Andy Kind
11 min read ⭑
“Feeling close to God doesn’t need some mystical pilgrimage—you simply need to operate in that area where you’ve been most gifted.”
QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT
There’s much more to food than palate and preference. How does a go-to meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind the web bio?
I live in a small town called Newcastle-under-Lyme, not far from where Tolkien got a lot of his scenic ideas for The Lord of the Rings. But my favorite-ever meal came toward the end of my walking of the Pennine Way (sort of the British equivalent of the Appalachian Trail).
The Greenhead Hotel near Hadrian’s Wall looks so innocuous. They don’t welcome you in with a knowing smile or a prophetic wink. The section of the menu that reads “Hand-Cut Chips with Truffle Oil and Parmesan” isn’t underlined and circled with aggressive asterisks and arrows pointing to it. The staff don’t swoon with disbelief or vomit with rage if you order something else from the board, nor does a spectral crusader materialize to inform you with chilling certainty that “you chose poorly.” When I said, “May I try the truffle oil and parmesan chips,” no klaxon sounded and no balloons fell from the ceiling. Without pomp or ceremony, the young lad just said, “Of course, of course.”
I’ve never seen restraint like it.
When the food arrived, I sensed nothing. Monks didn’t accompany the tray carrying wistful candles. Not a single word was spoken in Latin. I was halfway through telling my friend how I never order soup because drinking a chicken is not something I’ve ever felt the need to accomplish when the taste that launched a thousand ships washed over me unbidden. It was Woodstock for the tastebuds, Concorde for the tongue. My mouth was on a once-in-a-lifetime safari and had just seen a pride of lions in a pitched battle against some unicorns.
“Chips with Truffle Oil and Parmesan.” So simple, so modest. Yet this taste was an ancient magic buried with Tutankhamun, cached with the Dead Sea scrolls—drums in the deep.
The Epicureans sought ataraxia, the Buddhists seek Nirvana, and the Apostle Paul resolved to know nothing except Christ crucified.
I agree with Paul, but he never tried these chips.
Gabe Fender; Unsplash
QUESTION #2: REVEAL
We’ve all got quirky proclivities and out-of-the-way interests. So what are yours? What so-called “nonspiritual” activities do you love and help you find spiritual renewal?
Well, as mentioned above (if you were paying attention), I love walking in the hills. The great thing about doing that in the U.K. is that there are no snakes and no cougars, so the chances of dying are minimal, which is all any of us want from a hobby, isn’t it?
Walking gives you two things that are integral to a healthy mind and soul: purpose and progress. You’re going from one place to another, and you can chart your progress by the step. I also love how the countryside is largely as it has always been. It’s the closest thing outside of a Hallmark film to going back in time. Nature doesn’t judge you. It is beautiful and ambivalent. It also gives us that sense, as you glimpse through a row of ancient trees or imagine the horizon over the next brow, that there’s something more, something yet to come. And that’s a comforting thought.
I also love reading short stories. During the pandemic, reading short fiction did two things. It gave me the sense of achieving and finishing something. It also gave me access to other worlds, where I was safe and free from pain, where the only walls confining me were those of my imagination. Maybe that’s a bit mawkish, but I love how fiction allows us to tell lies that tell the truth.
QUESTION #3: CONFESS
Every superhero has a weakness. Every human, too. We’re just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re broken and in this thing together. So what’s your kryptonite and how do you hide it?
I’m a master of self-soothing. Russell Brand said something like, “Drugs aren’t the problem; reality is my problem.” I don’t do narcotics, but I’m certainly not free from addictive behavior.
I think we’re all looking for that overriding positive passion that sends the shadows fleeing, but life is just a bit of a trudge at times, isn’t it? There are a lot of hours in the day and adrenaline can only ever spread thinly across them. So I’ve been a gamer, a drinker, a pipe-smoker, and a binge-eater. I’ve never been addicted to any of them, I don’t think, but I’m certainly addicted to not being bored. I experience boredom as a sort of physical pain, and avoidance of pain is something I’m hardwired for. Patience is a virtue and a fruit of the Spirit, but life isn’t simply a series of inspirational quotes that we hang over ourselves like bunting.
