Do you think David Hicks has been treated fairly?

On the one hand:

• Hicks has been held at Guantanamo Bay for five years and was only recently charged.
• The ‘providing material support for terrorism’ charge he’s pleaded guilty to was not even a law in 2001 when he was arrested.
• Some suggest Hicks has pleaded guilty to simply escape Guantanamo Bay. Held for that long without a trial, wouldn’t you do anything to escape?
• Hicks is an Australian citizen being tried in the US over alleged incidents in Afghanistan. Why wasn’t more pressure exerted to bring one of our citizen’s home earlier?

But on the other hand:

• Hicks has pleaded guilty to the charge of ‘providing material support for terrorism’. If his case was so strong would his legal team have allowed a guilty plea?
• Letters from David Hicks to his father affirmed that he was a ‘Taliban member’, described himself as a ‘well trained and practical soldier’ and said that he was prepared for martyrdom against the ‘friends of Satan’.
• Hicks’ alleged training with the Kosovo Liberation Army in Albania, the Lashkar-e-Tioba terrorist organisation in Pakistan and the Taliban in Afghanistan would’ve taught him skills like weapons firing, landmines, assassination methods, kidnapping techniques and more.

What do you think?

Michael is in a situation where he’s not sure whether his time or money is more important.

He has a degree in nuclear medicine, and currently works as a vet.

However he has a strong desire to help Africa, and is considering going to Africa to put his skills to use, either working as a doctor’s assistant or as a vet.

But he’s not sure whether it would be more beneficial for him to stay in Australia and give money to some kind of charity or organisation instead.

He’s considering giving a sum of around A$20,000.

What do you think he should do?

DISCUSSION POINTS:
• Visiting Africa could change Michael’s perspective and give him a firsthand understanding of the continent’s needs
• But Michael sounds like a pretty compassionate guy already – maybe he should just give some money away?
• If he does give some money – who should he give it to?
• Are there any economists listening? Would it make more sense to give the money to pay for an African to study medicine for example?

‘He was always in search of something, but God knows what.’ These are the words of Terry Hicks, spoken during an interview four years ago, about his now infamous son David. They highlight the fact that before his capture in Afghanistan in December 2001, David Hicks had an inner longing that he couldn’t seem to satisfy.

David’s story appears to go like this. As a teenager he got caught up in drink and drugs, and he was expelled from school at the age of 14. He went on to various jobs, including work in a meat factory, and was fond of solitude. He would spend weeks at a time in the outback, alone with his horse and a bedroll.

At one stage David met an Aboriginal girl. They had two children together but split up five years later.

David then travelled to Japan where he worked training horses. Through Japanese television he heard about the war in Bosnia and Kosovo, and he went to join the Kosovo Liberation Army. That war ended before he saw combat.

David returned home to Adelaide where he attempted to join the Australian army, but was rejected. It seems his journey then took a more spiritual turn. He attended Bible studies in a local church. He went on to study Islam, and ultimately converted to that faith.

In November 1999, Hicks travelled to Pakistan. He told his father and stepmother he had two goals in mind: to learn more about the Koran, and to travel the Silk Road on horseback. However, it was in Pakistan that he linked up with the guerrilla organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba to fight in Kashmir. These fighters trained at Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, and in January 2001 Hicks was sent there for training. There he undertook three courses in which he was taught about weapons, landmines, explosives, guerrilla warfare, sniper training, and kidnapping and assassination techniques. Two days before the September 11 attacks he travelled to Pakistan again, but returned to Afghanistan a day later. It was there that David Hicks was ultimately captured, and his five year stay at Guantanamo Bay began.

Much has been said of David Hicks’ case. Questions remain about the legitimacy of the legal system that’s heard his plea. But apart from the legal aspects of his story, the great tragedy is that a twenty-something man on an ultimately spiritual search could end up training with guerrillas.

Next week we’ll again celebrate Easter. A shopping bonanza for some, a long weekend holiday for many more of us, Easter’s original purpose was to remind us of the life and death of one man. A man who was also God. A man whose innocent death absorbed the punishment of every evil act every human being can do. A man who returned to life again. A man who forgives and transforms. A man who now provides meaning, guidance, liberation and belonging to all who ask.

