therefore is definitely over 10 years old.

That worries me slightly. That something has been wrong with me for that long and I have not done anything about it in all of the time I have been walking around, in pain occasionally, and it could have been fixed with a couple of trips to see a professional.

I facebooked about my neck problem and lovely Georgina, who has been a young person and turned into a friend, through Guides and other family connections, said that I ought to book with her and she could see what she could do for me.

The long and the short of it was that she spent an hour and a half with me - diagnosed my problem - stemming from my breathing and in the end I felt a lot better for being treated as a whole person. A doctor would've given me painkillers and told me to rest, Georgina gave me exercises and offered a follow up appointment in two weeks. And yesterday for the first time in a long time I had pain where I was supposed to have pain! It wasn't displaced, and it made all the difference for it being where it was supposed to be. I felt happier!

I have decided that I need to keep up with this and that private health care, for my toes and back at least, is the way to go about making life easier. I am not looking forward to seeing the podiatrist again, though he was funny and knew exactly was he was doing, it doesn't make injections any easier! I love the NHS, but I don't really want to have to wait - my Nan had her hip replaced last summer and she's only just seeing the osteopath, and only for 6 appointments. I can see Georgina at The Moir Health Clinic for as long as I want and she doesn't currently have a waiting list, though I think she soon will.

What's in an AOK?

With all things twitter - I have come across some lovely articles and some not so helpful - see previous posts!

Some times I have ranted, some times I have shouted 'look at this' and other times I have just smiled as I have shared.

This post is definitely the last two - read 12 Things Happy People Do Differently and you will be uplifted. I need to start doing more of this, particularly acts of kindness and practicing religion! I am grateful for an awful lot at the moment, the new year, the team that I work with and the parents who are supporting me during a transition that will change my life completely!

After worrying about what 2012 might bring, I am now certain that it is a year for moving on to greater things, to a more substantial foot on the ladder of so many things. It is exciting, all terrifying, but mostly a step in the right direction, and I am sure that there are doors that will shut, many that will open and lots of new friends to meet! Looking forward to it!

If you're in your 20's or 30's and want to meet new people and discuss the Bible, tonight, we will be meeting for the first time at St Mary's in Billericay, at 7.30pm. Everyone is welcome!

(In other news though, I have a really bad back, so moving and breathing has been a bit tough. Going to see someone about it tomorrow morning who can perhaps diagnose the problem and begin to help me get well again.)

Another week!

It's Friday! Today was supposed to be the day I moved into my new flat, instead, I got all of the legal documents for it. I am happy where I am for now. I am quite pleased that the timing seems to have changed, so that I can focus on what is happening tomorrow instead of running around like a headless chicken trying to get things sorted. This weekend is a surprisingly big weekend, it includes two birthday parties, one diocese meeting, leading worship and a trip to lakeside for the first Nandos of the year! I am going to be tired - and some how will have to catch up with all of the tv programmes I will miss!

Being back at work as been a giggle, seeing the work in Southend that is growing and what just a few people have planned for 2012 has been an eye opening experience. We filled a whole sheet of paper with things that are one-offs but also regular things that are happening. If I wrote a list from that particular piece of paper it would be as long as my arm.

Pleased to say that it is nice to be in school again, catching up with the students that we have known for a very long time. All in all a very good start to term!

2012

For the last couple of days I have been watching twitter and facebook talk about how 2012 is going to be better than 2011 and how exactly a lot of people feel about it. I have also watched the news. This year has not started well for several people, including governments across Europe (who want to skip 2012 already) and families of those who have lost their lives.

As for me, I don't have many feelings about it, I know I have to work my socks off this year, I have to lose a little bit of weight and get fitter for more dancing and dressing up during the year. I will be moving out in January, so I will be living on my own very shortly - and probably blogging more to relieve the boredom to some extent.

I shall probably get frustrated with early morning and mid-evening journeys to and from home. But that's just an opportunity to rant. I shall probably try my hardest to resist takeaway, and fail, but that's just a chance to feel sorry for myself.

I am facing the year as a single woman and as much as I don't want that to be the case, I am trusting that God knows what He's doing.

There's not a lot else to say. I hope twitter and facebook will be as encouraging as they have been in 2011.

There are a lot of things going on this year. I hope I get the most from it.

Single and lonely?

Single and lonely | Christian News on Christian Today

"For those with family, the holiday period can be a manic time offering few opportunities to sit down and take stock.

