Andy B Podcasts and Stuff

Send us Fan Mail Beards need grooming. They need care and attention, or they can look pretty scruffy rather rapidly. That may be the look you want, but in our house that wouldn’t fly! So, since I can’t shave at this time due to a medication I’m on, I’ve now bought myself a beard brush. I didn’t know such a thing existed, and yet I now use it fairly frequently to keep my growing beard in order and...

Send us Fan Mail A cup of tea with a friend can be a great way of spending our time! Talking to someone, seeing the reaction on their face as we say something, helps steer the conversation. It is invaluable feedback to deepen the relationship. As a preacher, or as a worship leader, that same feedback is really important - it helps us steer how we say things, or how many times we can get away with...

Send us Fan Mail This Andy B 2 Minute Video was inspired by Mandy, and her brilliant post - and power packed prayer - “April 2022 Prayer”. You can find out more about Mandy at her blog “Blue Collar Theologian”. Go check it out! Darkness often feels like it is greater and has more power. People love to do bad things in the dark because, I guess, they think it can appease some of the evil of their a...

Send us Fan Mail Andy B begins this week’s episode by asking, “What do you do when things go well?” and, “How do you handle praise?” He makes an interesting point, that out of the top three places in a running race, the person in 2nd place is often the most depressed. He proceeds to share his struggle with receiving praise – how he finds it easier to face criticism. And he warns about some of the...

Send us Fan Mail Temporary or permanent. You might see this in an advert for a job. But there are many temporary things in the world, that became permanent features. From the Eiffel Tower to a bridge built after World War II and “pre-fab” houses in the UK, some temporary things last well, but others show their age quickly. In our home we don’t do well with bright light coming into our room when tr...

Send us Fan Mail Time. The one sure thing we can be certain of is that time cares not for how we’re doing. It doesn’t go faster when we need it to. And no matter how much we will it, it won’t slow down either. Times marches ever on! For our online Ministry we’ve taken to doing the bulk of our weekly filming on a Saturday. It doesn’t take up the whole day, but it saves loads of time overall. We’ve...

Send us Fan Mail It’s a great thought to seek to only give God our best. But we need to check whether giving God what we have, and making sure that is the best we can offer, doesn’t become assigning human values to what we think God will want from us. While grabbing some time with Jo, Andy B drove her to work. This meant they had some time together while Jo worked a half day, that they wouldn’t ha...

Send us Fan Mail Andy B begins this week’s theme, “Honestly, I’m fine”, with a reminder of how skilled we can become at hiding our emotions through “Sunday smiles”.  He warns us that sometimes people will ask us how we are without really wanting to know the answer, reminding us to only ask a question if we are willing to hear the response. He relates how honest David, of the Bible, was towards God...

Send us Fan Mail Are you hurting inside? Do you feel alone? Do you feel lonely, even if you’re surrounded by people? Have your emotions left you feeling tired and like you have nothing left to give? Have you lost your job? Or a friend? Or a precious member of your family? Are you left wondering where hope will come from? Do you feel different from everybody around you – like you’ve got struggles t...

Send us Fan Mail I love how inspiration works. Truly! A friend and I were exchanging some comments on his blog, Devotional Treasures. He was talking about meds, or medication, and that made me think of my alarms – that help me take my meds at the right times. Medication needs to be taken carefully, having considered all the potential risks and side effects. You expect your doctor to have checked t...

Send us Fan Mail While chatting with a friend this morning, I was struck by the ease with which we can be driven along by life, when we really should be resisting that pressure, and being led instead. Sure, there can be life issues which pop up in front of us, which we quickly need to deal with, dropping everything in order to do so. There is a rush or life that we need to pay attention to. Howeve...

Send us Fan Mail With life it often seems like we have just two choices to make - wrap ourselves in plastic bubble wrap to protect us from falls and pain. Or we can wear a crash helmet and keep charging on! Actually, I think there is a third option – a little bit of bubble wrap, a crash helmet, and some time planning out what is in front of us. There’s always gonna be stuff that knocks us for six!...

Send us Fan Mail It’s really healthy to look back at what we’ve accomplished.  It’s good to remember what we’ve done, or how we tried to do something last time. It’s great to reflect on where we’ve done amazing things, and even not so amazing things. It can even be healthy to remember the foolish things we did and managed to escape serious injury. However, if we look back too long, we end up riski...

