Ben - The Diary of a Drug Addict 2

Did you watch it? Harrowing wasn't it? If you missed it check out Sky listings they usually repeat loads of programmes.

It made me feel both sick and upsetting to watch Ben inject himself in the groin, to see his family suffering and to see Ben suffering the effects of heroin, 2 min's into the fix and then 20 minutes into the fix. This program should be watched by all young people to show them the effects of drugs on their lives and those around them.
Ben seemed such a nice person, well thought of and loved very much, but still he turned to drugs. In my experience of drug addicts, I have known a couple, even if they want to give up they can't. Once heroin has a hold on you the only way to stop is to die. It doesn't matter how many time you detox, visit hospital with infections you will carry on. This is exactly what happened to Ben.

Heroin is evil, Ben died of a brain hemorrhage when attending hospital to try and detox at the age of 34. Ben tried to detox several times and always returned to heroin. Half his life was spent taking drugs.

The programme was very moving, to watch unconditional love for a child even though he was an addict and caused problems at every family event - Christmas and birthdays all ended up with Ben issues. His father was devastated and could not bare to see Ben as this ill, dying, drug addict. His father even took Ben to by drugs.

I'm not sure how I would react to my child being involved in drugs and ending up like Ben - would I purchase drugs for my child? I'd say no now but when they are in so much pain , loosing it, manipulating every situation, pulling on our heart strings I know I would have to help ease the suffering.

Love the addict not the addiction.

All over the world, so many tragedies

Homelessness in the UK, War in Iraq, Congo and Afganistan, Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (Burma), Bangladesh Cyclone, Cholera in Zimbabwe, drug addicts the world over, street kids in Brazil, Dafur & Chad crisis, South Asia Tsunami

The images speak for themselves..................

Our Christmas Tree

Christmas is fast approaching and for the first time in years we are organised, we are not building, we are not decorating and we are not fitting a kitchen. This year we will be taking it easy, that is if preparing for 13 people for Christmas dinner is classed as easy. Boxing day I have a special treat instore for everyone..... Trivial Pursuits evening with food and drink, should be a laugh. Rebecca wants a BBQ as well :o) We are putting up the Christmas decorations, hopefully some pictures will be published.

BEN: DIARY OF A DRUG ADDICT

Sky One Monday 9pm

"Extraordinarily powerful" Sunday Times.

Radio Times said this film is an "unrelentingly grim documentary which presents a horrific reality".

Time Out said "A bleak depiction of a heroin addicts death, as Sky1 makes a welcome foray into serious documentary making".

Filmmaker Olly Lambert’s unflinching film about the last two years of a 14 year heroin addiction.

I will be watching this documentary, I'm hoping to understand why a bright schoolboy from a loving, middle-class family raised in a quiet, picturesque village, he was a Boy Scout, loved cricket, played in the school orchestra and looked forward to the annual family holiday. But despite his privileged start in life Ben found himself on the road to ruin, injecting heroin up to four times a day.

Can this film be a warning to others not yet on this path? Ben's film is being shown in schools in Stafford as a pilot scheme, lets see what happens in the future and whether this type of reality tv earns a place on the screen.

His mum said. “What I really wanted more than anything was to educate the authorities – the probation service, the police, the hospitals Ben went to,” she says. “Because I feel that heroin addicts don’t have any face in society. They’re counted as the lowest of the low.”

Family Christmas Trivial Pursuits - Not that we're competitive

John - Homeless 2

John has been back from his journey to Birmingham for a few weeks now. He is staying with a friend sometimes and on the street other nights. His friend is also taking drugs and is an alcoholic. Staying with somebody in a similar situation isn't the best way to try to become clean.
He has a chance of staying at a more permanent place over Christmas, I hope this will happen soon, the nights are cold and worse weather is promised.
I'm not putting this down as a failure, that we as a church failed John in getting him treated and in a home. It has been a challenging experience and lessons have been learnt. Letting John stay in his tent, providing food and drink each day made John comfortable, condoned his drug and alcohol misuse. It's a dilemma, do you help or not. We are told to help, Matthew 25 35-40 tells us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, provide a drink for the thirsty. Yet when you do this your not actually helping so this get's me thinking even more - How would Jesus actually help substance users?

Then the help arrived in the post, a newsletter from MCM with a two page spread on how Jesus would help drug users. I could have done with this a few weeks ago.
What is your image of a drug user? Someone injecting heroin or someone slipping a pill in their mouth.

