Roger Bothwell

We just received word that one of my old golfing friends was injured today while getting ready to move. I don’t know any of the details so I’m just going to speak generally about old guys not knowing their limitations.  Little by little the clock slowly saps our vitality and we are not as strong or as balanced (physically) as we used to be.  It is difficult to accept so we climb ladders when we should be on the ground paying someone to climb ladders for us.  We carry boxes down stairs when we should just hurl them down instead of hurling ourselves down.  We want to take off our shirts in front of the mirror and show off our guns but reality is too embarrassing.  We wear long sleeved shirts to cover the sagging wrinkled skin hanging below our elbows.

Knowing one’s limitations is very important to survival.   When I speak of survival I am not limiting it to these 80 or so years.   We all need to think about eternal survival and accept the fact that we just can’t do it ourselves.   Neither do we have the physical ability or the moral ability to convince God that we are good enough. It might be a bit hard on our sense of self-worth but once accepted we can then get on with the serious business of being saved.   And just how do we get on with it?   We acknowledge that we are sinners, we repent, we accept the Gift offered to us by God and then get happy because it is a done deal.

Always remember Ephesians 2:8 states, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 4, 2014

Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

According to Harper’s Magazine doctors in the U.S. operate on the wrong person or wrong organ 40 times a day.  Now I understand why the doctor that gave me a new knee came to me while I was still awake and asked me which leg.  He then put a big X on it with a black marker.  As bad as this fact is the truth is all of us are prone to error.  How many times have I said something to a student that I wish I could suck back in?  But once said it can last forever.  How well I remember specific things my teachers said to me while I rarely remember the things I say to my students.

We need to be just as careful when we speak as operating doctors need to be before cutting.  A misspoken word can do terrible things. “A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!   It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it.”   James 3 in The Message

God is the only being not prone to error or misspeaking.  He never desires to retract anything that He has said because He knows He will carry through.  With God a promise is a promise.  He has promised to be faithful to forgive anything that we confess.  How grand.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 3, 2014

Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

There I stood in my best suit in front of a man who had just eaten an egg salad sandwich.  What can one do when little pieces of egg and mayonnaise come flicking your way?   Every “P” and “B” came loaded.  I tried backing up a step but he merely closed the gap.   I could have said, “No thanks, I’ve already eaten.”   But I doubt if that was appropriate.  Recently I was accused of being nice.  That is only because I don’t say everything I think to say.  Inside I am not nice.

I’m sure you have noticed that the word “nice” is not in the Bible.  Jesus never told us to go forth and be nice.  However, the absence of something does not mean the opposite should be practiced.  The Bible never said Jesus rode a horse, only a donkey.  That doesn’t mean we should not ride horses.   So I am inclined to think being nice is a fine virtue.

When we are employed to service something or sell something our employer expects us to be nice to the customer.  Rude salespeople rarely make a sale.  I actually bought a car once only if the dealer promised me the saleswoman did not get anything from the sale.

Evangelism is sales.  We are promoting the best product ever.  Often the object of our promotion is people we live with.  That means being nice.  Who would want to be a Christian if the Christians weren’t examples of their product?  Gandhi once said he would have become a Christian if it were not for Christians.  Great point.

So I said nothing.  I merely brushed off my suit after the food-launcher departed to the other side of the room.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 2, 2014

Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

As the recycle truck rolled down the hill it hit my friend.  Her fanny pack was in that truck.  That wouldn’t be so bad except for what was in the fanny pack.  Her passport, her wallet, her credit cards, her driver’s license were on the brink of becoming a new whatever.  But she was not giving up so easily.  Jumping in the car she arrived at the back of the truck just in time to see the compactor do its job.  “Sorry, Maam,” said the driver.  “Once it’s in there I can’t get it out.”

But she was not giving up so easily.  She followed the truck to the recycle center and persuaded some big cheese to dump the truck contents apart from the main pile.  After a while of unsqueezing the squeezed there it was.  Redeemed.  Now the moral of the story almost writes itself.  Chasing after the valuable, rummaging through the discards, saving the lost; all the elements of the Gospel story are there.

