These 5-year-old boys are about to embark on a two-hour walk home from school to the second hill you can see. They make the journey twice per day – that blows my mind! It’s easy to take school for granted in the West, but for these kids, a decent education is their best hope of escaping the desperate poverty they have grown up in. This coming week, Burundian kids will be due to return to school en masse for the new year, but not all of them will make it! You see, even though education is apparently free, families still have to pay for […]
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Tough times and a cry for help…
It’s bad. Really bad… In the area around Thierry’s house, seven people have been killed by hippos. Then there are the crocs, snakes, mosquitoes, parasites, the open sewage leading to cholera… the list goes on. Thierry, my Anglican pastor friend, has lost his house (and his church) to the huge floods in Burundi. Lake Tanganyika has risen by twelve feet to its highest level since 1960, displacing 200,000+ people, many of whom are utterly destitute. Take a look at this clip filmed by my colleague Raissa from a dugout canoe. Lord, have mercy on Burundi! Staple foods like rice and beans have increased in cost by […]
Who is the Holy Spirit to you?
From my uncle Ross Paterson’s book ’The Antioch Factor’, I find this section very challenging: Walter Lewis Wilson was an American doctor born towards the end of the nineteenth century. He was a faithful Christian who hosted visiting missionaries to his church. One visitor from France didn’t mince words, asking him, “Who is the Holy Spirit to you?” Wilson’s answer was doctrinally correct, “One of the Persons of the Godhead… Teacher, Guide, Third Person of the Trinity.” But it was an empty and rehearsed response. His friend pushed him harder, challenging him, “You haven’t answered my question.” Wilson opened up […]
Choose Life in 2023!
I have exciting news! My publishers have kindly agreed for me to share the award-winning devotional Choose Life 365 for free in 2023! So I invite you to sign up for either a daily or a weekly email from me in 2023, helping you to choose faith over fear, love over legalism and gratitude over grumbling! There’s no denying that times are really tough for many of us. Personally, we’ve experienced some real sucker punches over the past couple of months in our family, so more than ever, we need to press into God and pursue Him each and every […]
Squeezed to the Wall in Burundi…
What oozes out of you when you are squeezed? Let me explain. A favourite quote of mine is by Smith Wigglesworth: “Be filled with the Spirit – that is, be soaked with the Spirit. Be so soaked that every thread in the fabric of your life will have received the requisite rule of the Spirit – and then, when you are misused and squeezed to the wall, all that will ooze out of you will be the nature of Christ.” Suffice to say, Burundians, already living in the world’s poorest and hungriest nation*, are being squeezed to the wall right […]
Listen Now to My New Inspired Podcast!
Today we’re launching a new podcast: ‘Inspired… with Simon Guillebaud’. Upbeat and uplifting, ‘Inspired’ introduces us to a stunning variety of people from all walks of life. It celebrates perseverance, overcoming, and costly faith. Stories of adventure and risk-taking stir the listener to imagine new possibilities. I’ve loved recording the first few episodes already, which have included tales of dramatic answered prayers, Mai Mai militias, a 6-ft pet cobra, punch-ups, a melted face, witchdoctor and drag queen conversions and more. I have so many crazy/courageous/resourceful/faith-filled friends whose stories will be told over the coming months, and I’d love you to […]