Some stats for you;

40,000 people are addicted to "over the counter" drugs
250,000-300,000 problem drug users in England and Wales
Cocaine addiction has tripled in last 10 years
300,000 children have parents with serious drug problems
On average a heroin addict commits 432 crimes a year
40% of 16-24 year olds have used cannabis
In the UK 40,000 heroin users are taking methadone

So what would Jesus do and us do in turn?

Accept people for who they are, not what drug they use.
Work with drug and alcohol agencies.Be honest.
Set boundaries that you are comfortable with.
Cast your cares upon him, for he cares for you (1Peter 5:7)

Show John he is valued, support John in getting him to appointments, reminding him they are coming up, be open about expectations and perceptions, set boundaries on your time, money, possessions and relationships.

The work can be emotionally draining, the boundaries are there to protect you and help them.Pray tell God your needs with thankfulness.

I believe this is what I and Helen did and will keep doing. Just because John isn't staying in his tent doesn't mean he isn't supported.Another thing, the person also has to want to change and if they don't all you can do is keep doing the things above frustrating as it may be.

One day John will sort himself out....

Things I want to do before I die...

1. Raise my children to be good people
2. Visit some really cool places - Experience the culture of India, Climb to Everest Base Camp, Visit Tibeten Monks, Experience China (Visit the wall) (on a motorbike)
3. Serve a mission in Africa
4. Establish the perfect daily system and live it; thrive with it, to achieve everything I need to do 5. Expand my comfort zone
6. Discern my vocation
7. Get really good at talking with and listening to (actually listen and hear) others
8. Be remembered for someting great (Ok may be after I die)

Christingle & Toy Service

This year we are celebrating 40 years since The Children's Society introduced Christingle services to The Church of England. Join in the celebration and hold a Christingle of your own or

join us for a special candlelit celebration on;

Sunday 14th December. Create a Christingle from 3pm & Service from 4pm
All Saints' Church Barton Rd Stretford

Christingle - the service for children that welcomes the whole community

It is a wonderful opportunity to bring together children, family and friends, forge stronger links between churches, local schools and youth groups and together celebrate the Christmas message.

Bring a toy for local children who may not be with their families during this special time.
(please make sure that your present is wrapped and states Boy/Girl and Age on the label)

All presents will be distributed by Trafford Social Services

For more information
http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/what_you_can_do/fundraising_appeals/christingle/what_is_christingle/7656.html

Joys, Obsessions and Fears

Joys:
1. Jackie
2. Kids
3. Family life – around the table
4. Special occasions – Christmas, Birthdays etc as long as it's not mine.

Obsessions:
1. Books – I always need more book space
2. Music – I must have every genre in my collection
3. Food – Chinese, Italian, Indian I have all the menu’s
4. Whatever I happen to be obsessed with at the moment . . . right now I think it might be homelessness, model projects, discerning my vocation, church life, North Trafford Athletic and putting the christmas tree up (Don't touch it!!!)

Fears:
1. Something horrible happening to Jackie, the kids & family
2. Scary films
3. Pot dolls (with or without eyes) – you know the ones.

One Size Fits All

Something I read.

We can look at the different churches and we see similarities with our own. For most people in the parish community church is irrelevant, people politely or otherwise push church aside, for those involved in church it's frustrating, prayer is diheartening and outreach wasn't working or there just isn't any. Does it sound familiar?

Statistics also paint a drepressing picture. Back in 1979 about 12 per cent of the entire population could be found in church on a Sunday. By 2005 this had plummeted to 6.3 per cent*. According to the Daily Telegraph around 10 churches in the UK close every week. If these trends continue, by 2004 there will be just 2 per cent of the population attending church on a Sunday - half the number attend mosque on a Friday - and the average age of the church member will be 64.

It's not all disastrous news, by any means. It's merely discouraging an inconvinient truth.

I believe there is hope and we have the answers in our churches.

Usually we would look to different programmes or initiatives to be more effective, we look for the one size fits all, the latest tried and tested technique. We think if we find the right gifted people, the new powerful initiative, then things will move forward.

This kind of thinking falls short, our church is awash with evangelistic gift and potential

* Dr Peter Brierley (ed) Pulling out of the Nosedive and Religious Trends No6 2007

It's true.....

