These shoes have tread the hard concrete alleys that is my Bangkok slum. Muddy truck potholes avoided in bad parts of the slum while mounds of broken glass and concrete scrambled over in worse parts.

They don't slip easily traversing rickety bridges over slowly moving creeks of rubbish. However sharp turns in a futsol game see them in the air and me on the ground. The padded upper cloth surface decreases the pain of keeping a dtakraw ball in the air.

They've occasionally scraped the baked dirt paths of a refugee camp where my friends live.

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The dark stains on these shoes are from regular contact with an oily motorbike gear lever. The folded in heels help when constantly slipping them on and off living in Thai culture. They're faded from spending time in the sun drying out after wet season floods.

They've felt soft grass a dozen times and even the grainy shore. These shoes have been worn but not yet worn out. There's still plenty of miles left in them.

Here's to meeting you on the journey.

Rod Sheard
UNOH Team
Bangkok

My shoes have taken me to some places of desolation and isolation. My shoes used to take me along a comfortable journey, where I only saw who I wanted to see, and turned a blind eye to those who were hurting; and to the injustices in our society and world at large.

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My sister and I went to visit a friend of ours- an asylum seeker in Maribyrnong detention, facing deportation. We expected to see him depressed but instead we were greeted by his cheery face and a warm embrace once we had cleared a series of bolted iron gates and barbed-wire barricaded walls. Once inside there was a little courtyard where we sat and chatted together. We laughed and just about cried with him. In the face of immense suffering, our friend looked us square in the face and said: "God will NEVER leave you… you wouldn't believe the amount of miracles I've seen God do for me in my life…" He had come to know Christ in detention through a mutual friend. Since then he has shared Christ with others during his time on the inside and outside in the community. We left our friend standing and waving at us until we could no longer see him. I don't know when we'll see him again. We were escorted by the guard back through the bolted gates. Peering up, we gazed at the barbed wire surrounding the building and felt deeply the injustice of it all weighing upon our hearts.

 

Robert came to know Christ in the Maribyrnong detention as an asylum seeker. "If I hadn't ended up in detention, I wouldn't have met the Lord…" he said. "Sometimes, when I am so bored of staring at the walls in my room, I just pray, and then something starts to happen… I feel the Holy Spirit inside me. It doesn't matter that I haven't had a coffee or a smoke all day, this is the best feeling in the world…" We left that detention center with its barbed wire-barricaded iron walls with the rawness and realness of his faith etched in our hearts. That was a sacred moment, and hearing his testimony in that courtyard was like we were standing on holy ground. God's heart beats for the poor, the isolated, the incarcerated. I have chosen this journey, as a UNOH worker, of following Christ into the dark places, of sharing life with those who are marginalized and oppressed, and working together with them for liberation. This is what Christ wanted. (Isaiah 58) It is a privilege for me to stand in solidarity with the poor. Each time I hear my friends' stories of heartache and hope, of finding light in dark places, I know I am right where God would have me.

 

Sharmila Blair

UNOH worker

Urban Neighbours of Hope, Melbourne.

The shoes I am wearing are a gift from a young Australian man, who is trying to make a normal life for himself and his fiancee. He is a plasterer and in working hard to make ends meet and has had to move in with his finacess parents to save up a deposit for a house.

His life is normal, now.

He arrived in Australia nine years ago at a time when the media was demonising Asylum Seekers. He was trying to escape being killed in Chechnya. It was through walking alongside him and seeing how society looked from a totally different perspective. It was through this experience that I was transformed, now I am proud to walk in these shoes. These shoes symbolise for me the experiences that helped me walk in the right direction, to the place that society would rather we did not go. To the place of the least. It is hidden, because, through discovering it, I no longer walk to the beat that society drums for me.

I love these shoes!

Peace,
Jon Owen
UNOH Team
Mt Druitt, SYDNEY

Many years ago I was asked to preach at the night service at our church.  I had only ever preached at youth group before, and they were all my mates.  Well, it went really well, and afterwards many people came up to me and said, "that was really good"  and "that really touched me".  Which is what you want as a preacher, but...

It just seemed weird, I didn't feel right about getting props for preaching, and to be honest, it still feels a bit weird twenty years on.  But a number of years ago I started to do something a bit different, I would always say thank you, but then I added, "so what are you going to do about it?"

Now you may or may not have liked my message.  But what really matters is...

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

you have spent some time with that annoying clump of paper in your shoe, how are you going to care for Jesus in your neighborhood?  When I was lonely you stood with me, When I was depressed you comforted me, When I was picked on you stood up for me?  Go back to Matthew 25, read it again, and let us know what you are going to do about it!

rev

A few of Mitch's thoughts after SYG this year... thanks mate.. helps us all think about what can be done better next time....

"Ok first of all there was a bit of a different feeling this year, not because of different churches or anything but simply because there is a huge new pavillion which has meant many churches have had to move. This took away abit from the whole community feel but couldnt be helped. Ok so thats the boring part...now for all the excitement and fun of my rambling after not enough hours of sleeeep.

Ok so the sport was the same as always, a few way to serious teams and a few very funny teams, but all in all very fun! lost table tennis, WON ultimate frisbee, had fun playing soccer and lost the granny in dodgeball to the most serious syg team of all time - C4 with there knee pads and gloves - who does that honestly? its also a well established fact that the 'disco' had crap music and that mash's party was ten times better...

The night rallies though, oh those controverisal night rallies...how do you say it? The saturday night lacked essence or purpose or positivity for me personally. I spoke to others who felt the same and to many it wasnt a representation of what has made syg great over all the years. They tried a new format - good on Nick and Andy for taking a risk, but its fair to say it didnt work. There were good parts - Luffsy's interview was awesome, though it didnt help that people couldnt hear him - due to the foldback being too loud - remember it was a new pavillion so they are still learning about the acoustics ;-) What else...I dunno really but i think if people didnt get anything out of it and wanted to have a spiritual experience that night they could have if they'd wanted to gone to sacred space which was fair awesome.

Sunday night was a bit different..similar format. Bball shootout? pointless? definitely. cover songs at the start? might connect with a different type of people, but overall not for syg night rallies...so i didnt see the point...John Jensen spoke brilliantly!!! Dont understand why he didnt speak both nights?? Hopefull the interviews were ok and could be heard but I thought the second night had an all round better feeling...was interesting, was talking to my sister who has been going since way back when syg was in queenscliff and she thinks recently the main age demographic has changed quite alot...it used to be aimed more at young s while now its aimed more at youth...im not sure if that has anything to do with anything but ey"

Hey SYG'ers - we'd love to hear how this year went for you and your crew. Did you win, lose or draw or more importantly did you get the most laughs!!! John 'The Rev' Jensen and the UNOH crew are keen to hear your thoughts, answer questions and basically connect though MySpace so post your comments and questions amd we'll get the conversations rolling!