It is said that David Hicks has renounced his Islam. Who knows if that’s ultimately true. If it is, his search has taken him through teenage substance abuse, human relationships, radical religious teaching and guerrilla training. Yet it seems he still he remains unfulfilled. It’s my prayer David will continue his search until he encounters the radical, transformational, peaceful love of Jesus.

On our Easter-flavoured show this Sunday we’ll explore a different side to the founder of the Christian faith.

We’ve all heard of the Jesus who is ‘meek and mild’. But what about the Jesus who is ‘mean and wild’? Exaggerations aside, we’ll take a look at what Jesus got angry at and the demands he makes of his followers.

And we’ll talk to the one-time Olympian swimmer for whom Easter now has a whole new meaning.

The Prime Minister was this week encouraging us all to follow his lead, and stay in the workforce until our late 60s - in an effort to ensure Australia’s future prosperity.

Mr Howard says some of us are retiring too early, at 55.

What do you think of the prospect of working until you’re in your mid to late sixties? Is it something you welcome - or something you’ll be doing your best to get out of?

How old were you when you retired? Do you wish you’d stayed in the workforce? Are you about to retire? Or maybe you’ve just entered the workforce…how do you feel about spending the next fifty odd years working?

FOR

Mr Howard said one of the reasons why we should keep working is because we might ‘go to pieces’ if we stop working all of a sudden, after leading a very busy life.

He said: "They (retirees) are used to being relevant and useful and then all of a sudden they find they're not.” Is that your experience?

We all need to work longer for the sake of the economy as well apparently

AGAINST

On the other hand, if you could afford to retire at 55, or 30 for that matter, why wouldn’t you? There’s plenty of things to do in the world apart from paid work. You could learn a new language, volunteer some time at an organisation,  play tennis, travel….

And is seventy too old to properly enjoy your retirement? At that age do you still feel like joining the grey nomads and touring around Australia in your campervan?

So - do you agree with the Prime Minister – that we should be staying in the workforce longer? What’s your understanding of retirement, and when do you hope to take it?

What do you think?

Natalie is in her early 20’s - she met and started going out with a guy last year - he proposed four months later and she accepted. She describes him as a loving, thoughtful and intelligent guy.
 
They're planning to get married half way through next year…the engagement is around a year and a half due to financial reasons.

However Natalie says there's some tension in the relationship because they have different ideas about sex before marriage.
 
As a Christian, she was brought up to believe sex is something that should be saved for marriage. Natalie’s fiancée is also a Christian, but he says it’s OK if they have sex before they get married.
 
She says she feels guilty when he wants to kiss and touch her, because that's going beyond the boundaries she's set for herself. He asks her to have sex a lot, but this makes her feel uncomfortable, since she wants to wait until marriage.

What should she do?

DISCUSSION POINTS:

Should Nadia be marrying a guy who doesn’t respect her physical boundaries? Will he respect her more once they’re married?

Would getting married earlier solve the physical intimacy problem?

Natalie is concerned about her fiancee’s relationship with God –  should she confront him about it?

Few have captured the life of Jesus Christ as elegantly as the journalist James C. Hefley. In a paragraph he summed up Jesus’ life this way:

‘Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the Child of a peasant woman. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never travelled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself… While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a Cross between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while He was dying—and that was His coat. When He was dead He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Such was His human life. But, he rose from the dead. Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone and today He is the Centerpiece of the human race and the Leader of the column of progress. I am within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that One Solitary Life.’

Hefley’s words are as elegant as they are right. You only have to imagine how different this world could be without the influence of that Man from Nazareth. History is largely the recording of Jesus transforming people who then transform their society in obedience to him. Jesus’ followers outlawed infanticide, human sacrifice and gladiatorial combat. They fought for the abolition of slavery and for laws banning child labour. They founded hospitals, orphanages, homes for the mentally ill, and facilities to care for the aged. They invented kindergartens, started public schooling and founded the modern day university. They invented the concept of adoption, promoted the cause of science and founded institutions like the Red Cross, Alcoholics Anonymous, YMCA, YWCA, even the RSPCA! Whether it’s law, healthcare, education, art, music or architecture, it is hard to find a sphere of life that Jesus Christ has not influenced.

But Jesus is more than a great moral influence on history. For those willing to accept it, he is our rescuer. If you delve into the New Testament you’ll find that the Bible never says Jesus’ death was simply the result of an unfair trial. Instead you’ll see it described as an event planned before the beginning of time—a death that would absorb the punishment of every evil thought or act you and I will ever have or do. Jesus took the punishment that is rightfully ours. This destiny he willingly accepted—for you, for me. To rescue us.