For Christian singles, however, it can be a distressing time that intensifies their feelings of loneliness, a season of reflection often ending in nostalgia.

Some reminisce about past relationships and feel guilty about mistakes they made. Many are uncomfortable being the only single person in their family. Others feel depressed because they have no one to celebrate with. Everyone has their own story.

For Tanya*, a 39-year-old nurse from London, this holiday has been particularly challenging. Her parents live in Cyprus and their relationship is complicated.

“I have depression anyway. It has hit me. It has accentuated everything, especially as I do not have family to spend Christmas this year. It has caused me to feel a lot more down,” she says.

“It is difficult being on my own, especially in my age. It is a lot harder for me.”

In a way, being together with other people over the holidays makes her feel pressured because “this is a time of family, love and togetherness”.

While others are desperate to get as many days off as they can over Christmas and New Year, Tanya actually requests to work.

“... [T]o put it out of my mind and work instead of sitting on my own at home,” she admits.

Occupational therapist Bethany, 33, believes that this time of “togetherness” is challenging for people who are alone.

“It is more in your face. And it makes me feel sorry for those who do not have anyone. It almost makes me cringe.”

Kimmy, a travelling occupational therapist and single mother from New York says the festive period does not affect her, especially because back home in her native US there are so many singles.

At the same time, the 35-year-old also recognises that one by one, many of her friends are getting married.

These days most of Bethany’s friends are in relationships too and she cannot help but feel a bit “isolated”.

In terms of this New Year’s Eve, Kimmy plans to watch the fireworks in central London. Picturing the midnight countdown, she admits to wishing she could share this experience with a partner.

Bethany and Tanya will celebrate New Year’s Eve together. For Tanya, the last thing she wants is to impose herself on friends who might feel they need to invite her.

“I do not want them to feel sorry for me. I do not like that feeling,” she emphasises.

Her Christian faith though has helped her to maintain a positive outlook on the future.

“God is going to sort it out”, she affirms. “I know He is going to provide me with someone.”

Bethany adds: “It is one area you cannot control. You cannot control when you meet someone.”

She admits that she would love to meet someone but refuses to lower her standards and settle for just anyone.

“The bottom line is if you are really strong in who you are in Christ, you will not worry about it. You will trust that God will provide you with the right partner when it is the appointed time.”

*last names have been omitted by request"


I spotted this article in Twitter - and I have two basic reactions to it - I feel sorry for these women in the first instance, that they are alone and that they find Christmas really hard, and secondly, what are they doing and what is the church doing to help these women out?

Note that this article is only about women who are single and alone, not about men. I know my fair share of men who are single, and although I can't speak for any of them, I bet some of them feel like this. God calls us to be in community, to be with someone, for life and it does become a struggle to be on your own in the end.

So what are the Church doing to deal with the singles and what are the singles doing to sort it out themselves. Are they spending time out and about with other singles, or with good friends who have good friends who are single? Does the church recognise that community is as important for single people as it is for families?

In my experience, a lot of the older single people in the church are teaching me how to be single, they are independent and they do love spending time with their friends and their church. They are not sad and alone. They don't resent people for feeling sorry for them, they understand that God has put them in a place where they can help each other to feel like a family.

Yes, God has the prefect partner for each one of us who believe and we have to get the fine balance between trusting Him and actually going out. I read a quote somewhere about Disney teaching girls that some day their prince will come - i.e. Cinderella's prince searched the kingdom high and low for her and they lived happily ever after. Looking at the rest of the story though Cinderella actually went to the ball, rather than sitting at home in front of the tv, blogging about being single... oh wait.

Ok, so I am not the perfect example of a Christian single, but I do try to spend time with my friends, with my church and with my Bible, but also making new friends and going on dates (shock horror) to see what works and what doesn't. I guess my profession allows me to meet a lot of new people on a regular basis, for which I am hugely grateful.

For those of you who are really struggling with this time of 'togetherness', it is hard, but at the time when the church celebrates, what are you doing to celebrate being single?

Let me just say...

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the comments on Street Pastoring.

For me, when I have taken the time to reply to questions and opinions, I have prayed, I have considered and often found the answers coming to me. I hope that I have given a balanced view, but also a truthful Christian view.

I am always holding up my hand to say I don't know all of the answers, although it's taken a while for me to get to that point.

