SPIN LIKE THE WIND-the blog of Nigel James.

THE OLD SELF

Here are some thoughts on Josh’s tough question:
Why is it that when the Word talks about putting off our old selves and being made new in Him are we so easily swayed back to that old sinful flesh?
This is a great question and one that every mature Christian should be aware of. It’s definitely one that has troubled me over the years. I can appear to be living a holy and victorious life as a follower of Jesus one day, and be a complete disaster the next.
It is clear from the Bible that Christians exchange an old life for a new life:
2Cor. 5:17 What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!
We might often hope this means that God destroys any longing in us to be rebellious or to fall foul of temptation, but in reality though, the remnants of our old life hang around and often persuade us to flirt with our old way of living. Paul, in his writings, talks about ‘sinful nature’, ‘natural selves’, ‘sinful passions’, ‘old self’, and other such phrases all to mean the part of our humanity that is selfish and not subject to the Lordship of Christ. This whole dilemma is why we say the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. We are new spiritual beings but sin still attacks our ‘flesh’ lives.
Read these words of Paul from Romans chapter 7:
I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. But I can’t help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things. I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can’t make myself do right. I want to, but I can’t. When I want to do good, I don’t. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. But if I am doing what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing it; the sin within me is doing it. It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.
Essentially he reminds us that we each have the mighty force of sin lying dormant in our lives, ready to strike. Now Jesus has completely defeated the power of sin, the war has been won, but there are still some battles to fight. Remember that in the Second World War, victory was secure for the Allies once they had invaded Europe on D-Day 6th June 1944, but the war dragged on until July of 1945. Similarly, Jesus victory over sin was secure once he died sacrificially on the cross and rose again. Yet sin will not finally release it’s grip on humanity until Christ comes again and reigns victorious.
Each of us won’t personally experience the ultimate victory over sin and over our old self until Jesus returns or we die and go to heaven, whichever comes first.
However, there are practical steps we can take to live more as a ‘new creation’ than as our ‘old self’. This story is a good way to finish:
An old Cherokee Indian was teaching his grandson about life.
"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. "It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too."
The grandson thought about it for a long minute, and then asked, "Which wolf will win?"
The old Cherokee replied simply, "The one you feed."

DEAD MAN'S CHEST

Gill and I have just buckled our swashes, battened down the hatches, guzzled a grog of rum and gone to see the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film. Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow is delightfully over the top but I didn't think the film was quite as good as the first one and here's my review:
1. Davy Jones has let his looks slip since he was in The Monkees.
2. Seeing his crew reminded me why I don't eat fish.
3. If I'd been alive in pirate times I'd have trained as a dentist and made a fortune in gold dubloons.

TOUGH QUESTION!

One of the delights in travelling with the band Third Day is the wide variety of Christians that I meet with and become friends with. There are a bunch of people from all over the USA who I keep in regular email contact with and one of them is a guy called Josh Baker.

Josh is a professional baseball player with the Milwaukee Brewers franchise, although he's been playing for their 'farm team' the West Virginia Power. He's a pitcher, the glamorous position in the team, except that for most of this season he's had a shoulder injury and has been undergoing an operation and then rehab in Arizona. I met Josh earlier this year when he came to a Third Day concert and we've kept in touch ever since, he's been avidly reading my books too- what a guy! Anyway, Josh asked me if I would answer some tough questions that he'd pitch at me every so often. I'm going to do that, and post my replies on this blog. Here's his first question- I'll answer it in a few days time:
Why is it that when the Word talks about putting off our old selves and being made new in Him are we so easily swayed back to that old sinful flesh?
Many greater theologians and Christian leaders than me have struggled with that question, but I'll attempt to answer Biblically, personally and concisely. That'll be a challenge!

DAYS OUT

Just had two great days out of the office, which is always nice. Yesterday was the Ignite Golf Day, attended by 16 people at Cottrell Park Golf Course on the outskirts of Cardiff. Scorchingly hot weather made the golf itself a feat of endurance, but we all enjoyed ourselves and finished the day with a good meal and brief after dinner talks by myself and Rob Parsons. Rob's son Lloyd won the golf competition, but I did get the 'nearest the pin' prize- which in reality was the 'only one who landed on the green' prize.

