Month: June 2020

In a successful way to keep their graduating high school seniors safe after a graduation service, the parents of Bronxville, NY provide an all night party.  The highlight of the celebration happens at 3 AM.  A bagpiper leads everyone on a parent and police escorted walk through their beautiful residential streets.  At 2:30 AM we were awakened and invited to join the procession.  My midnight oil, my flashlight, was ready. As we walked along I thought if my batteries had been dead there was no place at that time of morning to purchase fresh ones.  I might possibly have missed the fun.  Actually there was moonlight and my  flashlight was not needed. But I did think of Jesus’ parable of the ten virgins.  See Matthew 25)

When we were awakened at 2:30 with the words, “It’s time to go” I could not but think of God’s church being wakened at the end with the cry, “The bridegroom cometh.  It’s time to go.”  What a glorious moment that will be.  Paul describes it so eloquently in I Thessalonians 4 and I Corinthians 15.  One of the fascinating details he includes is the phrase, “in the twinkling of an eye.”  Suddenly, in a moment, it happens.  It is done.  The resurrection of the redeemed occurs and we are united with loved ones never to be parted again.  Words cannot be arranged into any sentence that would come close to describing the joy.

I was tempted to say something like, “this is what Christianity is all about.”  And I certainly want to say it is a major part of our walk with Jesus.  But it is not the entirety of the Gospel.  We must never forget the joy of salvation does not begin then, but begins now, the moment we accept His gift.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 20, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Suddenly I discovered a brad embedded between the outer corner of my thumb and my thumbnail.  The pain was exquisite.  Our hands are so finely crafted with protective growing coverings.  But there is a very fine vulnerable line and the piece of metal was deeply in.  For a moment I had visions of prison camps.  That was three days ago and I never thought much about how often I use the corner of my thumb for a multitude of tasks. Some are as simple as opening a letter or hitting the spacebar on my computer keyboard.  Ouch.

Pain is an amazing gift without which we would do immense harm to ourselves.  It reminds us to take our hand off the stove as quickly as possible and to wear shoes.   But, it is a mixed sensation of blessing and curse.  As it increases in intensity we begin to describe it with words like agony, misery, torture and anguish.  It is not limited to our physical nature but is experienced mentally and emotionally.  Often the only way not to feel it is to have it be overwhelmed by a worse pain elsewhere.

Jesus’ experience on the cross was such.  When He cried, “Why have you forsaken me” to His Father, the horror of the spikes in His hands, His raw skinless back resulting from the beatings and the crown of thorns became irrelevant when compared to the mental anguish of paying the price for our sins.  The innocent one took upon Himself the disgusting horror of our rebellion and was dying separated from the holiness of His Father.  While He could never be responsible for sin, He could and did pay the consequences.  His pain was far beyond the physical.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 19, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

We saw a lovely wall of roses this afternoon.   Yet as we drew near enough to see individual roses it became apparent that each rose by itself wasn’t that good looking.  Each had been beaten by the weather and chewed on by whatever eats roses.  They looked better from afar when they were part of an array of thousands of roses.   How like people.  Most of us look better from afar.  When we get well acquainted with people we soon see their physical, personality and characterflaws. Alas, familiarity often does breed contempt.  The lesson is if you want to keep admiring someone, keep them at arm’s length.  Don’t get too close.  Televisions are like that.  If you get too close you see the pixels instead of a smooth picture. I just got up and went and checked to see if that is also the case with high definition television and it is still true.

There is only one person in history we can thoroughly check and not find flaws, that is Jesus.  The worse thing his enemies could say was “This man eats with sinners.”  He touched lepers.  He befriended Roman soldiers and harlots.  If “birds of a feather” was always true we could write Him off.   But wait just a minute Jesus wants also to be friends with you and me.  Forget the soldiers and harlots.  Being with us would be bad enough.  Somehow He doesn’t mind.  He loves us as we are.

How grand!

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 18, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

There is an abandoned railroad tunnel not far from our college.  One’s eyes adjust to the dimming light as one treks into its heart of darkness but soon even the keenest of eyes find it difficult to make out what might be painted on the old rock walls.  Eventually there is not enough light to even see one’s own hand held before one’s face.  But then as one nears the opposite end, the light increases, the shadows decrease and how glorious it is to step out into the light.

