I wake up this morning knowing I had to clean the laneway. So I go down to do it and the whole laneway is taken up with film crews and stuff. They are filming an ad for the City of Melbourne. I hope it goes to Sydney and then you might get to see where I live. Not that many of us have TVs. I am not even sure if I will get to see it because there is no television on my level and the one upstairs we only really use for movies. They have set up a soup kitchen outside and apparently John Wood and some other celebrity that I don’t know will be getting food from the soup kitchen and some of our people are doing the serving. It is all a bit painful really but I can’t deny it is a touch exciting having film crews in my backyard. There was an offer to be an extra but I passed it down. I have uni and stuff today and from my one experience doing extra work it was really, really boring. Anyway atleast I got out of cleaning the laneway for a bit. Apparently they did a bit of the cleaning for me.

I just has a really great weekend at a UNOH conference in Melbourne. UNOH stands for Urban Neighbours of Hope and they organised speakers from around the world to come and encourage people to live lives in solidarity with the poor. I wish I had taken a paper and pen so I could remember all the really inspiring stories and words that were spoken but I did not so here comes my really bad attempt to recapture what I discovered. People’s lives can be changed by the power of the gospel. It is a text about people who have struggled incessently to create a better world here on earth. I admit that while hanging out with people and doing food with people a lot of the time I shy away from telling people about what I believe in and I need to challenge myself to get better at that.

There was a woman working on a street corner and it was cold and wet. Two people invited her back to their house. She goes with them. She says to them “you guys are Christians right?” They say “yes” and asked her how she knew. She says “because you guys shine” and then she goes on. “I used to shine but the world is dark and cold and I have lost my shine.” Then she breaks down in tears and the girl she is with rocks her and they cry and talk and then they have food and eventually she leaves. She comes back to them months later and they don’t recognise her. She says “you don’t recognice me because I am shining again.” She says “I came back because I want to give you a gift.”

Anyway the point is that I see what she means about people shining and I want to help others to shine. I can not explain how many awsome stories I heard just like this one above of people rediscovering light through the gospel in otherwise dark and dangerous worlds. My own story is a small testimony to this.  Change is not instant but formative. Seeds that are sown need to sprout and grow and this can take years but who am I to let fear that someone might think I am bit silly hold me back from telling people about who has proven his power in helping people to shine. I am here willing to journey with people in their struggle. I think I might start drawing a little more on the gospels. This is going to be hard because it will require me to change some of the ways I normally go about things but it can’t hurt. It is not like I am going to shove the bible down peoples throats, I am just going to try and draw a little more on this tool that amazing people have proven through their lives and their testimonies works.

Don’t ya hate it when you accidently fall asleep in your first class. It was only for like 10mins and I was sitting up the back but still should not have done that.  8:oo classes are just bad. It was for Biblical Studies. I am pleased to say that it is a liberal class and it should be an interesting semester if I can just stay awake. My teacher knows like 4 Bible Langtuages. I pray one day that I will know one. I just need my unis to give me the chance and offer an ancient language subject.  

I have had a very intense but very interesting day. In the midst of all our meetings and managerial stuff we had a bible study. We did the thing where you put ancient stories in a modern day context. It really reminded me again just how radical Jesus was. He really went out on a limb for the people of his time that were marginalised and unclean. Like the woman who touched him who was bleeding. She really was not even supposed to be walking the streets let alone touching people. When she touched Jesus he rewarded her behaviour rather than sending her away. One of the people who work around Urban Seed has rewritten Mark’s gospel as true to the story as possible but using the modern day lingo. I will hopefully circulate this book at some time. I learnt so much drawing the parallels between Jesus’ and his disciples’ world and the world we live in now. We asked questions like who are we in the stories and who do we want to be in the stories. Who are the bleeding, who are the law makers, who are the disciples. It was really challenging stuff.   

I have returned from my week away. It was very intense and I am happy to be home. Lots of talking and not much physical exercise. Although we did walk to a waterfall, Very Nice, and I went for 1 run. Lucky I only had soup last night for dinner. Most people here are really nice. I (which you guys might find surprising) am a rather quiet person down here. That will probably change. I was feeling sick at the beginning of the week and a lot of the discussions and meetings were about things I know nothing about, for example “the strained relationship Urban Seed has with the Church.” Lucky we had one night dining out at the pub so I could have a few drinks and be my usual chatty self. We stayed up late that night playing a card game that I had never played before. It was a really funny night. We were all in hysterics. It was really nice to have lots of laughs given the emotional roller coaster I have been on recently. I can not wait to teach you all this game. It is called up and down and yes it is cards.     

So, my Friday night leaving party was very random. Plan was to go to Emma’s on Liberty at 8:30. Plan became arriving at the hospital at 10 to visit Miss Hayley in the hospital. Then David, Anmol, Matt and I went to Indian at Erskinville. Very Nice I might add. We had our resident Indian food experts with us. Then home (community house) again to set up blog and listen to Lucky Dube and Counting Crows. I must leave you all now. We are going to discuss the meaning of “Round Here” or maybe another of our favourite Crows song. Hey do you guys remember the Counting Crows at the Enmore Theatre? I do. It was great for all who were there.