All Saints Shoebox Appeal

All Saints’ Christmas Shoebox Appeal for Homeless People

Please help by donating

Toiletries
(Deodorant, Shaving Gel, Soap, Flannels, Toothpaste, Toothbrushes etc)
Unisex Socks, Woolly Hats, Gloves & Scarves
Bars of Chocolate
Biscuits
Cup a Soups

Matthew 25 35-40

There are over 200 people homeless in our parish, not all are on the streets. If you are under 16 the council has a duty to provide accomodation however if your are between 17 and 100 male or female you do not qualify for help. There are no facilities for these people to find a nights peace and warmth anywhere in Trafford. It may not be much but the little we can do is very much appreciated.

CTiS Advent Service

Advent is a time for reflection, a time of preparation in readiness for Christmas.
Usually I use a series of readings to help me prepare but this year the theme is different. Our recent CTiS (Churches Together in Stretford) Advent service was based on "from darkness to light" , stories from The Boaz Trust (http://boaztrust.org.uk/ Asylum Seekers), Tearfund (http://www.tearfund.org/ Victims of HIV/Aids), Shoebox Appeal and Cafod (http://www.cafod.org.uk/). The service was very thought provoking and it made you want to commit to something more that involved other people. Fill a shoebox, sponsor a child, learn about aids, presents that help people in far off places.
I have tried to encourage others to support something they would not normally do such as volunteer for projects. Several people have come forward to help with brewing up for the residents of Stockdales (http://www.stockdales.org.uk/) when they have their community evening in the hall, the leaders appreciate this as it gives them one less thing to worry about. Raising of awareness of homelessness and the issues we have in Trafford, encouraging people to supply gifts - hats, scarves, gloves, chocolate for the person via our own shoebox appeal, bring toys to the Christingle & Toy Service, these will be distributed by Trafford Social Services to children and encourage others to do the same.
What else can we do?
We can sit here doing nothing and if everybody did nothing where would we be?
We can move out of our warm houses, we can share a meal, we can invite someone round, we can volunteer to help.
Let us all do something we would not normally do, see the benefit to others this Advent.

Reflect on Matthew 25:35-40

John - Homeless 1

Over the last 6/7 weeks we have had a challenging time dealing with a homeless person who decided to erect a campsite in the ground of our church.
To bring you up to date.....
His name is John. John pitched his tent at the back of church because he had connections in our parish. His sister lived across the road. John has been homeless for approximately 15 years and has drug and alcohol misuse issues. He isn't very healthy. It has been challenging because as a Christian you have an urge to help this person, to provide food and a warm drink. Reverend Helen and myself provided for him, we also kept him up to date with his probation officer and appts at the doctors. John's story was very said, he had a family and was part of the community teaching youngsters Kick Boxing then it all went pear shaped and he chose the wrong path. He has told us he is ready to change and sort his life out. I, we believed him and wanted to help him succeed. What John was good at is telling us what we needed to hear, playing each of us off one another, the drugs agency, probation, Reverend Helen, his sister.
Then a ray of hope, The Edge (Drugs) found John a place at Betel of Britain a Christian form of rehab in Birmingham. John's sister took him and got him settled in. 24hrs later and he was back in Manchester. In the mean time I had took his tent down.
John wasn't ready for cold turkey, he just isn't desperate enough to go through that sort of treatment. John set up camp again behaind church, we had told the congregation he had gone to rehab much to their relief and now he was back.
A couple of weeks has past now and I'm not sure what can be done, John doesn't seem to want to help himself, he doesn't attend his appointments with the people who can provide for him. I pray for God to intervene and sort out this problem. I actually wondered why John was sent to our Church and now I think I know why. It's not neccessarily to help John but to highlight what seems to be a growing problem in our area, homelessness, drugs and alcohol.

Things I Pray For...

1. The safety of my family
2. Patience - I need a lot of it
3. Forgiveness - because I don't have a lot of patience
4. That certain people will feel the love of God, be strengthened, and overcome whatever it is they're burdened by, illness, a situation whatever it may be.
5. Dedication, motivation, and self-discipline
6. That I can accomplish everything I need to
7. Thanks for my family and all the things we've been blessed with

Family Fun Day - Kayaking

We wanted to do this in the summer hols but for one reason or another we ended up doing this at the end of October. It wasn't that cold with your wet suit on. Beth was the only one to complete all the tasks without falling in. :o)

Looks like we'll be doing this for Becca's birthday in July. Next the climbing wall................