Today Gary and I headed up to the Royal Welsh Show in Builth Wells. We'll be back on the site in 2 weeks times for Flames of Fire which has about 600 attend, but today there was well over 50,000 people on the showground. Another blisteringly hot day made walking around the site energy sapping, but we enjoyed ourselves. Val, Michelle, and Becky from the Ignite staff joined us and were greatly amused by our jokes and vast repertoire of stories (or at least they pretended to be).
The Royal Welsh show displays some of the best things about Wales, with a few of the wilder excesses of youth thrown in, and it's always good to visit the churches marquee which carries out presence evangelism amongst traders and visitors alike. They've used over 200 litres of orange squash ( which is then diluted) to provide free cold drinks all day long. "You've been our lifesavers" said one nearby trader thanking them for the regular supply of squash.

LIFE LESSONS FROM 1 SAMUEL

Having just spent a weekend with my wife Gill down in our caravan on the Gower peninsular in South West Wales, I was reminded that the caravan is my favourite writing spot and that my latest book has now been published. I love going to the caravan in Llanrhidian, and find it's a place I can write easily and peacefully.

The new book, which is the fourth in the Ignite series, is called "Seven Ways to Ignite your Life- Life Lessons from1 Samuel. It's the first time I've concentrated purely on teaching from one book of the Bible, and I've used incidents from the lives of Samuel and David to draw out some practical guidelines for everyday living. Saul and Jonathan get a mention too, and my friend Andy Booth from Heartland Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, has contributed some special features.

The book started life as a series of devotions on our Ignite UK tour back in 2001 and I've also used the themes on the road with Third Day and as leadership lessons for the young leaders at the Flames of Fire conference in Mid-Wales one year, as well as teaching some of the chapters in various places around Cardiff. Often, by the time I've written a book I've lost some interest in it, or I've moved onto a new book, but I'm still excited about this one. Despite being immersed in writing a book about travelling as Third Day's road pastor (I promise I'll tell you more about this project soon) I think I'll be using some of the teaching from 'Seven Ways to Ignite your Life' for a good while. Hope you get to read it- if you do then give me some feedback.

The TRUTH IS OUT THERE-OR IS IT?

It's a terrible admission to make but sometimes I really believe that Christians aren't always as honest as we'd like to think. Listening to two of my favourite comedians recently- Frank Skinner and David Baddiel- I was struck by how painfully honest they were in their observations about life and especially about their own lives. Now many observers might disapprove of their explicit dialogues about sex, for example, but what I admire in a perverse way is the fact that are completely open about personal issues. For the most part, what they say reflects what they are really like underneath. Interestingly enough, Baddiel is Jewish and Skinner is a devout Catholic (hearing his 'confessions' would be fascinating) but you won't often hear evangelical Christians bear their souls as indiscriminately as the Fantasy Football duo. That's my point really, in that mostly we don't talk about what's really going on or what we're really thinking about but WE SAY WHAT WE THINK WE SHOULD SAY AND WHAT WE THINK PEOPLE WILL WANT TO HEAR IN ORDER TO CREATE A GOOD IMPRESSION.

Today I've heard the truth from different perspectives. Ignite have had a mission team in Portugal for the last 10 days and today I've had two debriefs. The formal one with Becky the team leader- who incidently did a fantastic job in organising the whole trip and leading the team- which focused on all the right areas that a formal debrief should; and then the informal debrief with team members Elen and Veeves at an evening meal tonight. Becky was honest and personal in her appraisal of the mission but it was the informal debrief where the stories came out about 'beautiful Portuguese guys', team gossip, blossoming relationships, and all the stuff you don't hear in an official report. Now I want to say again that this is in no way a reflection on the excellent leadership of Becky because she responded openly to the questions I asked, but it is a reminder to me that sometimes all of us have our own 'official' version of life alongside the real 'no holds barred' version. Public image and private reality are often quite distant. Perhaps it's a vulnerability issue as much as an honesty issue. I guess what I actually admire about Baddiel and Skinner is their willingness to be vulnerable, and the potential for humour that brings. As for the two Ignite Expedition to Portugal debriefs, both were informative, both enjoyable, both equally valid, and between them painted the real and honest picture. Both of them also reminded me that the hand of the Lord is very definitely on Becky Williams and she's going to be leading plenty of overseas mission teams in the future.

