The first 21 years are the hardest

There’s no doubt about it: this 21st birthday Briefing has put me in a nostalgic frame of mind. I’m finding myself daydreaming about the late 80s when New Zealand wore beige and brown body shirts in one day cricket, when U2 was a young, emerging supergroup, and when the book to give away to a non-Christian friend was John Chapman’s bestselling A Fresh Start.   Some things have changed: the Kiwis now wear a more tasteful black synthetic outfit and U2 are now the Eminent Persons of rock. But A Fresh Start is still being given away in large numbers to non-Christian friends (and it’s now published, I’m proud to say, by Matthias Media). And Chappo, as he is almost universally known, is still turning out supremely useful books to use in Christian ministry. In 2005, for example, Chappo produced the first in our Guidebooks for Life series: A Sinner’s Guide to Holiness, along with a companion DVD-based Bible study course called From Sinner to Saint. Both of these resources focused on the much-neglected biblical theme of holiness—how it is both a gift and a challenge. But what made these resources so useful and so unique was the compelling way Chappo combined his biblical knowledge with the insight gained from long years of personal experience as a Christian. As his famous one-liner says (which he applies to preaching, the Christian life, mastering golf and just about everything else), “the first 50 years are the hardest”. Then in 2007, Chappo wrote again, combining the Bible’s teaching on death and salvation with his own experience of ageing and the imminent prospect of eternity. Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life was a runaway success because it was a rare beast indeed—an engaging, well-written evangelistic book penned for seniors by a senior that honestly and helpfully dealt with the big issues of life, death, God and eternity. Another two years on, he’s done it again with another Guidebook for Life called A Foot in Two Worlds. And once again, it’s pure biblical gold, set off with insightful gems from a lifetime of Christian experience. It’s about the basic tension at the heart of Christian living. Chappo puts it like this:

Christian people have a foot in two worlds. They are children of this world with all its highs and lows, its temptations and failures, its good times and bad. And they have become children of the age to come, with all its glories and blessings. (p. 39)

We are saved, and yet we await salvation. We are forgiven and washed clean, and yet temptation and sin continue. The Christian life is a matter of living with this tension—neither seeking to wish it away or resolve it in this life, nor despairing because the tension continues, nor relieving the tension by giving in to worldliness, but joyfully and positively working out our salvation with a foot in two worlds. As he looks back over what is now more than 60 years of Christian discipleship, Chappo says that, again and again, he has been presented with various false ways to relieve the tension—for example, by being promised that sin can be completely defeated in this life if only we have enough faith and yield ourselves totally to the Holy Spirit. It’s all classic Chappo—simple, clear, warm and personable, and yet also with the sharp, challenging edge of the word of God. Every Christian disciple should have this under their belt (in my humble opinion as the book’s editor!). In addition, with the included discussion guide, you can use A Foot in Two Worlds as the basis for a one-to-one meeting or a small group discussion. All in all, we can be very thankful that, after 21 years, beige body shirts are no longer with us, but the irreplaceable Chappo still is!