In a weekly church column usually published in the Medway Messenger, Chris Gill, Pastor at King’s Church, Gillingham, recalls his battle to beat the klaxon at Chatham Dockyard.

Growing up in the Medway Towns, the Naval Dockyard was a force to be reckoned with and in those days a major source of employment for many. I can remember living on a Navy estate situated next to the Dockyard and my daily life being dominated by two sounds – the 8am klaxon declaring that everybody should be on site and ready to start that day’s work and then the 4pm version meaning that everybody could leave the site, having completed their shift.

Both these daily and familiar sounds set the rhythm of my life as a schoolboy.

The morning klaxon was never a problem for me, but the afternoon one certainly was whenever I was late home from school and heard its resonating tone before I had reached the relative safety of my front garden. The reason being that seconds after it sounded, the road in which I was walking would suddenly fill up with hundreds of dockers, all walking in the same direction away from the yard and all determined to get home.

It often seemed that I was the only boy walking in the opposite direction against this flow of humanity and it sometimes seemed easier and safer just to step off the pavement and walk in the road, rather than risk being swept backwards.

My reason for recalling this is that as a young person it was difficult for me to move against the flow of people and to be the one literally pushing in the other direction.

The situation would radically change however whenever I walked home with one of my parents. Their larger and stronger presence was able to keep me on the path and get us through when on my own I was simply not strong enough to do so.

As I reflect on those days, I have grown to realise that we all need somebody to walk with us on the path of life.

There is a wonderful verse in the Bible, found in the book of Proverbs which says ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.’

This tells me that the Lord is interested in the path on which we are walking. There is a strong sense that He straightens the route ahead of us if we trust and lean on Him, like a parent, during the journey. He can see ahead, can guide us around problems and He will keep us walking in the right direction.

Why? Because He is alongside us, walking with us and that assurance makes all the difference.

If you would like to find out more about Churches Together in Medway or what it means to become a Christian, please contact the chairman Pastor Stephen Bello on 01634 920491 or email chair@medwaychurch.co.uk

You can also visit the website here.

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