Shoutlouder

the perfect curry night out

// August 15th, 2008 // No Comments » // Book Review, Inspiration

So I’m feeling almost as happy as Team Sprint GB thanks to blogging friend Scott Rodgers who decided that my bribe to take him out on the ‘perfect curry night out in Leeds’ was worthy of the Gold Medal – or in his case a copy if ‘IT‘ which I will duly read and review for all of you who have no idea what I am talking about!

I love his comment on the blog though saying that he has ‘no idea what a perfect curry night out means’ so he’ll have to give it a try – which made me realise HOW FORTUNATE I am to live in the amazing Great Britain!

Our athletes right now are competing in probably their best games for as long as I can remember. There’s a sense of victory in the air that seems to be compelling the athletes on. I’ve found myself watching snippets of the olympics this week and seeing a country that seems to have lost its boring quiet optimism and graceful sportsmanship and instead got back a Lion’s roar – and it shows – we’ve started winning things!

I love the fact they were interviewing the Cycling guys this morning and it wasn’t “Well, let’s hope for the best…” instead it was “We can do this – we’ve never been better, never been more on form…”

It took us 7 days in the Athens Games to get our first Medal – after 7 days in Beijing we have EIGHT and we still have one of our best weekends for winning medals to come with more cycling, rowing and athletics to come.

Brits for years have been known as ‘plucky’ – the underdogs who seem to keep on coming back and trying and trying again. And yet our heritage is that we are a nation that conquered and led most of the known world.

I guess its time for the Lion to start roaring again.

You were never born to be ‘plucky’ – you were born to be a Kingdom builder, more than a conqueror – you were born a winner from the very first moment that you won the race to the egg!

Which randomly brings me back to the best curry night out in Leeds – because that’s something else we can be proud of. After all – the Brits invented curry – it’s true (in a way) – and if you’ve never been out late on a Friday night in the middle of leeds and took in a late night Tikka Makhani at my favourite Akbars Restaurant then you’ve missed out on something. You can guarantee that most of Team GB will be sitting around supping their energy drinks and chomping on a protein bar with dreams of Olympic glory interupted every now and then as their minds wander back to the first thing they’ll do when they get home to a much greater Great Britain… go out for a curry!

can it really be that simple?

// August 2nd, 2008 // No Comments » // Book Review, Evangelism, Self-Development

I’ve just started reading Bill Hybels latest book, “Just Walk Across the Room: Simple Steps Pointing People to Faith”. I say just started reading – but I started yesterday and I’m already a third of the way through because it is that inspiring, challenging, moving, provoking…

I actually had to put it down for a minute early this afternoon. I was sat reading it in a Playcentre whilst my son was playing and I felt such a touch of the Holy Spirit, provoking, proding, convicting me (righteously – not with guilt) about how I really need to change the way I approach evangelism in my life that I was about to bust into tears… (something I regularly do – much to the enjoyment of my congregation – when I sense the Holy Spirit at work).

The thing is – Bill Hybels is writing about something so simple – the simple concept that all it takes is for us ‘Christ-followers’ to step away from our Circles of Comfort and take a walk across the room to engage people who mingle around our world. How else can we share the incredible nature and power of God’s love and grace if we don’t make the effort to actually connect with someone. It’s not rocket science and yet every born-again Christian will say Yes to the need to share Jesus with the world, but still never make that one move out of comfort that may just open the doors, or sow a seed for someone to step into eternity. It’s so simple… yet why don’t we do it!

This book is incredibly practical and insightful as to how we must approach evangelism in our culture and society today. I couldn’t do justice to summarise it here – but let me say if you’re going to read one book this year then read this one and it will totally redirect the outward focus of your Christian life and liberate you to see that evangelism isn’t about gifting, crusades, great apologetics and deep theological expositories – it’s just about you being open to allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in building bridges across which the truth of the Gospel can carry lives into eternity…