Simon Guillebaud

I’d been looking forward to these three days for a long time. I’m a cycling novice, but have been training hard for several months in preparation for my biggest physical challenge in life thus far this coming March – as three of us attempt to cycle just under 3000 miles across the USA from LA to Charleston (see www.bikeforburundi.com). Could my body handle doing three days of 100miles/day? I was feeling in good shape so thought I’d be OK. What happened?

So yesterday I launched out on my first100miles with about 200 other cyclists as part of Festivelo in Monck’s Corner. I didn’t know the route and didn’t want to get lost, so I stayed towards the front, as most participants were just doing the 60miles course. That meant I ended up unintentionally with the big boys, so I had to keep up with them. Actually, it was wonderfully exhilarating. I’d never been in the peloton, feeling the boost of having someone in front cut through the wind and thereby making it easier for me. I even took my turn at the head as each one peeled off. And I’ll be honest with you, it felt great. Inside I was thinking: “I’m the man! This is easy. I may be the new kid on the block but I’m cruising, it’s a piece of cake. I feel sorry for those slow plodders way behind us, etc…”

How wrong I was! What a moron!

I’m pretty confident that Burundi will be the most exciting place in the world to be for the first two weeks of August – and I would love to be there, but can’t because I’m doing the Bible Readings at New Wine Newark for the coming week. Anyway, why is it going to be so amazing? Firstly, Andrew Palau (son of Luis) and his team are doing a big citywide evangelistic festival during the first week. Please pray for that. They have managed to mobilize many of the different key groups to work together, which is no mean feat, and […]

I’m just flying back from a hectic several days speaking at Summer Madness in Belfast, Causeway Coast Vineyard in Coleraine, and Urban Soul in Dublin. Not everyone would enjoy this lifestyle, but I love traveling, speaking, meeting new interesting people, and seeing lives changed.

There are lots of people doing fantastic things far removed from any limelight. Youth workers are some of my ‘ordinary heroes’. They are invariably very gifted and could have gone into all sorts of more lucrative careers. But they aren’t motivated by money. They want more. They are about seeing lives changed. And that needs to be done with young people before they get stuck in their thinking and settled in their respectability and tameness. So these youth workers often get paid a pittance, but they love the truth enough to live it. God bless them. I’ve met a whole load of them over the last week. Keep firing, guys, the reward is both now and later…

I wrote this a few days ago, but had to do a first post before this one really, to introduce myself. Anyways, here goes:

Pentecost Sunday, 12th June – So this is a great day to begin the epic training schedule on. I will be doing thousands of miles in the coming nine months, culminating in 35 days of sheer determination and hopefully success in our goal to cycle from Los Angeles to Charleston, and in the process raise stackloads of money for God’s work in Burundi.

I crept out of bed at 520am, trying unsuccessfully not to wake up Lizzie. My gear was all ready downstairs, all courtesy of my new buddy Mason Moise. Cycling is a totally new ball game for me. I’d never heard of cleats before this week, but now I know that I need to click in and out of them or I’ll fall flat on my face. That’s already happened to me for the first and hopefully last time, with a few cuts and bruises – but it was more a case of bruised ego for looking such an idiot as I wiped out on the road!

Off I pedaled in the dark. With no lights, I needed all the more to stick to the pavement. 1.8miles to Isle of Palms Connector, where there’s a big extra lane that I will use regularly, 2.1m across, and I did six of those, so all in a 16.2m opening ride. Not far, but a start.

Right. This is all new. I’m usually a few steps behind on these things, so am playing catch-up, but here goes:

What can you expect on this blog?

My passion is to see people step out boldly into God’s purposes and see His Kingdom come; to see people come to the realization that life to the full can only be lived in personal relationship with Jesus; to see Burundi radically transformed by a new generation of costly followers of Christ; to get to the end of my life, however long He gives me, and have absolutely no regrets over not acting out His plans in my life. So there’ll some of that.

I passionately love my family – the luscious Lizzie, earnest little Zac (5), kissaholic Grace (3), and disturbingly volatile Josiah (nearly 2). So there’ll be some of that.

I’ve recently committed to cycling 3000 miles West to East coast of America, with the aim of raising $1million for our stunningly beautiful work in Central Africa, so there’ll be some of that too.

And who knows what else…

We asked you to pray, so we thought we’d let you know what happened. Some of you write and say I don’t include enough on family, so here’s a bit on us and our crazy time yesterday. Were your prayers answered? Well, there wasn’t really any chance of us making the connecting flight from the start because we were delayed by an hour at Heathrow. It was lashing down with rain and our windscreen wipers weren’t working, apparently! Strangely that delay from the outset took the pressure off and I didn’t dwell on it for the ten hours of our […]