However, that is not what struck me.  It was the squeezing.  The icons of her identity were being crushed into something else.  As she was telling me of her adventure I remembered a text paraphrased by J. B. Phillips.  Romans 12:2, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, . . .”   It’s a great message about letting God shape us and not allowing modern culture to determine who we are.  If we are not vigilant about what we become we really are squeezed into “mold.”  That’s a slimy fungal thought.

But a great thought is the rest of Romans 12:2, “. . . let God re-mold (reform) your minds from within, . . . and move towards the goal of true maturity.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 1, 2015

Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Upon the birth of his fifth child one of my students in Uganda assured me that was their last child because the doctor gave his wife pills.   About six months later he came to class quite glum.  He told me his wife was pregnant.  He told me he didn’t know why because she took all the pills.  He watched her take them.  All of them – at once!  Talk about a hormone overload – poor lady.

Now I have a choice.  I can talk to you about moderation and not taking too much at once.   Or I can talk to you about following directions.  My father-in-law was a great one for following directions.  Whenever he got something that needed assembling he always read the directions first before doing anything.  He was an accountant.  What would I expect?  He was always a bit frustrated with me because I never got out the instructions until I got stumped, which was most of the time.  Then I had to back up and take things apart and start over.

There are tornadoes, earthquakes and floods that bring great loss to us and are out of our control.  But, most of the bad things that happen to us are the result of bad decisions.  People are killed in cars because someone was drinking or texting.  People go to jail because they made some truly bad decisions regarding that bank down the street.  Most of the bad things that happen to people could have been avoided if they were to follow the instructions for life that God has given to us.

Paul wrote to us about the Scriptures being profitable for instruction.  They really are.  So often we can’t back up and reassemble.  But we can be forgiven.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 30, 2014

Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

One evening, many years ago on a Wednesday night after prayer meeting, I was leaving to drive all night from Des Moines to central Wisconsin.  As I was locking up the church one of my friends said, “Let’s pray for your safety.”   And so he did. (Thanks, Dennis)

About four in the morning I was moving through southern Minnesota on a beautiful straight stretch of highway.  I had not seen another car for miles.  As I looked ahead all I saw was a straight highway with the typical overpasses.  So I thought, “Why don’t I straddle the dotted line between lanes and take a nap.  When I get to that overpass ahead I can recenter on the lines if the car has drifted.”  So I reached down to put my seat back for a bit more comfort.  When suddenly the fasten seat belt light came on with a persistent blinking.  Reaching up I banged on the dashboard and said to the light, “You are keeping me awake.”   It was then that my brain woke up enough to listen to me speaking truth.  I pulled over and went for a walk.  (Thanks, Dennis)

The seat belt light never again malfunctioned. Prayer is a powerful thing.  It is connecting to the source of all power, wisdom and presence.  Prayer is talking to our Father about what we need, not because He does not know, but because it clarifies it for us.  Ever since I read Jesus’ words about our heavenly Father knowing how to give good gifts to His children, I have never since asked God for something more than once.  When my sons ask me for something they only need ask once.  Begging would be insulting.  At least that is how I understand the process.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 29, 2015

Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

They are called Loyalty Cards.  Supermarkets and pharmacies entice us to use them so we can get discounts.   What they don’t tell us is often our purchase records are sold to life insurance and health insurance companies that analyze our purchases.  It is amazing what computers can do with a list of our consumables.  The information might actually end up costing us higher insurance premiums if we are deemed to have an unhealthy life style thus negating any discount we got from our initial purchases.

God also gathers information about us.  The difference is He never uses the information against us.  Someone might say His records are used to justify our being lost.  Not so.  We are all worthy of being lost.  He doesn’t need any data to support our demise.  What He is doing is gathering data to support our being saved.  Just in case someone somewhere might object to our receiving eternal life all He has to do is produce the record of our accepting His gift.  It’s His gift, thus He has the right to give to whomever He chooses.  He chooses to give it to everyone but we must accept it and that is where the records come into their importance.

