Roger Bothwell

It’s time to start building up one’s supply of firewood for the coming winter.  When I take my axe in hand I feel like one of the ants and not the grasshopper who played his fiddle.  I have done my fiddling for the year. It is time to pay attention to the calendar.  It feels very manly to raise the axe overhead and bring it down on a nice round of maple.  It is a game to see if I can hit the mark for which I am aiming.  When I miss I hope no one was watching.  One would not want to hold the round of maple unless they have an excellent surgeon standing by.

It must hark back to Greek class in the seminary so long ago, but I can’t do this without thinking of “hamartia.”   “Hamartia” is one of the first Greek vocabulary words we learned.  It means to miss the mark.  Paul often uses it for the English word “sin.”  There is something almost comforting about “hamartia.”  It might indicate one was trying to do what was right and just missed the standard.  However, Paul does use the word in Hebrews 10:26, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, . . .”  In this verse it doesn’t sound like one is trying and therefore there is no forgiveness.  It is true we are saved by grace and all can be forgiven but we cannot spit on God’s grace by deliberately missing the mark.  Jesus offers to help us with our aim.

Just some thoughts while chopping wood.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 17, 2015

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It was a spectacular October day in New England.  The leaves are at their peak and the slanted rays of the autumn sun are amethyst as they penetrate the yellows and reds.  The temperature was perfect for working outside; so out came the chainsaw.  It’s time to get in the winter’s wood before all is covered with white.  It was a great cutting day because I put a newly sharpened chain on the old machine.  I have had this chainsaw for thirty years.  Sears should be proud.  With its new chain it just rips through oak and other hard woods.  The soft woods are like a hot knife in butter.

Earlier at the close of the summer I tried cutting but my chain was dull.  It was laborious and very unproductive.  What a difference it makes to have a sharp chain. I couldn’t help but think of how God wants us to be His tools.   The analogy speaks for itself.  If we are mentally dull, it is a challenge even for God, when He wants us to be productive.  If we take care of ourselves, He is able to fulfill His dream for and through us.

In Ephesians 2:10 Paul tells us God has work for us.  Before we were born He knew us and had something very special for each of us to do.  But God’s plans are not predestination.  Our decisions can thwart His plan.  If we want to be all we can be, we need to be sharp.  We need to daily hone our minds with the Word.   We need to eat right, sleep enough and exercise because a healthy body nurtures a sharp brain.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 26, 2009

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I called the 800 number to order a new batch of checks.  The nice man on the phone told me he was going to give me a nice leather checkbook holder.  When he finally stopped adding on this charge and that charge I complained and told him I was going to shop around.  “Oh,” he said, “I can subtract $10 from your total.  But, I can’t send you the leather checkbook holder.”  “Wait just a moment,” I said.  “Then you really weren’t giving me the checkbook holder.  You were selling it to me for an additional $10.”  I really should have hung up at that moment but I didn’t.

Don’t you just hate it when it becomes apparent that you are being duped? And when we object the duper plays innocent.  Nobody enjoys being a dupee.  How often in life are we dupable?   We have dupability and I hate it.

Let me assure you that when Jesus promises us eternal life as a gift He means it.  There are no take backs.  No, not once saved always saved.  We can give it back and so often we are foolish and do so.  But I repeat.  He never takes it back.  If God is anything He is honest, forthright, and open.  When Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive” He is transparent and telling the truth.  Satan is the great duper.  He is the liar.  He is the one who lures us with things that look good but are filled with death.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 4, 2013

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I am enjoying listening to people recount their ice storm stories.  One person told me his family congregated at the home of the one relative who hadn’t lost electricity.  The house filled with cousins and in-laws.  The first six hours went well, but when those hours turned into two, three and four days….?  Well, it will be a while before those people are once again talking to each other.   However, all the stories weren’t like that.  When I asked people what they did after 5:00 p.m. when it got dark, most people told me they got out old board games.  Clue, Monopoly, Chinese Checkers and Scrabble were very popular.  With no electronics to isolate them, people sat down around tables and talked.  I could not help but see the smiles on faces as they talked about their experiences.