I hope that you will continue to read - the journey to here from some 7 (!) years ago when I started blogging has been cautious, frightening and fun, many things have happened and few haven't. I hope you can see the trust I have and that my life is truly in the hands of something greater than I will ever get to grips with.

Here's hoping that as I move out of home permanently and continue to work with young people in Billericay that I will enjoy 2012 and you continue to follow my misadventures!

EssexAtheist

Please can you get in touch again? Thank you.

Here's what you wrote


"And this is what is wrong with religion.

you should keep your religion to yourself, the arrogant view that people are better off with your religion (not any of the other hundreds of religions strangely) is disgusting.

i am atheist, does that make me less of a person than you? no. but in your eyes it does. its a horrible world view to have, and you shouldn't be actively approaching people effectively telling people this. keep your religion to yourself and keep it in your church.

however if i did bump into you in the street im sure i could pose some interesting questions and ideas to you."

Thank you for your opinion, in response to my post about Street Pastoring, it is always interesting to hear what others have to say.

I posed the question to facebook to see what I should do about your post, as I have many Christian and non-Christian friends. The opinions ranged from reply to delete, and one answer caught my eye...

"And this is what is wrong with atheism.

You should keep your atheism to yourself, the arrogant view that people are better off without religion (including any of the other hundreds of religions strangely) is disgusting.

I am Christian, does that make me less of a person than you? no. but in your eyes it does. its a horrible world view to have, and you shouldn't be actively approaching people effectively telling people this. keep your atheism to yourself.

however if i did bump into you in the street I'm sure i could pose some interesting questions and ideas to you."

Thank you for your opinion, because I would not have a story to tell about how I helped a few people on the way home after my work Christmas do, how I wished that I did have a Street Pastors hat and jacket on to help those who were in distress or lost, because before you posted it, all I could think about was getting home to bed, instead it inspired me to remove broken glass from the high street and speak to my friends about how best to respond. 


I feel that Jesus would probably ask if he could come to dinner at yours. 


Thank you for finding my blog and if you would like to talk to me, please get in contact.

Expectations

We're just 10 days away from the big day... so hears something for you to think about, this is some of what I said to the Uniformed Organisations and their parents tonight.

"All of these children have expectations on their lives. Harper is expected to be glamorous, well dressed and sophisticated, like her mum when she grows up and Charlie, he’s got his school and his new club hoping that his skill will carry him though the ranks to an England player. And Jesus? Like Harper Seven, before he was born a lot was written about him, but unlike Harper, those things were written hundreds of years before His birth. He was born with the world on His shoulders. Much like Harper Seven and Charlie, Jesus made headline news. We have sung about angels announcing his arrival to shepherds  in the fields, and what is more exciting than that? Like Charlie, He really did come out of nowhere and gained a whole lot of publicity in a very  short amount of time; for someone so young, he had a king after him and people from all walks of life bringing him presents.

Whatever you are expecting at this time of year, please don’t forget that the reason it all started was because one little baby was born, with the world watching on. Jesus was a very special baby. 

Jesus is dressed as Santa and the line is ‘Go on, ask him for something this Christmas’. Maybe there is something you can ask for, it might be one of those special things I asked about earlier.

Little Harper and Charlie won’t be able to help you with the bigger things this Christmas, maybe not with the smallest things either – Harper is not even a year old and Charlie, well, he’s just started school, but Jesus is the one we can go to for help.

I don’t know if you heard the lyrics of the John Lewis advert, they are really sad – ‘The luck I’ve had can make a good man turn bad, Please let me get what I want, Lord knows, it would be the first time’.  Sometimes life isn’t how we want it to be, but we can pray to Jesus to say thank you for what we get, sorry for the wrong things we do and please for things we need help or are struggling with and He will answer our prayers, often in ways that are unexpected. For a lot of your leaders – they have been praying for new leaders, and they got me this year, so I am an answer to prayer, but perhaps not the one they expected!

But what ever you ask for remember this year that Jesus is ’God with us’ and He was a very special gift that God could not wait to give to us."

There is a power point to go with it - if you haven't seen the John Lewis Advert, you can watch it here.

But the message is simple this Christmas, remember that God is with us, for all that has been and all that will be, with you and those you love. God loves you for the you of you, and whatever you are expecting or whatever is expected of you, don't forget the reason that we're celebrating.