ALL THE RAGE

Last weekend our son, James Potts, came back home for the weekend. He's been working in Reading, where he graduated from university last summer, but he's also been heavily involved in the electronic games world. Originally playing online competitions and then travelling around the world to compete, James has more recently immersed himself in team management.

He's co-owner of All The Rage- a professional e-sports team and has just returned from his second trip to Dallas,Texas for a massive competition. He's so impressed with the USA and so excited about the possibilities of his team, that he may well move to Dallas in the near future. The world of e-games is huge and getting bigger, with All The Rage being a hot new team. Their web site is listed below for any games freaks out there to check out!

BACK IN ACTION

After a few years of social golf, yesterday I temporarily returned to the cricket field when City Temple entered a team in the annual Cardiff churches 7 a side cricket tournament. Unexpectedly we qualified for the semi-finals from our group and went on to lose in the final to Glenwood church. It was good fun and reasonably competitive, and although I was the oldest guy in our team one other team was made up completely of older players than me. I still had 'the old magic' with the ball, wasn't dismissed when batting, but all that running in the field takes it's toll- today I'm as stiff as a board! Thanks to team mates Ed, Richard L., Bryon, Mike, Craig, Gareth and Richard C. for a thoroughly enjoyable day. Let's win it next year!

COMING TO EMMANUEL...GOING FROM KINGHAM HILL

Yesterday Gary and I flew from Cardiff up to Newcastle in the North-East of England so that we could visit Emmanuel College in Gateshead. The country's fourth City Technology College was built in 1989-1990 in Gateshead under the main Sponsor, Sir Peter Vardy who also supplies Gary and I with leased cars. Emmanuel now enjoys a national reputation as one of England's best comprehensive schools as well as one which proudly bases its ethos upon the Christian Faith and Biblical Principles.

I was asked by Jon James, who is the head of the 6th form at Emmanuel, to deliver a presentation to 70 or so 16-17 year old students. "Is Bruce Really Almighty?" is a presentation I've used once or twice with the same age group in Cardiff schools and Jon James hoped that covering 'film and faith' would show a contemporary Christian worldview. Surprisingly, given that Emmanuel is a technology college, their lecture theatre didn't have facility to cue DVD's by chapter, so what is normally a slick presentation became quite a challenge. Between me speaking and guessing whether we were in the right bit of the film, Jon in the technician's booth at the back, and Gary in the front row with a remote device, we managed to get through without too much embarrassment. Nothing focuses the mind quite like standing in front of a crowd of people and being reliant on technology, knowing that the said technology might go wrong!
After a lunch with some members of the Christian Union, a whistlestop tour of the school, and tea and biscuits with David Vardy who is Sir Peter's broher and a member of Ignite's council of reference, we flew back to Cardiff.
Emmanuel College has unjustly received much criticism from press and teacher around the UK because of its supposed 'Christian bias', but we were very impressed. It's educational standards, pupil discipline and caring ethos reflect very well on the vision behind the school and it's 2 sister establishments in Middlesborough and Doncaster.
Ignite has long had an excellent relationship with Kingham Hill School in the Cotswolds and I hope that our trip to Emmanuel is the beginning of an equally strong relationship. Talking of Kingham Hill School reminds me that their long serving chaplain, and great friend of Ignite and me personally, Steve Hayes is leaving the school at the end of this term.

He's a good man, an excellent teacher and a compassionate and diligent chaplain. His new school are very fortunate and Kingham Hill have lost a fine asset.

PK's AT THE ANDERSON'S

At the home of Tai Anderson, Third Day bass player, in Roswell, Georgia. Just finished watching the World Cup- with US commentary. Here's a USA style summary: Zidane scored a PK in the first half of regulation, Italy tied the game, the Italian defense held out the French offense, the game goes into overtime after regulation, Zidane gets thrown for a head butt, and the game goes through both overtimes into PK's. Italy wins 5 to 3 in PK's. Make any sense to our UK readers?
It's been good to catch up with the Third Day guys and talk over a book project we're putting together. Third Day had a show yesterday at a theme park in Virginia so we've had two nights on the bus, but got home early enough today to go to church this morning. Then we went to a party celebrating a 4 year old's achievement at finally getting potty trained (only in America!) before coming back to the house to watch soccer and to see Zidane end his international career ingloriously.

Tai and his wife Shannon have 5 young children and I stand in awe of their organisation, edurance, patience and commitment to family life.