So I’m not sure I hide my struggles, but I don’t enthrone them either. Feelings are great servants but terrible masters. We live in a culture that mistakes emotional authenticity for directional truth (“I feel it. Therefore, I’m bound by it”). We are not the helpless victims of our feelings. For each emotion that turns up at the prom, there’s an act of the will (a choice) to dance with it. The question is always: Who gets to lead?
QUESTION #4: FIRE UP
Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your obsession? And why should it be ours?
I’m a professional comedian by trade and have been for 18 years. Next year, for the first time, I’m hoping to come and gig in the U.S. You should come along.
This year, I released my first-ever comedy special, which is available on my YouTube channel (@andykindcomedy). I did everything—booked the venue, hired the film crew, promoted the event, and wrote and performed the show. I’m not normally nervous for gigs, but I knew everything had to go well and that I couldn’t just have another shot if it went wrong or if the crowd were ambivalent.
Fortunately, the finished product is something I’m really proud of. It took me 18 years to produce because that’s how long it has taken for me not to worry about people’s opinions on what I do. I’m pretty much saying, “This is the sum total of all my comedic endeavors—judge me on it.” But I love this career and I do it with premeditated intent and purpose. All opinions are equally available, but not all are equally informed or worth listening to.
Aside from that, this last year has seen me pouring a lot of time into writing a book of short stories titled Blanket of Embers. What I’ve loved about those tales is that the author and narrator don’t have to agree. It’s allowed me to wade around in different mindsets and write from perspectives that the real Andy Kind just doesn’t have. Too much Christian fiction commits the Deus Ex Machina mistake of having God bring about a happy ending somehow. But it’s so difficult to make God a character in a fictional story because, as a morally perfect being, he cannot change or experience inner drama. God can only work in stories either by his absence or by being turned into a lion or a wizard and so on.
I think, in general, Christians don’t usually produce “good art” in its various forms because art is about asking questions and leaving them unanswered—questions about what is and not simply what ought to be. Art cannot prescribe; it can only describe. It has to have an authenticity that matches the intensity of people’s lived experiences. Art can only whisper Jesus; it cannot shout his name.
QUESTION #5: BOOST
Cashiers, CEOs, contractors, or customer service reps, we all need grace flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it’s God when it happens?
I’m at my happiest when I’m sitting in my garden and writing. It’s when I feel most alive, most content, and least scared of death. There’s something about doing that thing you were born to do that relaxes your fears that your life will never amount to anything. When I finish a book or see a story published, I sometimes think, I could die now and that would be okay because I’ve done what I came here to do. It goes back to purpose and progress, but in Celtic spirituality, there’s an idea of “thin places”—those places, usually geographical, where heaven seems to stoop low and kiss humanity’s brow. Feeling close to God doesn’t need some mystical pilgrimage—you simply need to operate in that area where you’ve been most gifted.
I’ve had some moments of pure Holy Spirit downloads, I’m sure, but largely, I think that all creativity and inspiration is God-breathed. We’re creative because we were created in the image of the Creator. The fact that our minds can imagine and conceptualize at all is, I think, a whisper of Jesus. All ideas are doors in the walls of the physical world, pointing to something outside and beyond it. Memories are what was; creative thoughts are what could be; prophecy is what is yet to come. None of that is material.
When we create, we’re giving birth to something that didn’t exist a few seconds ago—calling what was not as though it were. I think we’re firmly in God-inspired territory there.
QUESTION #6: inspire
Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied actions that open our hearts to the presence of God. So spill it, which spiritual practice is workin’ best for you right now?
Reading the Bible is probably where I’m most restoring my soul at the moment. In the beginning was the Word. Language and story were hardwired into the cosmos from day one, so reading Scripture is a way of engaging with timeless truth in a timebound wrapper.
Life seems so bizarre these days. With everyone climbing over one another to stay on the right side of history, nobody knows what we’re supposed to believe or affirm this week or who we need to cancel. There’s something awfully reassuring about sitting in the presence of something (or rather, someone) so unchanging.
