Join us this Sunday night for our new 3-hour show: new segments, new guests and a national audience.

Our special guests will be Gary Chapman, author of the phenomenally popular book The Five Love Languages, and Gospel music artist Rebecca St James.

Plus the language of Generation Y and how Tamworth's churches rallied to have Sudanese refugees welcomed into their community.

Hope and tears in the City of Smiles. That’s how I’ll remember the afternoon of Saturday January 6, 2007. On that afternoon a fifteen year old girl named Riza Gallego stole my heart, then broke it. As a result, I’ll never be the same.

I was in the Philippines collecting material for Compassion Day—a national radio event, run in partnership with Compassion Australia, that sees hundreds of children in developing countries released from poverty each year. Merryn and I have two sponsor children of our own in the Philippines—one with Compassion, and another with a group called Share An Opportunity (or SAO for short). On this trip we’d get to meet them in person. We were excited and apprehensive all at once.

We flew to the island of Negros, arriving in the capital city Bacolod—nicknamed the ‘City of Smiles’. This was where we were to meet Riza, our SAO child. We’d sponsored Riza for eight years, and during the last couple of those years her letters had become more and more personal. We’d developed a bond.

We went to the simple restaurant where we were to meet, and took our seats. A moment later three SAO workers walked in, then Riza. Riza saw us and burst into tears. We saw Riza and fell in love.

She wore an apricot T-shirt with white ribbing, simply-cut jeans and sandals—the best of the few clothes she owns. Sitting down to eat, I’ll never forget when Riza was asked what she’d like to drink. She replied, ‘you mean, I can have anything on the menu?’ Riza doesn’t normally eat in restaurants. Her mango smoothy was a rare treat.

Conversation began to flow once the emotions of our initial meeting subsided. We reviewed the basics. Her father is a welder, her mother a home maker. Their house is a one-room shack shared with two dogs and a cat. At night Riza sleeps on the bed with her mother and her father sleeps on the ‘couch’ (no doubt a simple bamboo structure). The electricity in her home powers one light bulb and a radio, and her ‘wardrobe’ consists of a cardboard box in the corner of the room holding her school clothes. Riza and her family live simply. They have no other choice. That’s why she needs our sponsorship.

After lunch we drove to Mambukal resort—a simple attraction with pools, forest walks and hot springs. I’d occasionally look at Riza as we walked along with our tour guide, wondering what her life might become. Riza wants to be a nurse when she leaves school. Will she succeed? Who’ll pay for her college fees? Suddenly I wanted to kidnap her and bring her home. I wanted to be there at her graduation and at her wedding. I wanted to make sure she never wanted for anything again.

Darkness fell and we started the hour-long drive back to Bacolod. It had been a magical day, and it was about to end.

‘When are you going back Australia,’ Riza asked me during the ride. I sombrely replied that we’d be off to Jakarta next, then home in a couple of days. ‘Maybe we’ll see each other again one day,’ she said, and started to cry. Tears welled up in my eyes too. I couldn’t promise that we’d ever see each other again, and I hated it.

We pulled into our motel’s parking lot. We got out of the car. Merryn and I turned to face Riza. She hugged us, and began to walk away. She took a few steps then ran back and hugged us again. I’ve never wept so much in my life.

Merryn and I don’t have children. But on Saturday January 6, 2007, I found a girl any parent would be proud of. Riza was polite, caring, and had an innocence too rarely seen. You see, Riza’s meagre living conditions means she doesn’t have the distractions we do. She’s not sullied by materialistic desires. Riza’s joy is in animals and flowers and natural wonders. Riza has nothing materially-speaking; instead she has a love for God and his world that would touch any atheist. ‘Blessed are the poor,’ Jesus said, ‘for theirs is the kingdom of God.’ I saw that in Riza.

Yes, there were tears in the City of Smiles that day—we’re going to miss Riza terribly. But there was hope too. The few dollars we send each month has given Riza a future. And one day we’ll see her again. In that place were every tear turns to joy.

