SPIN LIKE THE WIND-the blog of Nigel James.

RETURN TO REVELATION.

After a longer than originally planned break at home over Easter I'm back on the REVELATION tour with Third Day. For three weekends we are playing concerts on the West coast of America-starting this weekend in California. Having re-charged my batteries, so to speak, at home, and eventually having lost the soreness in my backside from too many long-haul flights, a 9 hour trip from Heathrow to Atlanta followed by a 6 hour trip from Atlanta to San Francisco the next day- plus the 8 hour time difference between the UK and California-means I'm already tired and sore again! But that's a small cost to pay for being in the place God wants me to be. Last night for instance, signing copies of my book around a crowded World Vision stand, I momentarily reflected on the thrill of being part of this ministry; not because I was signing autographs, or because it was my book, but because each book represented a child that was being sponsored ( each person sponsoring a child by credit or debit card got a copy of the book) as a result of me speaking from stage for a few minutes. Today the band and I had one of our regular off-site lunches where we take the opportunity to share vision for the future, seek God's direction and pray together. This life is physically and spiritually demanding, but immensely rewarding and exciting too.

CARDIFF BLUES WIN EDF CUP

After many years of supporting Cardiff rugby, Bethan and I finally saw them win a trophy. Totally outclassing Gloucester we ran away with the Anglo-Welsh cup at Twickenham by a massive 50-12. Here's a photo of Bethan with Blues full-back Ben Blair-scorer of 2 tries, 6 conversions and a penalty. We're on one of 50 coaches traveling back to Cardiff. Well done the Blues!

EASTER.

Glad to be home for a while over Easter to spend some time with my family, and at church, before heading back out to the Third Day REVELATION tour. We had two services at church on Good Friday, and then on Saturday Gill and I headed down to West Wales for the funeral of Lewis Eynon, my mother's cousin. Lewis was the father of the family farm in Llanboidy, his funeral was a real tribute to him-with 18 family cars in the funeral convoy,350 people in church, and nearly as many local men outside to pay their respects. Both as a child and as an adult I've had many trips to 'Bryn Awel' and since Gill and I have had our caravan on the Gower peninsular we've made a habit of popping in to see Lewis, his wife Doreen and whichever of their children and grandchildren might be around. Their son Celt, soon to be married, now takes over the farm. Here's a picture of Lewis and Doreen with my mum and dad and myself, from a few years ago:

Gill and I rushed back to Cardiff so that Bethan and I could go to the Millennium Stadium and watch Cardiff Blues beat Toulouse in the quarter-finals of the Heineken European Rugby Cup, and then Gill and I went to a birthday party at church. All very hectic, then 3 services at church on Easter Sunday plus a family lunch with my parents and Rachel, Chris and Hannah.  

At City Temple over the Easter Weekend we were joined by Richard Taylor, Director of Victory Outreach UK. It's difficult to do justice to Richard in a sentence or two- brilliant communicator, scholarly theologian, comedian, ex-offender, ex-addict, TV and media personality, but above all a man who is utterly committed to following Jesus. Two awesome sermons and a compelling testimony over the weekend.