Jesus may have influenced our society in more ways than we are conscious of, and he may be the Rescuer with an outstretched hand to those who call to him. But it’s sobering to remember that at his death Jesus was rejected by all. Religious leaders rejected him, political leaders washed their hands of him, soldiers mocked him with a crown of thorns, and even his followers abandoned him. And the greatest tragedy this Easter weekend would be this: if after his great act of sacrificial love, if after his powerful act of resurrection, if after centuries of proof that he is a force for good, we stare the One who claims our whole hearted allegiance in the face and reject him too.

On Friday, the Prime Minister told Southern Cross Radio that his initial response to the question of whether HIV positive people should be allowed into the country…is that they should NOT, except maybe in some humanitarian cases.

Mr Howard said he would look at changing the laws, so that HIV positive people are NOT allowed in the country.

However government insiders have told Fairfax the comments were off the cuff and unlikely to be implemented.

It came in response to a report which has found the number of people migrating to Victoria with HIV (from overseas and interstate) - has jumped from 16 cases in 2004, to 70 in 2006.

Is it an unfair burden on the public health system – or simply discrimination?

Just quickly, I’m going to tell you how both New Zealand and America have responded to the issue.

• Towards the end of last year, New Zealand decided to accept a group of Zimbabweans on humanitarian grounds.

• Zimbabwe has an HIV infection rate of around 20 per cent. The New Zealand government urged the immigrants to come forward for a health screening, saying their chances of becoming permanent residents would not be affected whether they were found to be HIV positive or not.

• The government also offered to pay for any anti-retro-viral treatments that the Zimbabweans would need, if they tested positive, at a cost to NZ taxpayers of potentially 3 million dollars a year.

• The United States has policies that restrict HIV positive people from emigrating and gaining a visa.

• The countries that impose outright bans on HIV positive people include Qatar, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.

What do you think? Do you agree with the Prime Minister that Australia should probably not accept immigrants who are HIV positive? Or do you think there are situations, maybe like the Zimbabweans in New Zealand, when those concerns should be put aside (on humanitarian grounds)?

Or is simply discriminatory?

This week’s dilemma is about Warwick – a classical musician by trade. He used to play the trombone with the Philharmonic Orchestra in London. He says he loved that job and was doing well at it, but felt God called him to pursue a different path.

While on a mission trip in India he says he was touched by what he saw and believes he felt God speak to him about working with children.

So - five years ago, Warwick started a business (a ‘dramatic change’ for him, he says) putting on shows for kids in schools about safety. The shows build the kid’s self esteem and helps them to know what to do if people hurt them.

Warwick loves the new job, but says he has days when things get tough and he starts wondering whether the idea was from God or not, and whether it was the right thing to do.

• He was booked solidly all of last term, but has hardly any bookings for next term.
• With four children to support, he misses the regular paychecks and the stability of his old job.
• He also has an insurance bill he can’t pay, and if his equipment was lost or stolen, he’d lose everything.

He says he’s very good at writing the shows and performing them, but not so good at selling the business and doing the financials.

DISCUSSION POINTS:

• How can you be sure that you’ve heard something from God?
• Does success always follow God’s plan for your life?
• How do you when you’ve made the wrong decision, and it’s time to take a different track?
• How can a person be sure that they’ve heard the voice of God?

Last week Andrew Bolt, a journalist with the Sun Herald newspaper, made some comments that I must share with you. Rarely has a self-described agnostic described my feelings and frustrations—and those of many I know—so well.

In his article entitled ‘My Easter Message’, Bolt highlighted the double-standard that exists in ridiculing holy things, especially Jesus Christ.

Bolt says, ‘While the ABC refused to show the Danish cartoons of Mohammed, for fear of God knows what mayhem, it had no such fear this week of mocking Jesus… Its Triple J station held "Jesus, you've got talent!" – a talent quest for singing toga wearers and the like.

‘Chicago's School of Art Institute, meanwhile, displayed an art work showing Christ resurrected as Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama, son of a Muslim-born Kenyan. And New York's Lab Gallery unveiled a life-sized [nude] Jesus made of chocolate...’

‘[It's] tame stuff given what we've seen before,’ Bolt adds.