Do you ever get sucked into buying something because you get a free gift with it if you do? It might be two for the price of one, it might be a free scarf or even sunglasses with a magazine.

But what about signing up for a credit card, where you don’t have to pay an annual fee, you get a free gift, which may be worth a couple of hundred dollars, but you have no intention of keeping the credit card. You simply want the free gift for signing up.

Is that wrong?

You meet all the criteria, you read and are happy with the fine print. You receive your free gift, you receive your credit card, but here’s the dilemma - you don’t use it. In fact, you signed up with NO intention, really, of using it. You might even cut the card up.

• It could be argued the company is gaining from you anyway – by you handing over your personal details which they might use for future marketing appeals.

• But would you do it to a friend’s business? A family-run business? Does it make any difference  whether the company is a large multinational or a small family-run affair?
 
• Are you being a savvy consumer... or simply greedy?

• If you’re not breaking any rules, why not take advantage of it?

Now it's time for you say!

Here in the west, Osama Bin Laden is despised for his role in the September 11 attacks, for freely admitting he was behind the cold blooded operation, which killed nearly 3000 people.

So, emotions rose when a number of churches placed signs out from of their premises this week with the headline, ‘Jesus loves Osama’.

The sign has a khaki background, and in smaller writing underneath, it says “Jesus said love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

The sign provoked a range of responses…shock, outrage, agreement, ambivalence. A ninemsn poll asked the question ‘Are churches right to say Jesus loves Osama’—204,000 respondents have said no. Only 47,000 have said yes.

The sentiment from many was this—what about sama’s victims? One bloke interviewed on the television said ‘If Jesus loves Osama, he’s not worth knowing’.

What I’d like to know is…what was your response when you heard about the sign (it made national news)? Do you agree with the statement? Or if not, how would you re-write the poster? What would you suggest instead?

Jesus loves Osama  – is it a good sign? If not, what would sound better.

Join us for Open House this week for another dose of life, faith and culture, and for another special guest of international renown.

He formed his first band at the age of 9, was playing professionally at 13, and today James Morrison is one of Australia’s most prominent jazz musicians. We’ll talk to the man about his music, and the role faith plays in his life.

And Bernie Banton--the man who took on James Hardie and won. We'll hear about the little-known Christian faith that strengthened his battle for justice.

Plus, film reviews, talkback, and what today’s music lyrics say about our society. Hope you can join us. In the meantime explore our blog, read some articles and have your say.

Most religions have pilgrimages: sacred journeys of spiritual importance. Islam has its pilgrimage to Mecca—the Hajj—a journey required of all able-bodied Muslims who can afford it at least in once in their lifetime. Buddhism has four pilgrimage sites in India and Nepal, including the Buddha's birthplace and the site where he achieved Nirvana. Hinduism has many pilgrimage sites, four of whom are believed to release Hindus from the cycle of reincarnation.

The Christian faith has no official pilgrimage; it believes that God is not limited to any geographical area, that His blessings can be received anywhere, and that salvation isn’t gained by performing a particular ritual. Still, many journey to the Holy Land or other locations of historical significance as a kind of pilgrimage. I’ve heard that tracing the pathways of Jesus is a most moving experience.

It’s a growing belief in me, though, that a pilgrimage is needed for the Christian believer, particularly for those of us in the West. Here it is: I believe that every Christian who can, should journey to the developing world. Here’s why:

A pilgrimage to the developing world will expose us to generous hospitality. We in the western world have so emphasised the individual that most of us feel isolated. Half of our marriages are crumbling and we hardly talk to our neighbours. Visit Africa, India, Bangladesh and Asia and you’ll find the family unit is everything, and relationships are primary.

You might remember our chat with Ravi Zecharias last year. He described the difference between his native India and the United States, where he now lives, like this: when you get home from work in the US you shut your front door and stay inside, but when you get home from work in India the front door is flung wide open and you sit outside and eat with friends. ‘Boy, I miss that,’ he said. How many of us feel lonely and disconnected, wishing we had someone to visit us in the nursing home, to walk us home from school, to have neighbours we actually speak to? Visit the developing world—the poor will invite you in and give you their food. They can teach us about generous hospitality.

