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.