Tunnels are like human’s experience with God.  Adam and Eve started in the light of Eden.  God came and walked and talked with them.  They knew who He was and what He was like.  But after sin they lost that privilege and following generations walked deeper into the darkness of forgetting His loving nature.   Men fashioned God into their twisted image and He became, in human minds, a vengeful being filled with human traits. People did terrible things to each other and perceived it to be God’s will.  Lucifer lied to people about God, smeared God’s good name. Lucifer did evil things and blamed it on God.  For thousands of years the truth about God was lost in the shadows of human sin, greed, selfishness and aggression.

Then something absolutely amazing happened.  Angels appeared in the sky outside a small village and sang gloriously about a birth.  It was time to tell the truth about God.  It was time to flood the world with the light of His true nature and to stop blaming the corruption of the world on Him.   Jesus came.  He and He alone was and is a photograph of the Father.  Emmanuel, God with us.  If we have seen Jesus we have seen the Father.  Please see Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 17, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

It had been 39 years since the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup.  On June 15, 2011 the drought came to an end.  It was a phenomenal series for Boston’s goalie.  He stopped 37 attempts on goal. Vancouver just couldn’t get that puck past him.

I need a goalie like that.  Satan is out there taking his best shots at me and way too often he scores.   He dekes me time after time.  Every day he scores a hat trick.  The problem being that I try to be my own goalie.  My personal pride tells me, “Oh yeah, I can do this.”  Ah, pride does indeed go before a fall.  Just when I think it’s coming straight in he wraps it around into the net from behind.  I need help.   I should get smart.  Even though I have almost logged my three score and ten I am a rookie compared to Satan who has thousands of years of experience deking people.

According to the end of Jude, God is able to keep us from falling. It’s a matter of teamwork. We need to allow God to do for us what He is really good at doing.   He is good at fending off temptations. In John 14 Jesus promised that He would send us help.  He would not leave us orphaned but would send a Comforter to supply all that we need.  Psalm after Psalm promises if we call upon God when things get tough He will be instantly at our side.  He is never begrudging about our requests.  He loves it when we acknowledge our need.  That gives Him permission to come to our aid.  Satan can’t get anything past Him.

Yeah, that’s who I need for a goalie!

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 16, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I have a friend with a small black convertible.  It’s not much use in New England from Thanksgiving through May, so it’s put into storage for the winter.  One would think nothing could go wrong with it sitting safely through the snowy months.  However, this week it started leaking hydraulic fluid from one of the rear shocks.  It appears that one of the seals dried up during the winter because it wasn’t being used.  And so goes the old saying, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.”   Next winter my friend will bounce on the corners of the car every once in a while.

That adage is true for more than machinery.  It is also true for our bodies.  If we don’t exercise we lose strength, endurance and muscle tone.  If we don’t challenge our minds we lose mental agility.  If we don’t feed our souls with good nutritious inspiring material we cease being attuned to such and thus miss much.  The more we miss the more we spiral down and become like the average Joe Blow, who is so spiritually blind he sees nothing uplifting.

Balanced usage, well thought out, well planned usage builds strength and agility.  When we are tuned in we see God’s power everywhere.  God actually expects us to do so.  In Romans 1:20 we read, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.”  Please note that last phrase.  There is no excuse for not seeing. We are expected to be aware.  Seeing should be believing. The more we do it the easier it becomes.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 15, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

While sitting on the porch of a home in a small town in the Napa Valley I looked up to see a street sweeping machine work its way along the curb.   “Humm,” I thought, “the street isn’t dirty.”  It had been nine months since the leaves had fallen and the locals seem to take pride in their community and pick up any fallen piece of paper.   About thirty minutes later I watched the same machine with the same driver do it again.  To my amazement about thirty minutes later he came by for the third time.  I thought, “Either this guy has a clean fetish or not enough to do and wants to collect a paycheck for working all day.”