A pilgrimage to the developing world will expose us to dynamic Christianity. In January I visited a church in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, the site of that devastating earthquake that killed 6000 last May. About three months before the earthquake the pastor and leaders of the church all had a sense that something was coming. They called every member of their church to fast and pray. At the same time they were studying Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan—the man who crossed racial lines to serve another. When the earthquake struck on May 27, the church lost nine members, another 200 were injured and 60 homes were lost. Yet the pastor told me they faced the tragedy with joy because they were prepared. They became a key point for aid distribution and served hundreds of local Muslims affected by the quake. They became Good Samaritans.

I asked the pastor if any of his church doubted God’s existence after the tragedy. Why would God allow such a thing to happen? He hardly knew what I was talking about. I stub my toe and wonder why God has abandoned me, but the Christians of the developing world are too busy praying and serving to let pain and discomfort sway their beliefs. The Christianity of the poor is disciplined, prayerful, and powerful.

A pilgrimage to the developing world will expose us to generous hospitality and dynamic Christianity. And, a pilgrimage to the developing world will recalibrate our priorities. I’ll never forget visiting a little tin and bamboo shack in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was the home of a young mother in her thirties. Like many of the poor women we met, her husband had run off, leaving her to provide for her children alone. She was earning the equivalent of 50 cents a day doing cleaning work. Through a translator we asked her what her dream was, the thing she most wanted. She said she wanted electricity in her home, and a bed. She sleeps on with her children on the wood-slat floor each night.

Her eldest child, a 12 year old daughter, wasn’t in school. We asked the mother why. There was a public school nearby but ‘oh,’ she said, ‘it’s so expensive, I can’t afford to send her there.’ We asked how much it would cost. ‘2000 Taka,’ she replied. Understand the translation rate: one Australian dollar buys about 45 Bangladeshi Taka. For less than $50 we could send this girl to school for a year. I quietly asked the translator what might happen to the girl if she didn’t get into school. ‘Well,’ the translator replied, ‘I expect her to be married off within the year.’ Married at 13, pregnant at 14, just to survive—and all for the sake of $50.

A pilgrimage to the developing world will recalibrate our priorities. We don’t need another flat-screen TV. But that girl needs school. Let’s spend our money accordingly.

The Christian church of the developing world is not perfect; it’s vulnerable to its own temptations. But I do think that a pilgrimage there could teach people like us about God’s ultimate priorities.

One of our listeners has suggested we explore whether or not bribery is ever ethical. Have you ever been in a situation where bribery has been an acceptable course of action?

Last year’s inquiry into the business activities of wheat exporter A-W-B exposed a culture of bribery and undercover deals, disguised as legitimate transactions. There’s no doubt AWB paid millions of dollars to Saddam Hussein’s regime, in order to secure wheat deals.

Many Australian farmers said they understood why AWB acted the way it did…many saw the paying of bribes simply as a way of doing business in the Middle East…and saw it as a case of ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans do.’

We’d love to hear from you if you’ve been in this position, while doing business overseas. But you don’t have to be involved in complex overseas business transactions, to be involved in bribing someone.

What about social bribery? Have you ever given someone, something, in the hope that you’ll be able to change a particular outcome or circumstance? Or maybe you’ve been on the receiving end of a bribe?

When travelling overseas, do you pay a bribe if it’s the only option? To get through a border, to get out of a tricky situation…is bribery different if it’s an acceptable part of that country’s culture?

Or closer to home, maybe you’ve given your child a lolly to keep them quiet, or to clean their room. It’s a good outcome if they do it…so is it OK?

The crux of the dilemma is this. If the outcome is good, is bribery ever acceptable?

i-Pods have in many ways, changed the way we listen and buy music – they’ve changed the way we learn and the way we access audio content.

But as we increasingly tune in, are we doing so at the expense of the people around us? Schoolfriends? Colleagues? Families? Even …personal safety?