My routine is to get up early, no matter what time I’ve gone to bed (I’ll always take an afternoon nap), brew a proper coffee, and sit in my rocking leather armchair, splashing about in Scriptures. I try to then move into talking and listening to God, but I can’t do that until I’ve read. Interestingly, it’s the same with my writing. Until I’ve read something, I can’t write. They say that if you win the first hour of the day, you win the day. So I have to do all that early. If I get to 11 a.m. without forming the day properly, chances are, I won’t do very much at all for the remaining 12 hours. It’s almost as though I accept defeat and then self-sabotage like a classic freelancer.
I’m not a worshipper in a musical sense, nor can I lie on the floor chattering with adoration. Fasting means not eating, so no thanks. I worship by doing what I’ve been called to do and trying to do it excellently, but I need my mind protected and girded and guided by God’s Word—or else I’m no good to anyone.
QUESTION #7: FOCUS
Our email subscribers get free ebooks featuring our favorite resources—lots of things that have truly impacted our faith lives. But you know about some really great stuff, too. What are three resources that have impacted you?
Well, obviously all six of the books I’ve written have been game-changers, but that would be cheating. So here’s my official answer:
1) The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
I just think it’s such a piece of art, and it wonderfully captures how we become our choices. Whatever one thinks about the nature of hell, the idea that it’s something we have a choice over is really helpful in framing God’s love for us. He cannot ravish; He can only woo.
2) The Reasonable Faith podcast with Dr. William Lane Craig
As a new Christian who had experiences with God, I was so encouraged to find someone unpacking the good reasons for having a Christian faith—that faith wasn’t simply blind but rather involved putting trust in God based on the evidence. I think it’s so important to have both your heart and mind stimulated and grounded. You can’t live off transient spiritual experiences forever. You need to know how to reason things through and out. Obviously, two people trying to follow the truth wherever it leads may come to different conclusions, but the pursuit of reason is, in itself, a terribly noble endeavor.
3) The book of Philemon
It’s one of the shortest books of the Bible, which makes it easy to finish in one sitting. But it’s such an encouraging message. Paul says Onesimus used to be a waste of space, but things change and the story’s not over. There are so many redemptive arcs throughout Scripture, and I just think it’s amazing and reassuring to know that we’re never written off, downgraded, or disqualified.
We all have things we cling to to survive (or thrive) in tough times. Name one resource you’ve found indispensable in this current season—and tell us what it’s done for you.
I think The Big Conversation podcasts from Premier Unbelievable are fantastic. They get Christians and non-Christians talking about the big issues. Again, it’s really good to see Christians using reasoned arguments to show why Christianity makes sense intellectually and emotionally—that we didn’t just win a worldview in a raffle and are stuck with it.
QUESTION #8: dream
God is continually stirring new things in each of us. So, give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?
I’m writing a book called The Wayfarer about walking the Pennine Way, which I did over the course of two weeks a couple of years ago. The reason it’s taken so long to finish is that I don’t want to stop writing it. I love being in that world, retreading those steps. I also think it might become the best thing I ever write, so I’m reluctant to let go of it until I’m convinced!
In addition to that, alongside the physical journey, the book tells the story of my own journey through grief over the breakdown of my family, which makes the whole thing incredibly personal. To write something like this will inevitably leave a legacy of some kind, so it’s terrifying to think that at some point I’ll have to say, “Here you go, world. This is my story.”
Next year, I’ll also be writing and recording a new comedy special, but that’s still germinating. At the age of 42, I do think a lot about legacy. What will I leave behind? What sort of body of work do I want to store in the archives of history? It means I’m slower to create and release stuff, but it also means that by the time I do unleash something, I’m pretty reconciled to it.
Andy poses a valuable question toward the end of his interview: What will I leave behind?
In other words, what will my legacy be? What impact will my life and work make on this broken world of ours?
The apostle Paul answered these questions when he said, “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God” (Acts 20:24, NLT).
Your turn—how would you answer, friend? Consider taking some time alone this week to journal your thoughts on what legacy you’d like to leave behind one day.
Andy Kind is an Englishman—and arguably Britain’s best Christian stand-up comedian, having performed all over the world for the last 18 years. He’s the author of six books, most recently Curious Tales of Redemption. His new live comedy special is available to watch for free on his YouTube channel: @AndyKindComedy. He enjoys strong coffee and hard walks as well as short stories and long naps.