I used to know a guy very much like that street sweeper.  He just couldn’t bring himself to believe that Jesus really did forgive his sins.   He would claim the promise in 1 John 1 that tells us, if we confess, God will forgive and cleanse us.  He would pray, ask for forgiveness and be fine for a short while.  But Satan taunted him into thinking he was being presumptuous to think he could be saved.  His sins were so bad he was unforgivable.  His very short lived freedom from guilt was soon overwhelmed with the depressive body and soul destruction of guilt.  Soon he was praying again for God to forgive him of those very same sins of which he had already been cleansed. The joy of salvation continually eluded him.  He kept sweeping the same street over and over and over.

We must not allow our feelings to negate the truth that God means what He says and is a promise keeper.   When He says He forgives He means it.  He is faithful and just.  Put the street sweeper in the garage.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 14, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Our brains are wonderful computers instantly analyzing billions of bits of data as they unfold before us.  Our brains constantly work in the background calculating speed, distance and space as we drive.  While on my way to our college Thursday morning my brain issued an instant terror alert.  As I started up a hill I noted a mail delivery truck coming down the hill.  I watched as he pulled halfway off the road to open a mailbox. The terror occurred when I saw a 100,000 pound 18 wheeler coming 50 plus mph down the hill behind the mail truck.  There was no possible way he could slow down. Those two trucks and my car were going to get to the same small piece of road at the very same instant. If he was not going to flatten the mail truck he had to come into center of the road.  I would have to go for the ditch if I was ever to make another brain calculation. I’m not sure how many heart beats I missed as he chose the middle of the two lane road.  I still cannot understand how I still have a driver’s side mirror.  It was over in an instant. All I could see were his tail lights receding in that mirror I still had.

These brains we have can do some marvelous things.  Each day they quietly make thousands of decisions as to how we are to nourish ourselves, physically, mentally and spiritually.  They safely guide us through a maze of activities, many of which have great potential for harm.  Not only do they house who we are they hold the potential for who we can be.

The real terror alert should be an awareness that we might miss our full potential.  And what might that be?  To grow into the very likeness of God Himself.  See Philippians 2.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 13, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

The drug store wants me to carry a rewards card so I get a discount on some things. The auto parts store wants me to carry a rewards card and so does the pizza shop, donut store, hardware store, grocery store, and barbershop.  Now my wallet is already fat with a credit card, driver’s license, health care card, library card, gift card to Barnes and Noble and my AARP card for discounts of which I have yet to use after carrying it for five years. If I were to carry all those reward cards surely I would need to use a hand truck.  In all fairness I must state that most of them will give me the rewards if I tell them my phone number which verifies I do have a card.  I just refuse to carry it.

I unabashedly ask for my “old people’s discount” everywhere. I get my tithe back.   I love rewards.  It is a characteristic that strongly contributes to my following Jesus because Hebrews 11:6 clearly states, “He is a rewarder to those who diligently seek Him.”  I don’t have to carry a card.  I don’t even have to give Him my phone number.

However, I do have to diligently seek Him.  But wait a minute.  In Revelation 3:20 it says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”  Apparently I have to diligently find my way to the door.  That shouldn’t be too difficult.  But there is something more here. If I diligently spend time studying His word there is no doubt that the rewards are rich, satisfying and endless.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 11, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I saw some children playing outside this dusk.   How is it that such a normal activity has become rare?  How wonderful it used to be to play until dark or until someone’s mother stood on the porch and called for her children to come inside.  Hide and Seek was my favorite.  One had the option of hiding so one could not be found or hiding close to home base so you could race to the base before the person who was “it.”  If you hid really well the only way to get you to come out was the call, “Allee, allee, in free.”

“Allee, allee, in free.”  This is the message of Jesus.  People try to hide from Him and He calls out, “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

“Whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die.”

“Whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Please note the continued use of “whosoever.”  The New Testament is filled with the use of this word.  Please note there are no gender, no racial, no educational, no age and no national restrictions.

Jesus is calling out “Allee, allee, in free.”

This is one of those cases when free wasn’t free. Jesus paid a huge price to be able to make this offer.  He is “it.”   He is the one who hunts the hiders.  He wants to catch us and make us “it” so we can also become hunters of the hiders.   Before He left He gave the great Gospel Commission for us to go and hunt hiders.  It is our privilege to join Him in the greatest quest of all time; find the hiders.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 9, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org