A recent survey of 120 workplaces in London found 22 per cent of workers were listening to their i-pods to drown out office chatter. Maybe that’s an effective way to get more work done….Or is it just plain rude?

And in New York, three pedestrians have reportedly been killed after stepping into traffic, while being distracted by electronic devices.

That’s led to calls for pedestrians to be fined US $100 if they cross a street listening to an i-pod…due to safety concerns.

There’s no doubt i-pods have a lot to offer. They store a whole lot of music and photos…and you can listen to some really useful things. For example schools are finding they’re great tools for teaching foreign languages.

But are we, as a society, becoming increasingly isolated by electronic devices such as ipods? Not to mention other personal electronic devices such as PDAs and blackberries?

Are there times that you prefer your i-pod ..to human contact? When and where should i-pods be used?

He was one of New York’s most feared gang leaders. He became one of the world’s most renown preachers. Through books like The Cross and the Switchblade and Run Baby Run, his story of organising street warfare to rescuing Brooklyn’s addicts and prostitutes has become famous.

Now hear Nicky Cruz in-person this week on Open House.

In yesterday’s Good Weekend magazine, Fairfax newspapers asked this question: ‘Could infidelity save your marriage?’ The shock headline pointed to an excerpt from a new book by controversial marriage therapist Esther Perel, who suggests that a third person—either real or imagined—can re-boost flagging desire in a relationship.

Perel argues that monogamy was, historically, a patriarchal system concerned with lineage and property; it was about whose children got what when the father died. Fidelity back then had nothing to do with love, she argues; that’s something we’ve more recently attached to it.

In the excerpt, Perel talks about couples who have decided not to fight the temptation of an affair, but embrace it—either by talking together about their feelings for other people, or by inviting the third person into their relationship. She includes stories of ‘open’ marriages, as they’re called, where each partner is free to experiment sexually elsewhere. For these relationships, Perel says, ‘fidelity is defined not by sexual exclusivity but by the strength of their commitment. The boundaries aren’t physical but emotional.’

I have a number of concerns with Perel’s arguments. Firstly, to say that fidelity originally had nothing to do with love is misguided. Monogamy for love is not a new concept at all. The Song of Songs is a document from antiquity—three-thousand years old in fact—and it speaks about passionate marital fidelity. Secondly, the mathematics of ‘open’ relationships is flawed. These couples don’t allow a ‘third’ person in, but a ‘fourth’ too—if the sexual freedom is equal for both husband and wife. Thirdly, there’s no mention of the affect these extra people might have on any children involved. And fourthly, to say that a couple can have emotional boundaries around their relationship without physical ones is to falsely separate body and spirit. We’re whole beings; what affects one affects the other.

What was interesting about the article was that all the ‘open’ couples admitted feeling intense pain and jealousy over their partner’s affairs. Might not this suggest that, deep down, the human being longs for a relationship of greater devotion and stability? A love that includes desire, but also devotion when desire naturally fluctuates?

I’m out of the habit at the moment, but during my final years in Perth I got into a routine of doing laps at the local public pool three or four mornings a week. At 7am on a weekday, the majority of clients at the Terry Tyzack Aquatic Centre in Inglewood are elderly. I’ll never forget the nice old dear who’d flash her big white dentures at me every morning before diving in to do four laps without taking a rest. Or the two Italian ladies who persisted in walking their laps in the fast lane while they loudly traded family stories.

I often got to witness the morning ritual of one particular couple, probably in their 80s. She’d always be in the pool by the time I arrived—in the slow lane, paddling carefully with a kickboard. Then she’d walk some laps—slowly and methodically. All the while her husband sat in a plastic chair by the side of the pool. He didn’t read the paper, or listen to a radio, he just watched her. Finally, as wife completed her last lap, husband would get up from his chair and hobble to the side of the pool holding her towel and walking stick. The electric chairlift brought her out of the water and he’d steady her as she swung out of the seat. Then they’d hobble along to the change rooms, she leaning on his arm and he walking bow-legged beside her. Their beauty and stamina had gone; all they had now was cellulite, fading eyesight and back problems.

And each other.