‘Who can forget Piss Christ, the crucifix plopped in a jar of urine at the National Gallery of Victoria? Or the Chris Ofili picture of the Virgin Mary, decorated with cow dung, which the National Gallery of Australia tried to bring in? Or the ABC's Christmas special of 1999 – a comparison of the Sistine Chapel's religious frescoes with the paintings made by hip British artists Gilbert and George of their semen, faeces, spit and blood?’

Bolt continues: ‘I wouldn't be alone in thinking each time an artist or commentator insults Christians: friend, if you're so brave, say that about Islam. Show us your chocolate Mohammeds. Show us your Korans dipped in urine.’

‘It's not as if Islam doesn't threaten our artists more than does Christianity. See only the murder of film director Theo van Gogh or the fatwa on writer Salman Rushdie or the stabbing of Rushdie's translator. Or see those deadly riots against the Mohammed cartoons.

‘So when I see a Western artist mock Christ,’ Bolt says, ‘I see an artist advertising not his courage but his cowardice – by not daring to mock what would threaten him more.

‘I am most certainly not saying that moderate Islam should now be treated with the childish disrespect so often shown to Christianity,’ Bolt adds. ‘But I am saying that more people now know there is a double standard here, illustrated perfectly by the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, which banned acts that told jokes against Muslims but promoted ones that lampooned Christians.

‘It's no accident that we feel safer insulting Christians than trashing almost anyone else,’ Bolt says. ‘This is a religion that's always preached tolerance, reason and non-violence, even if too many of its followers have seemed deaf.

‘It's also urged us to leave the judgment of others to God… We are the beneficiaries of that preaching, even those of us who aren't Christians. We live in a society, founded on Christian principles, that guards our right to speak, and even to abuse things we should praise.

‘We can now vilify Jesus and damn priests… We dare all that because we do not actually fear what we condemn. We know Christians are taught not to punch our smarmy face, and we even count on it. Indeed, it is the very faith we mock that has made us so safe.’

Andrew Bolt’s words there in last week’s Sun Herald. All I can say is, thank you Andrew. You’ve highlighted the double standard so many of us have felt: as far as popular opinion goes, it seems wrong to ridicule religion – unless it’s Jesus.

Hearing about the Virginia massacre on Tuesday was chilling enough – did we really need to see those pictures of murderer Cho Soong Hwee in an army vest waving his weapons around?

He apparently went to the post office to send a copy of his home movie to American network NBC - before storming off to kill 32 students and staff and commit suicide.

In a rant that was broadcast on many networks – he raged against rich kids and said he was going to die like Jesus Christ.

But how harmful are these pictures? Does broadcasting material like that encourage other would-be killers out there to take action? And be subsequently immortalized in death?

Maybe we do need to see the pictures – to understand the mind of a killer who so few people on the Virginia Tech campus seemed to know.

And maybe it can be justified as being in the public interest.

What do you think?

Our dilemma tonight, concerns a guy that we’re calling Ahmed.

It’s a real dilemma – although we’ve changed a couple of the details to protect his identity.

But the crux of it is this.

Ahmed has recently converted from Islam to Christianity.

He doesn’t know whether or not he should tell his parents, who are Muslim, about his conversion.

He’s fearful that if he tells his parents, they’ll be unhappy with him – and cut off his rent allowance, and other financial assistance.

What do you think Ahmed should do?

DISCUSSION POINTS:

• Should he run the risk of worsening relations with his family by telling them about  his conversion?
• There’s the issue of money – he’s afraid of not being able to ‘get by’ - without his parents  allowance.
• At the same time he’s excited about the change that’s happened in his life – should he tell them or not.

Five elderly residents of a Melbourne nursing home died this week – and another three are sick in hospital – after an outbreak of Salmonella over Easter.

Chief executive Sharon Callister of Benetas – which runs  the Broughton nursing home in Camberwell – said on Monday it was gastroenteritis, and not food poisoning that struck the aged care facility.

It raises the question of - how should elderly parents best be looked after, when they are no longer able to care for themselves? There are a couple of options out there-

• They can move into a nursing home
• They can have a home help arrangement where cleaners and gardeners visit their home to help them look after things, while still retaining some independence
• Or, they can move in with your family, and you can look after them

Maybe you’ve had to deal with this very question – what solution worked best for you and your family?

What would be your preference when you get to that age?

