Greetings from Burundi! I wanted you to be one of the first to know about my new app, the Choose Life 21 Challenge, now ready in the app stores. Wanted or Unwanted, Bitter or Better, Inclusive or Exclusive… there are, unsurprisingly, 21 challenges which you can now receive weekly over the coming few months.
People were asking me if Choose Life (the book) was available as an app and this is the result. It takes 21 of the 365 reflections in the book and adds a new twist, a practical challenge to stir you to put your faith into action each week. By the way, Christian Resources Together voted the book ‘Best Devotional of the Year 2014’, so apparently it’s officially good stuff!
If you’d like to receive a challenge, like the one below, once a week for 21 weeks, direct to your inbox, here’s how. (If your phone is too old for apps you can still take part online at www.chooselife.org.uk) You can do the Challenge as an individual, or with your family, small group or even whole church.
Once you’ve downloaded (see links below) and opened the app:
- register with your email (so we can send the challenges)
- do remember your password as you may need it
- change the time zone to the right one
- you will then see a screen showing 21 weeks
- simply click on Week 1
Did I mention it’s FREE?
iphone download:
android download:
Big thanks to my great friends at social enterprise, ekreative.com for making this happen.
Let me know how you get on by posting on the feedback wall in the app.
God bless you loads.
Simon Guillebaud
PS Here’s a sneak preview of Week One… being alongside my friends here in Burundi who are suffering so much right now makes me more grateful than ever… how about you? What are you grateful for today?
GUILT OR GRATITUDE?
Romans 12:1: Therefore, in view of God’s mercy, offer your bodies as living sacrifices.
I’m proud to be English but I’m not so proud of our national pastime – moaning. We’re World Champion moaners, and yet we’re living in the most affluent time in the history of humanity, with access to so many wonderful benefits and blessings.
When I give talks around the world, I often say very explicitly: “Listen people. I don’t want to give you a guilt trip. But I do want to give you a gratitude trip.” And then I tell them about the time someone was trying to kill me and in one of his unpleasant letters to me he said he was going to cut out my eyes! You know, for the first time in my life, I thanked God for the gift of eyesight. And it is a gift, isn’t it? It’s by no means a right – just ask a blind person.
That experience was an epiphany for me. Most of us have grown up in an entitlement culture. It’s all about our rights. That’s why most of us are grumpy. If you recognise everything you have is a gift, you’ll live a life of gratitude to the Giver – and grateful people make happy people. In Paul’s words above, the original Greek word for ‘mercy’ is plural. He’s saying in effect, “in view of all the grace gifts (mercies) of God in your life, live and die for him.” When I’m tempted to moan, I often go through all the gifts I have – sight, food, peace, education, family, clean water, and more. What an amazing list! How blessed am I! Listen, Jesus says: “To those who have been given much, much will be required” (Luke 12:48). With privilege comes responsibility. Don’t feel guilty about how blessed you are, but do feel grateful, and then think about how you can use what you’ve got to make a difference in Jesus’ name.
Challenge:
Be creative in this, but DO something that demonstrates your OUTRAGEOUS GRATITUDE to be alive, and share it with someone. TODAY!