You know, we’re rapidly becoming a generation addicted to Eros. Our teenagers have all seen porn by the time they’re 15 and authors like Esther Perel advocate extra-marital affairs to maintain sexual thrill. But that elderly man reflected Divine love to his wife—a love that acts in devotion when desire is gone. God loved Nicky Cruz when there was nothing left in him to like. He loves you and me in our ugliest moments too. And it’s my conviction that our relationships will flourish best when they include not just desire, but devotion.

© 2007 Sheridan Voysey is a writer, speaker, broadcaster and author of Unseen Footprints: Encountering the divine along the journey of life (Scripture Union, 2005). www.thethoughtfactory.net

Joan Sauer’s research suggested that 70 per cent of both girls and boys want more sex education. They don’t want more information on the mechanics—they’re getting that in sex-ed class at school. No, apparently they’re wanting more information on the ‘emotional realities’ of sex. One boy respondent said, “I just wish they had told me how bad you feel after a one-night stand.”

Combine that with Sauer’s figures that only 7 per cent of girls and 5 per cent of boys were told that sex had anything to do with love (instead of just procreation), and that 97 per cent of girls and 100 per cent of boys have viewed pornography by the time they’re 15, and you get the picture that teenagers are getting a warped view of sexuality.

Some think children should be taught earlier. One girl respondent said she wasn’t taught about sex until year 10, when she had already had it.

But how young is too young? Could early exposure give children information they’re not ready for?

And how? Do you think sex education is to be done at school or in the home? Or both?

When should a child be taught about sex and how? I’d particularly like your thoughts on the issue of sex education.

Marriage is probably one of THE defining moments in a person’s life…but what do you do to prepare yourself for it?

I read an amusing article in The Age this week – actually on Valentine’s Day - about the questions that potential marriage partners should ask each other…before deciding whether or not to tie the knot.

It includes discussing issues like what values and beliefs you hold to, whether your plans for the future are compatible, the question of children, family and finances, just to mention a few.

What I want to know from all the married couples out there…what are some of the important questions you asked each other…before getting married?

If there’s one TV show Merryn and I can’t miss it’s The West Wing. We’ve come to the series late but are endeavouring to hire out the previous episodes. The writing and acting is brilliant, and opens a wide window to American politics.

In a recent episode, Arnold Vinick, the Republican presidential candidate, is sitting in the White House kitchen (of all places) eating ice cream with the incumbent (Democrat) President Jed Bartlett. Vinick has been publicly hounded over his poor church attendance and, momentarily forgetting their rivalry, confides in the President his spiritual doubts. ‘I used to go to church every Sunday,’ Vinick says, ‘then my wife bought me an old leather-bound King James Bible—and I read it.’ ‘Can you believe that the Bible has not one word to say against the evil of slavery?’ 

In actual fact, the Bible does have things to say about slavery. Every year, Jews around the world celebrate the Passover—in memory of God leading them out of Egyptian slavery. In the Old Testament slaves were to be released after six years, whether they’d paid their debt or not. Slaves in those days were well treated and often held positions of authority and trust, like looking after money and children. Vinick’s comment is popular but not the complete story.

In fact, this weekend marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the British slave trade. And interestingly enough, this abolition was accomplished by Christians who held the Bible as their inspiration.

William Wilberforce was elected to the British parliament at the age of 23 and after experiencing a dramatic Christian conversion a few years later, questioned whether he should remain in politics. He then met John Newton, a former slave ship captain (and author of the famous hymn ‘Amazing Grace’) who convinced him to stay in politics and combat slavery.

Over the next two decades Wilberforce fought tenaciously to bring slavery to an end. He collected evidence against the slave trade, introduced abolition legislation, and collected more than 390,000 signatures demanding it to cease. The work cost him his health and probably the opportunity of becoming Prime Minister. He was attacked in newspapers, physically assaulted, and forced to travel with a bodyguard because of death threats.

Finally, on the 23rd of February 1807, Wilberforce won. Slave trading became illegal. Wilberforce then fought for another twenty-five years for the freedom of all slaves, and won that fight in 1833. All up, his battle had taken forty-six years.