I want to hear your thoughts on this.

One of my little hobbies is looking for God’s unseen footprints in life—hints of His presence; signs of His activity in the world. As I read news reports I often find myself asking, ‘where might God be in all of this?’

If you’re also interested in trying to ‘spot God’ in the world, I came across a story this week which might fire your imagination—especially if you were a childhood fan of Evel Knievel.

Remember him? The guy with the motor bike and the nerves of steel. He started jumping his bike over boxes of snakes and hungry lions. Then he started jumping cars, and more cars. He jumped Greyhound and Double-decker busses, and the fountains at the famous Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. He even had plans of jumping between two New York skyscrapers, and across the Grand Canyon, but authorities never gave him permission. Knievel entered the Guiness Book of Records numerous times, including his record of 40 broken bones in one crash.

Evel Knievel’s successes and failures gave him household fame and made him a marketable brand. He put his name on action figures and pinball machines; he had guest TV appearances; movies were made about him. He got a reputation as a womaniser, was jailed for assaulting a former promoter, went bankrupt, lost his family and re-married a woman half his age.

Knievel has certainly had a chequered life.

Now the news is that a remarkable thing has taken place in a Californian church. Two weeks ago today (April 8), Evel Knievel appeared on the stage of the well-known Crystal Cathedral church and said he’d made another leap—of faith. Knievel has apparently become a Christian.

Earlier this year, the story goes, Knievel called Rev. Robert H. Schuller, founder of the Crystal Cathedral, and told him he was interested in becoming a Christian. Schuller was skeptical at first, but later flew and met Knievel face to face, and became convinced that his search was genuine. Knievel had apparently explored Buddhism and Islam and believed he’d found the truth in Jesus Christ.

On the Palm Sunday service Knievel said he had refused to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord for 68 years. He said while he’d believed in God for sometime, he hadn’t been able to walk away from the gold, the gambling, the booze and the women.

Many people had been praying for Knievel—his daughter's church, his ex-wife's church, and hundreds of people over time had written him letters about faith. And then in March something clicked for him. "I don't know what in the world happened,” Knievel says. “I don't know if it was the power of the prayer or God himself, but … the power of God in Jesus just grabbed me. … All of a sudden, I just believed in Jesus Christ… I just got on my knees and prayed that God would put his arms around me and never, ever, ever let me go."

What happened after those words is probably the most interesting part of the story. After Knievel spoke, most of the 4000 worshippers at the Crystal Cathedral began sobbing. The original plan for the church service was thrown out and an impromptu call was made for anyone who wanted to commit or recommit themselves to Jesus Christ. Hundreds came forward. The pastors of the church began baptising people on the spot—as a Reformed Church this meant sprinkling them with water as a sign of God’s forgiveness. The same thing happened in their second service. Somewhere between 500 and 800 people committed or recommitted their lives to Jesus Christ that Sunday, with another 100 following the next day.

Some might discount the story as an emotional reaction to a former superstar’s bare-all testimony. But this revival of sorts has taken place in a church not known for evangelistic zeal. Perhaps, instead, we can see a trace of God’s unseen footprints here—God drawing spiritually hungry souls to Himself, through the story of a flamboyant stuntman’s reluctant surrender.

Coming up on the show this week, author, poet, eccentric, and self-described bemused Anglican Adrian Plass.

Well known for his book The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass, listen this Sunday for a side-splitting look at the church and its foibles, from a man who’s as funny as he is thoughtful.

And we’ll find out what life is like for the 300,000 child soldiers around the world trying to survive.

Liz is worried about her 13 year old cousin Amala, who's from a Hindu family, who wants to become a Christian - but her parents won't let her.
 
Amala has been invited to church and her parents don't mind her attending most weeks. But when she asked her parents for a Bible, they wouldn't give her one. Amala bought one herself, but her parents ripped it up and threw it in the bin.

Amala’s parents say she can change her religion when she's 16.
 
What should Amala do?

DISCUSSION POINTS:

• It’s a dilemma because we’re talking about the spiritual decision of a 13 year old. Is 13 too young to make a decision to convert to a religion different from your parents?

• It’s a dilemma because there’s the issue of Amala respecting her parents – being under their roof and care.

It seems that a combination of long hours, stressful work and a competitive work cultures are contributing to increasing cases of depression in the workplace, particularly in the fields of law and accounting, as we’ve just heard.