When I was a child I learned from Poor Richard, “Early to bed, early to rise makes one healthy, wealthy and wise.”  Ben Franklin wrote that about the time he touched the key on his kite.  Not only were those the days without Clue and Monopoly, they didn’t know how to harness electricity and Thomas Edison wasn’t yet born.  Going to bed early made good sense.  There wasn’t much else to do.

Lest you think I am going to spend the rest of my days talking about the ice storm I will cease with this devotional by making a very common analogy to our need for various kinds of power in all aspects of our lives.   Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:20, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, . . .”   Ah, a power more desirable than electricity.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 18, 2008

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Last Saturday evening after the ice storm I had a whole new appreciation for the parable of the ten virgins and had developed genuine empathy for the five foolish virgins.  See Matthew 25.  When the power went off Thursday evening I was sure we had ample lamp oil.  Generously we lit six kerosene lamps with wicks all trimmed.  It was a nice light.  Forty-eight hours later we were down to one lamp.   Like the five foolish we went off to purchase more oil.  We were way too late.  Home Depot, Agway, Lowes, Sears and Wal-Mart all gave us the same, “We’re sorry.  We were sold out by Friday noon.”  We were worse off than the five foolish.  At least, according to the parable, they found oil to buy. The story was the same for six volt batteries.  You know – those big square ones.

The stories Jesus told have timeless value and repeat themselves over throughout the centuries no matter how modern we think we are.  I could at this moment break into the story of the grasshopper and the ants but I can’t seem to find that in the Gospels.  However the lesson is the same.  Use your resources wisely, prepare when you can, don’t take things for granted, think ahead and don’t be caught off guard.

I am grateful for great neighbors who offered to share their resources.  A neighbor across the street with a generator offered to let us take showers. Other neighbors stopped by just to check on “the old people down the street.”  Hey that was us!  How interesting that emergencies bring out both the worse and the best in people.  My blessing was that I saw more of the best than the other.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 16, 2008

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The sound of the wind in the trees has changed.  For the next six months the trees will display their bones against the ever-changing sky and the wind will have no leaves with which to play.  That is at least on the trees.  The fallen leaves on the road look like crabs running sideways on a moonlit beach.  But soon the wind will have to content itself by playing with frozen crystals and making mounds, again as if on a beach.  Today the wind played with me by trying to sneak in between the buttons on my shirt and down my collar.  The wind has its own sense of humor as it tries to decorate the bare trees with leftovers from the trash man’s pickups.

I love to hear the wind wrap itself around the corners of my house groaning a song saying, “Come on out and play.  Let me restyle your hair and color your cheeks.”   The wind is storing a cache of leaves in a corner by my office door.  Year’s ago there was a time when the air speed indicator on my plane told me I was going 140 mph but the cars and trucks on the road belowwere passing me.

The wind does some wondrously creative things.  It is no wonder Jesus uses the wind as a metaphor for the Holy Spirit.  It also moves unseen among usas it treats us with all manner of influence on our behavior and on others about us.   “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 19, 2008

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We are well into November and we still have not had a hard freeze.  It is saving people a lot of money that they will not have to spend on heating oil.  A tree in front yard is confused and apparently thinks it is springtime because it has put out new buds.  An oak tree that usually does not lose its leaves until spring dropped all its leaves yesterday.  In one day!  It was remarkable.  We even found a dandelion in bloom.  It was beautiful.

The dandelion reminded me of Jesus in Nazareth.  This beautiful child grew up virtually out of season.  He blossomed and shed happiness in a little town that wasn’t noted for much.  How could I not think that is exactly what God wants from you and me?  We are submersed in a secular culture that rewards the dog that eats the dog.  We laud the billionaires in our midst and have little recognition for Joe, the guy who gets up every morning and faithful cares for his family by keeping his commitments.