Music and Words

I am a traditionalist when it comes to music... I don't like buying mp3 files very often, I much prefer a CD - ok so it's not vinyl, but keeping music electronically just doesn't sit right with me, plus my car has a CD player and we all know what radio connections are like, even in a tiny spcae like a car.

So recently I started listening to Lady Antebellum after hearing 'Just a kiss' at Jazzercise (of all places) and it is a really good album, if you want to buy 'Own the Night' I would recommend it. I buy popular music, there's not a lot of niche about what I listen to. I am a person who loves musicals, the charts and the old stuff... I think a lot of my friends are the same.

I do listen to Christian music though, a mix of live and music, they are songs that I often identify with strongly, they bring back memories of good times of worship and those of the lowest moments.

One of my bug bares about music though is the way in which words are sung. My dad always said that ABBA were the best singers in English because their intonation was impeccable and listening to some of the recent offerings from the music industry recently I can really see what he is on about - after all no-one sings 'Chiquitita' like Anni-Frid and Agnetha! (I can't even say the word properly!). I brought an album from Hillsong and there is on song that I really like on the album, but I really don't know the words, because they aren't sung clearly.

We are in an age when people need to hear the truth about God and often people will listen to the words of a song more often than not, so if those words are not clear, what is the message the Christian music industry is sending. It seems lazy to me, when words fall into one another and you can't make out clearly what is being sung without first looking online (or in my case on the information sleeve in the CD case!).

Here's hoping things change in the future, that song production never stops and the praises to God become clearer and louder!

Street Pastoring

The first time I heard about Street Pastoring, I thought that I ought to find my way on to a team at some point in my life.

When I started the Course in Christian Studies (CCS) I never thought that as part of it I would be working towards a second certificate in Evangelism and being recognised as an evangelist in the diocese. CCS is a two year long course that is a pre-requisite for other ministries, lay and ordained, in the diocese. Of course you can do it on it's own if you would like to!

So on Saturday morning, I found myself waiting, and waiting, and waiting, for 9.30pm to come round. Then I headed to Chelmsford to meet with the rest of the team that were volunteering over night. There are 6 people on every team, and team members volunteer once a month, 2 to pray whilst 4 others wrap up warm and head into Chelmsford. Before that we read a bible passage (Colossians 3) and prayed. This weekend was a special one for the Street Pastors, they were joined by the High Chief of Essex and the Mayor of Chelmsford. They were discovering what the Street Pastors do in the early part of the evening.

So we donned jackets, coats, hats, gloves and scarves, and I put on my special bright yellow observers jacket to make me stand out in a crowd. There were too many of us, so Hugh, the leader for the evening, split us into two teams and we wandered around, speaking to bouncers and managers, and the occasional person who recognised 'us'.

I did not realise how big Chelmsford is. when I used to go out at the weekend, we would stay in one area for the most part, so walking up past the bus station and down to Moulsham Street, becomes quite epic. I wish I was wearing a pedometer now, just to count the steps that I did. Chelmsford is a busy place as well. There are lots of young people around, and some older ones too. I was the youngest member of the team on Saturday, so I was unsure about how people would perceive me.

No-one stopped us to say that we were doing a bad job, or it was a bad idea that we were out on the streets, especially after the Brentwood Street Pastors were met with an angry reaction. People in the end came up to us to speak to us, I heard the words 'those are the street pastors, they give out flip-flops to girls' more often than not.

Half way through the night, we went back to the base for tea and toast. it was a good opportunity to sit down, rest the feet, fill up the tank and catch up on things we might have missed. We warmed up enough to feel really cold when we stepped back into town, and then it got interesting. We quickly gave out our first pair of flip-flops, our first gospel (Luke) and a few casualties of the night.

We spoke to the police about how their night had been, how they hadn't really been to busy and how we had picked up over 80 glass bottles (which I am told is unusually high). We finished the night with a conversation about the beginning of the world and handing out another gospel.

Walking back to the base for the final time, I found myself growing really tired, but a quick warm up and a prayer for those we had met changed all that.

I can not wait for Street Pastoring to come to Billericay. I think it will make a difference, like it has in Chelmsford, to the places that are busy and to those who are lost or unwell. if you are reading this and you are part of a church in Billericay, please get people to read this. Street Pastoring is so full of Jesus, his passion for the lost and love for those who don't know love.

It's serious work, but rewarding and wonderfully simple, just caring for people!