Rebecca Duffett spoke with Anthony Delaney

Anthony Delaney

Today men are under pressure in many different areas of their lives and the heat is on. Will they crumble under pressure or come up shining? In Diamond Geezers, Anthony Delaney provides inspiration and direction on the six key areas that challenge all men; family; finance; fitness; father; failure and friends. Rebecca Duffett spoke with him to find out more.

Rebecca: What is a diamond geezer?

Anthony: The book is written principally for men although I know an awful lot of women who are also reading it. The idea is that in our society a lot of the standards of masculinity are people without much in terms of integrity.

The main picture behind the book is we know what we're made of; we're made of carbon effectively and from carbon you can get coal. Lots of men, coalmen, look tough on the outside but are full of holes and if you put them under pressure; put them under heat; they're going to crumble and burn up. However diamonds are formed by heat and pressure and as a result of that they shine.

In the book I've got these six facets of a diamond and I talk about the fact that if a man was to be pushed on these different areas, would they crumble and would they burn up, or would they shine in those different areas?

Rebecca: How did you come to decide on those six 'f' words?

Anthony: I don't really know, I can only say I suppose the Holy Spirit helped me to come up with them.

Very often if you try and talk to men and get to their heart, we're very good at putting up defences and fronts. At a football match a lot of men would chat about work and 'how's things going'. To get beyond that level to something deeper is often quite difficult. The way in which I've set up the book, it starts out by looking at fitness, which is a non-threatening thing for lots of men. Then it looks at finances, going to a slightly deeper level; then failures talking about the ups and downs and family and friendships. Then we go to quite a deep subject, which is about relationships with your father. I believe that is the most important relationship in terms of people being able to imagine God.

Rather than have another f for faith, I thought we can't just do that, it's got to be about Jesus and having him at the centre of our lives, so that Christianity isn't a self-help programme or a way for me to improve myself. It's a recognition that in all of these areas I need to let the light of Jesus form and shape me from the inside out.

Rebecca: What made you want to write the chapter on fitness? I've read a lot of Christian books and found that fitness isn't something many people in the church talk about.

Anthony: I've had so many good responses back from that, from various people who have bought it and been surprised and challenged to look after their body and then from that to be able to look at spirituality more and their own spirituality.

The Bible does say that physical fitness is of some value and then goes on to talk about the importance of spiritual things after that. It says our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Well if the temple is in bits and falling down and broken, that needs looking at, that needs fixing.

I think there's a very Greek view in the church sometimes where it talks about the body as being somehow something that God isn't interested in and we're just focusing on the spiritual; but the Hebrew way of thinking would be that it's all spiritual and that God made Adam and then he breathed his life into his being. Our bodies matter to God. We're going to be resurrected in the body. We've been given this body to steward for whatever amount of time we get on the earth and we should look after it and celebrate it. It's been a gift from God.

I'm also somebody who enjoys physical fitness myself and always have done. I give some practical ways that we can look after our body including regular exercise and some patterns that I use to keep fit, because a healthy body helps a healthy mind and a healthy spirit; it's all tied up. We don't all have to be running to the Olympics, but whether you're physically able or you've got some problems, there's something everybody can do to help improve their physical wellbeing. I encourage people towards positive choices in the book.