Good parents don’t garner in and keep records of their children’s failures and send them out in the Christmas newsletter.  No, they list all the good things their children have done.  God is a good parent.  So what’s the difference between God and Walgreen?  Walgreen loves our money. God loves us.  The difference is huge.

Never forget “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”   He loves collecting good data.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 29, 2014

Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Yesterday I made a motel reservation.  It was not easy.  It was difficult for me to understand the person who answered the phone and I think he had a difficult time understanding me.  When he read back what he had confirmed for us, it was for five nights and several hundred dollars at Williamsburg, VA.    What I had asked for was one night at Williamsport, PA. After much spelling of words we finally got it right.  Communication can be most difficult.  I wonder how many wars have started merely because two sides were not able to clearly talk to each other.

My communication attempts were out of this country.  So how amazing is it that we can clearly communicate with no translation problems when we send a message out of this world?  Or are our prayers out of this world?   If Paul is correct when he speaks about our being temples for God, and I am sure he is correct, then our prayers need not leave us to be heard, understood and accepted.  This makes Romans 8:26 make sense.  “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.”

We are known so intimately by God, He knows exactly what we need even better than we know.  Some days we need not be specific for what we ask.  Just say, “Lord, you know exactly what I need today.  I don’t.  So I will trust you to do it for me.”   While that sounds easy, it is also scary.  What if in His wisdom He takes the opportunity to do a bit of pruning.   I know it is good for the long run, but it might hurt some in the short run.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 28, 2014

Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

I watched a friend slice open a beautiful mango.  It was just the right firmness with a striking blend of red, orange, yellow and green.  It was a beauty.  It was the inside that was impressive – impressively bad.  Black.  What a disappointment.  Where was the lush yellow meat that makes it worth spending so much?   Now I could launch into a discussion of the old “Don’t judge a book by its cover” but that is too easy.  We have all met handsome and beautiful people that weren’t nice to be around.  That is mixing too many metaphors, something my English teacher hated.

What it did remind me of was the mango trees on our campus in Uganda.  We never could get a good mango because our students ate them green.  There was no opportunity to pick one that was ripe.  These were already gone lest someone else get them.  Our students claimed they liked them green.  I don’t know about that.

Now I do have something to talk about.  When someone is born again often there is an expectation for them to be a mature Christian and we pounce on them or criticize them behind their backs when they stumble.  They are still green but somehow we erroneously expect them to be better than we, who have been Christians for decades.  Not only is that not fair, it is unrealistic.  Good things take time to be.  Just as grace and forgiveness were given prior to their Christian walk so grace and forgiveness must become daily fare. Someone might ask, “What about perfection?”  Jesus isn’t our righteousness only when we are born again.  He continues to be our righteousness.  Maturation is a life-long process.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 27, 2014

Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Several years ago I taxied a small plane to the end of the runway in Santa Rosa, California.  I did my run up, went through my checklist and called the tower for takeoff clearance.  All I heard was silence.  Normally they respond immediately with “cleared for takeoff” or “wait for incoming traffic.”   But this time I got nothing.  I continued to try to contact the tower for about 15 minutes when another plane pulled in beside me and did his run up and departed while I sat and watched.  Another 10 minutes passed with numerous attempts on my part to communicate when I finally noticed my radio was one frequency number different than that of the tower.  Changing to the correct number I tried again and received immediate clearance.  So much for being bone headed.

This is just like people that pray to pagan gods.  They are on the wrong channel.  There isn’t anyone or thing listening other than themselves.  No wonder they twirl prayer wheels, they couldn’t possibly continue to make endless verbal requests.  When there is no one listening you can say anything any number of times, but it is quite useless.  This is why God gave us the first Commandment of the Ten.   Other gods, if there be any, are quite useless, powerless and deaf.

While in Athens Paul referred to Him as the unknown God.  That was for the Greeks because He was well known to Paul.  Paul’s personal encounters with Him began on the Road to Damascus and continued throughout the rest of Paul’s years.  Fortunately God does not demand that we address Him by a specific name.  In the Bible He has many names.  If we need to talk with Him, “Hey God” works.  He is that anxious to hear us.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 26, 2014

Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org