Do you work somewhere where long hours are worn as a ‘badge of honour?’

I’d love to hear from you – is it something that gets you down, or is something that comes with the territory and you just learn to cope with and maybe even learn to enjoy?

Maybe working long hours is just the ‘done thing’ and you have to do it in order to get a promotion.

Has a stressful working environment caused you to change jobs…. or even professions?

Or maybe your job even led you to develop depression – if that’s you, call me now, I want to hear what steps it forced you to take, and what changes it caused you to make in life.

I made a new friend last night.

Merryn and I had spent a leisurely evening in Sydney’s China Town, and were walking up George Street towards the city centre. Merryn stopped in at a McDonalds to use the toilet and I waited outside on the sidewalk. Parked in front of the McDonalds was a homeless guy. He was sitting on a mat, his legs folded under him and his long grey hair dangling around his face. He wore the typical street persons’ attire of clothes that hadn’t seen a washing machine for years, and he stared into the crowd without much expression. Around him sat cans of shoe polish and neatly arranged brushes—the tools of a shoe-shining service he was offering. Despite the multitudes walking past him, business wasn’t looking that good.

Further down George Street a long line of people waited outside a theatre and, curious, I walked down to see who was performing. It was no one I knew. I wondered back to McDonalds, leant against the wall and watched the shoe-shiner for a while. I wondered what his story was, how he’d ended up here, and why I felt so insecure about going and asking him.

A shopping cart held his possessions, and perched on it was a cardboard sign that advertised his business. ‘It takes just 5 minutes to have happy feet’, the sign read. I smiled, looked at his cans of black polish and then at the pair of white joggers on my feet. I walked over to him, knelt down and explained that with advertising that good I wanted to give him some business but wasn’t sure my shoes would benefit.

‘I’ve got some dubbin—that would waterproof them,’ he replied with a smile.

I declined the offer but asked if I could support his work with a donation. He accepted my gift and we got chatting.

His name is Brian. He’s been on the streets since his breakdown. He sleeps in a doorway at night and does his shoe-shine business by day. He has a route that he follows each week—Martin Place during weekday peak hours, Pitt Street Mall on the weekends, outside McDonalds Saturday nights. He’d rather work for money than beg for it.

I asked Brian whether he’d made use of any of the shelters around the city. ‘Yeah, I’ve stayed in a few,’ he said. ‘The people running them are good, but the shelters attract bad people.’ Brian told me that during one shelter stay he was stabbed in the chest—all for the $4 in his pocket.

I looked back at Brian’s sign. Under his slogan, ‘It takes only 5 minutes to have happy feet’, was another phrase—‘Jesus loves you and me’.

‘You’re a man of faith,’ I said, pointing to the sign.

‘Yeah,’ Brian said. ‘The story goes like this. I went to a church-run boy’s school as a kid but never thought much about religion afterwards. Then a year ago my brother died. I was in a really bad way; just didn’t know what to do. I prayed to God, asked Jesus for help. And that’s when I got the idea for this shoe-shine business. God helped me.’ Brian pulled out his Bible—a copy of the New International Version in a nice cover (obviously donated as someone had written ‘From Joanne to Darrell’ on the inside title page). Brian told me his favourite book of the Bible was the Gospel of John.

Merryn came out of McDonalds and after a few more minutes chatting it was time to go. Brian thanked me for the conversation. ‘Not many people stop and talk to the homeless,’ he said. I already knew that. I haven’t stopped that many times myself. After speaking to Brian I realised this was my loss. He was friendly and intelligent. We could’ve talked for some time.

I saw Brian again this morning in the Pitt Street Mall—his Sunday morning market place. He told me that business was slow and that he’d given the money I gave him last night to another homeless guy needing shoes. ‘My heart just went out to him,’ Brian said.

Who knows if Brian was telling me the truth. I hope to get to know him better to find out. And to do that, I may just wear my black shoes to the city next week—and get them polished.

© 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

Join me this Sunday for the story of Nancy Heche.

After 25 years of marriage Nancy’s husband died of AIDS, the result of his secret life. Three months later, her 18 year old son was killed in a car accident.

Years later she would lose another child, and cope with the public affairs of her famous actress daughter Anne Heche. Now, Nancy tells her story of emotional and spiritual survival.

And UK poet Steve Turner on art, creativity and the Christian life.