In June, the story of William Wilberforce will hit our cinema screens in a movie called Amazing Grace. The reviews are excellent, but the producers acknowledge they’ve minimised the motivation behind Wilberforce’s courageous work. Wilberforce sold his home to have more money to give to the needy. He fought for prison reform. He founded or participated in sixty charities. Just like his work to end slavery, each of these acts was motivated by his passionate Christian faith.

Wilberforce believed humans carry the image of God, and he couldn’t stand watching that image destroyed through abuse and slavery. It was a belief he got from Genesis, the first book of the Bible.

Wilberforce’s actions led to abolition movements around the world. And all because of the Bible he read. I wish the writers of The West Wing knew that.

You may have heard the news of Britney Spears’ shock new look this week….Just in case you didn’t hear about it,.. pop princess Britney Spears is now bald.

Images of her freshly shaven head were broadcast on quite a few of the major networks and news sites around the world.

Britney Spears is 25 and it got me thinking…is there such a thing as a QUARTER life crisis?

A book of the same title has been written in the U.S, by Abby Wilner and Cathy Stocker.

They define the quarter life crisis as “a period of anxiety, uncertainty and inner turmoil that often accompanies the transition to adulthood.”

Co-author Abby Wilner first coined the phrase in 1997 after she graduated from university, moved back home and couldn’t figure out what to do with her life.

What I want to know is…does the quarter life crisis exist? Have you had one? Maybe you’re going through one now? Or maybe you remember having one…twenty years ago.

Or, on the flipside, maybe you believe the so-called ‘quarter life crisis’ DOESN’T exist. Maybe it’s just a clever name for a book, and not a phenomenon at all.

After all, everyone at every stage has life issues to deal with.

I'd love to hear from you.

The largest group of boat people to hit our shores since 2001 arrived in Australia this week…. 83 Sri Lankans, and 2 Indonesians were intercepted by the navy near Christmas Island on Wednesday.

The group has now been transferred to Christmas Island, for health and I-D checks.

The Prime Minister says the men will not be allowed to land on the Australian mainland – he says that sends a clear signal to people smugglers that Australia has a strong, effective border protection policy.

Opposition leader, Kevin Rudd says that if people are fleeing persecution – they should be taken to Christmas Island for processing.

There is talk that the group of 85 could be sent to Indonesia, from where they would have to lodge a claim of asylum with the United Nations – if they want to seek protection in Australia.

But the Refugee Council says Australia should NOT consider returning the men to Indonesia – and then to Sri Lanka – without letting the group put forward a case for protection.

Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews says “Any suggestion that Australia would agree to an arrangement which would see refugees returned to a country where they face persecution is wrong.”

Is Australia’s treatment of boat people fair?

• The Democrats say there could be Tamils on board whose lives would be at risk if they were returned to Sri Lanka

• Senator Andrew Bartlett says for the government to even contemplate sending the asylum seekers back without a proper assessment is a ‘complete and utter disgrace’.

What do you think?

This week’s dilemma is about a husband who works overseas – and the effects this is having on his family here in Australia.

Rachel’s husband went to work in Dubai three years ago. In the first year, she says he’d visit the family once every three months – and she’d go there once a year, taking the children with her.

But that’s since trickled down to spending just six days with the children – over the last two years.

Rachel says he went there in the hope of earning more money for the family – but now she fears he’s found a new life over there.

She’s tried to arrange several meetings with him in Singapore – the halfway point – but he always comes up with excuses as to why he can’t make it. On one occasion he said he was too sick to make it.

Rachel doesn’t know what’s happening to their marriage – and it isn’t being made any easier by the fact that they can’t meet up to discuss it. He keeps telling the kids he’ll see them soon, but that so far hasn’t happened.

Rachel wants answers from her husband, but he’s not making it very easy to meet up with him

He keeps promising the kids he’ll see them, but hasn’t.

Rachel feels as though her life has been put on hold…and is needing some resolution.

Rachel wants your advice, as to what she should do.