The truly beautiful person isn’t the one with perfect cheekbones and fashionable lips.  The truly beautiful is the one that comes to our minds when we wonder whom we could rely on in hard times.  We ought to start a dandelion society that recognizes all the faithful souls who bloom all yearround, in season and out.   And just like dandelions they will grow old and gray but how grand it was they were with us.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 9, 2008

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When I was a teenager a Christian hospital near Washington D.C. refused to admit black people.  They would treat them in the emergency room and then transport them to the nearby county hospital.  Today I had an opportunity to vote for an African American for president of the United States.  When I first began in the ministry of a Christian church I was shocked to discover the church would not pay women the same as men even if they did similar tasks like teaching.  Today I had an opportunity to vote for a woman to be the vice-president of the United States.  Today I was pleased to know in my lifetime just how much has changed.  We as a people have come a long way. Unfortunately as a church I am not sure if we made much progress because the church was forced to do the right thing by the law of the land.

Why is it that the church so often is not the moral leader but the tail that slowly comes along or worse has to be forced by the civil government to do right?  I wish I knew the answer.  But I do have to say there was a real joy in my heart today as I stood in the voting booth with pen in hand knowing I had such choices.  So often we think the world is morally deteriorating butin some arenas we aren’t doing so badly.

To stand for right, to speak for the oppressed, to want for all the rights and privileges we have, should be the heart of the moral compass of all who follow Jesus, who never hesitated to defend the poor and abused.   The reason He cleansed the temple in Jerusalem was because the establishment was abusing the weak.   Jesus is my Hero.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 4, 2008

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Reverence has returned to churches in Monterrey, Mexico.  Cell phones have been silenced.  Never again in the middle of a sermon will the congregation hear “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” or some other catchy ring.  Electronic devices have been installed that flood the sanctuary with a signal that renders the cell phones inoperative.  The jammers overwhelm the phones with electronic noise.  The phones shut down and incoming calls go immediately to voice mail.

Like these jammers, the many activities of some people’s lives overwhelm the still small voice of God.  It’s not that God isn’t there.  He’s there.  He’s everywhere.  Psalms 139 says,

“Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?

To be out of your sight?

If I climb to the sky, you’re there!

If I flew on morning’s wings, you’re there!

To the far western horizon,

You’d find me in a minute.

You’re already there waiting!”

There isn’t any place one can run or go that He is not there.  He is chasing you.  But He will not force you to listen.  You can push Him away with the noise of a hectic life.  So please slow down.  Turn off the television.  Put down the magazine and listen.  You’ll hear Him wooing you.  It’s a sweet sound of love offering you the best gift of all time.  He’s offering a gift that transcends all time.  He is offering you eternal life.

Written by Roger Bothwell on Sept. 27, 2004

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This is the best time of summer. Roadside farm stands are filled with mountains of sweet corn, cucumbers and big, dark, red, juicy, vine-ripened tomatoes.  The best meal ever is the simplicity of thick slices of tomato on a plate with boiled or roasted sweet corn.  While some people salt their tomatoes and corn, other insist that tomatoes should be sugared.  The tomato salters are horrified at the idea—sugar on tomatoes??  Who would ever eat a tomato like that?  Most will not even try sugaring a tomato.  Ah, human nature! If we are not used to or haven’t done something before often we are not about to change.

But change is such an important part of living.  Change is what being a Christian is all about.  Real Christians are always looking for ways to improve.  It is our goal.  Tomorrow I will be less selfish than I was today.  Tomorrow I will be more concerned about others than I was today.  Tomorrow I will speak more kindly than I did today.  Tomorrow I will be more sensitive to the needs of others than I was today.  Being a real Christian is all about change.  It is all about growing—daily growing more and more like Jesus.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 24, 2004

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