Send us Fan Mail Andy B opens up this week’s theme, “Down, But Not Out”, by first reminding us of the fact that everyone has had an experience of being down, but not out.  He unpacks this week’s Scripture verses, Matthew 11:28-30, by explaining what a yoke is in the context of these verses and further explaining its value, as in how oxen are trained using a yoke. In addition, he provides real-life...

Send us Fan Mail Today is a good day! We’ve got two loads of washing on our washing line blowing in the gentle breeze and sun. As a stat at home dad, this makes Andy B very happy! Inside the home, the hoover has been finally repaired and the carpets have been thoroughly gone over. As has the stairs, and lots of dusting has happened too. In our homes, and in our Spiritual lives we need lots of main...

Send us Fan Mail There is so much in life that can drag us down and make us give up. But, there is much reason to keep going! Andy B started a project in September 2021 – writing a book. This is a project a friend had asked him to undertake. And it’s quite a rapid turn around. But there are so many things that Andy B never got to do. We all have dreams, hopes and ambitions. And they all can be dec...

Send us Fan Mail Bathrooms can be hard to make look both pretty and functional. The pipes that make it all function can appear pretty ugly, so it’s become a trend to box pipes in. However, this comes with a cost. Whether it is the shower body behind lovely looking tiles, a toilet cistern placed behind a wall, or pipes concreted into a floor, it’s tempting to hide these things away, but the cost co...

Send us Fan Mail In the first part of That Sinking Feeling, Part 1 , I talked about a used chair that I’d bought that wouldn’t stay up. The gas cylinder wasn’t working very well so as you were sitting there it would suddenly, or slowly, drop. With a mug of tea in my hand, that became a little less than safe or ideal! While this isn’t the ongoing saga of Andy B trying to find a working chair, it do...

Send us Fan Mail When you’re broken down you want to see a recovery truck. When you’re broken down physically you want to see a doctor and a hospital. When you’re broken down spiritually or emotionally, you want a compassionate person who looks like they have something of their life in good order. It’s easy to only want to speak out, and to hear, nice and positive things. We all like that, and we...

Send us Fan Mail Andy B unpacks this week’s theme, “Going Equipped”, by providing real-life examples and consequences for being prepared or not being prepared. These examples include real stories involving military logistics, scouting and the Vulcan. As the phrase ‘going equipped’ has various meanings, he explains what some of those are. He quotes 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which explains how the Word of...

Send us Fan Mail Being able to tell the time is a benchmark in our family. As each of our children has learned to tell the time, on an analogue clock, they get their first wrist watch - and a special trip with Dad to go pick out their very first wristwatch. Knowing what time it is, at any point in the day, can be incredibly useful - so we’re not late for work (I’ve been there), or collecting the c...

Send us Fan Mail "Broken beyond repair." "Needs some TLC." "Don’t know what’s wrong, but it’s yours if you want it." Looking through Facebook Marketplace at “FREE STUFF” and you can be surprised by what people give away for free. Now, admittedly, some of that free stuff is not. There are people who list as free, but have no intention of giving it away for free – they’...

Send us Fan Mail Crutches can be a hindrance to getting on with life, easily. However, if you’ve broken your leg, it is a necessity to enable you to walk, while your leg heals. Christians can be negatively accused of using our relationship with Jesus, or our choice to become a Christian, as some sort of ultra-negative thing. As a Christian, I’m happy to state that I lean on Jesus more than I’ve ev...

Send us Fan Mail It’s so encouraging when we can advise someone, or help them, and see a burden lifted from their shoulders. It could be as simple as lending someone a phone, or giving them a life. Perhaps we take them a meal or two when they’re ill, or even just moving house, so they don’t have to think about preparing a meal for themselves. It can be so very simple, easy and straightforward to h...

Send us Fan Mail We love accomplishing things. Perhaps, like me, you use a digital To Do List. It is immensely satisfying clicking that little tick box, and having the satisfaction of having accomplished something else. It can be addictive. We can end up working so hard in order to have achieved something, that we miss out on the actual achieving! We’re really good at being busy. The church excels...