Month: April 2021

Yesterday afternoon I inadvertently discovered our doorbell was not working.  I wondered how long it had been dead.  Who came only to think we were not home or worse that we were hiding from them?  (Well, maybe that isn’t so bad.  There are some people I would hide from.)  Doorbells, the electronic equivalent of knocking, are important.   If Revelation 3 were being written today it would most likely read, “Behold I stand at the door and ring.”  I love what follows, “Open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

It is important to note who is ringing.  Jesus is coming to us.  It is the great difference between Christianity and all other religions.   Other religions have humans in pursuit of God.  Christianity’s uniqueness is God is in pursuit of humans.  Right from the beginning we were God’s idea.  “Let’s make man in our image.”   When Adam and Eve failed it was Jesus who immediately announced the plan for restoration.  It was the Father who sent His only Son.  It was Jesus who cried out, “It is finished.”   It was Jesus who assured us “I will come so you can be with me.”

Don’t you just love being a Christian?  The work, the forgiveness, the justification is God coming to us with incomprehensible love.  The cross was not Pilate’s idea nor the Sanhedrin’s.   The cross was thought of prior to creation itself.   We have always been His project.  No, not project.  Children.  That’s much more like it.  He’s ringing.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 19, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Today was “Fear Day” in my human development course.  Having been given the weekend assignment of looking up various fear or phobia lists on the Internet my students were to come prepared to confess to their particular fears.  You can imagine the liveliness of the discussion as we did the usual snakes, spiders, mice, high places and claustrophobia.  One girl even said she was afraid to tell us what she was afraid of. There was a lot of joshing and laughing at each other but at some point the mood changed when people started to say, “I’m afraid of failure.”  “I’m afraid to have my heart broken.”  “I’m afraid one of my parents will die.”

Fear is a very real part of our daily existence; and rightly so because the world can be a very dangerous place. Our beautiful black lab is eighty pounds of tight muscle behind a set of the whitest of teeth.  One would think with all that power and equipment she would not need to be afraid of anything.  The truth is she startles very easily.  The strangest noise that is new to her will create an explosion of protective ferocity.  She can go from sleep to full bristled guard with the harshest and nastiest of growls in less than a second.  No one in their right mind would try to get by her.   If you only heard her you would think we had a guard lion.

One of the commonest commands found in the Bible is God telling us to fear not.  The Psalms contain such wonders as “Yeah, though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil.”   Right now – open your Bible and read Psalm 27.  You will not be sorry.  It will be time well spent.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 29, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Maybe I am being less sophisticated as I near my three score and ten but events of these last few days have really impressed me.  I was duly impressed that there were 135 tornados in less than 24 hours in the Midwest. Eighteen elite runners in the Boston Marathon were briefly hospitalized because of the day’s record heat.  Over 1200 people were rescued.  In the midst of that heat local military cadets in full battle dress with 35 pound packs marched the 26 miles in that heat to finish in 3 hours.  When their commander was asked if he was impressed he responded, “Somewhat.”   Last fall my wife put her outdoor goldfish in a closed container in a corner of the garage.  This morning she opened it to find a batch of very healthy fish ready to go outside.

I could add to my day’s list by setting up a telescope this evening and peer out from earth to the wonders of our Father’s house and plunge my mind into the heart of Andromeda.   I could remind myself that my wife has kept me for 50 years.  All of these things really impress me.

I am impressed by Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, . . .”   Really?   Now that is more impressive than the entire list above.  It is more impressive than any list any of us could write because the power of God’s love and grace totally overpowers everything.  In Ephesians 3 Paul wrote, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,  may have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, . . .”  Impressive.  Very impressive.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 17, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I know I am going to regret sharing this story with you but what would life be without suspense.  I received an email from my sister telling me she couldn’t call me because her phone wasn’t working.  Today I heard the rest of the story from my other sister.  It seems because her phone wasn’t working her daughter purchased her another only to discover when exchanging the phones that the old one was just fine.  It just wasn’t plugged in!  As a dutiful, caring brother I have no comment whatsoever.

At first I was going to use this as an analogy that for us to be able to contact God we have to stay plugged in.  However, on second thought I can’t do that.  God is always there.  No prior contact needed.  No plug ins necessary because whether we are aware or not, He is listening.  There is no 3 G, no 4 G or cloud needed.  Jonah was well out of service range when in that giant fish, but God was in there with him.  If you ever feel that your prayers bounce off the ceiling that’s okay because He’s already in the same room with you.

“While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: “This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’”  Jeremiah 33

Don’t you love that promise?  Once you start talking to Him He will tell you great and unsearchable things.  I can’t wait.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 12, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

This past weekend my granddaughter was off from college and spent the weekend with her two old grateful grandparents.  Saturday evening we went for a walk.  The weather was truly delightful.  My granddaughter commented on how strong the dog looked and how hard could she pull.  So I handed her the leash thinking she would get quite a workout.   I cautioned her as I remember many years ago I handed my sister a leash connected to a much smaller lab.  That experience ended with my sister’s face on the ground.  But this time it was completely different. My present lab just stopped walking.  She gave me a very pitiful look as if to say, “What did I do wrong?  Don’t you love me?”   The walk would not continue until I took back the leash.

In John 1 Andrew first found Jesus and immediately began to follow Jesus. On that fateful day he couldn’t even begin to imagine what he would see and hear in the coming months and years.  He went from the ecstasy of seeing Jesus and his very own brother walking on water to the raising of Lazarus from the dead.  He went from the confusion of seeing Jesus’ relatives trying to throw Jesus over a cliff to the hatred of the establishment.  He went from Jesus’ cross to his very own death on a cross.  One should pause before quickly choosing to follow someone.  The consequences are most often eternal.

My loving lab would only walk if connected to who she thought was the right person.  In her case it was a matter of loyalty and I imagine that should also be our reason for walking with Jesus.   However, I was thinking the reason should be, it’s the smart thing to do.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 10, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Student loan debt has surpassed credit card debt.  Student loans have filled me with mixed feelings through the years.  While it has opened the education door for many who otherwise couldn’t attend college, it has also burdened graduates with mortgage size debts before they ever have their first jobs.  Something else that bothered me through the years is too many students flippantly borrowed as if there never was going to be a day of reckoning.  That flippant attitude then spilled over into a lack appreciation for the education itself.  Often times we only value things for which we have worked.  I have often advocated that loan moneys must be matched with wages from work study programs.

 

So why am I speaking of this?  Occasionally I hear people speak of cheap grace.  Jesus saves.  Eternal life is a gift.  Is there a problem that humans do not appreciate that for which they have not worked?   Maybe this is why so many churches have developed works theologies?  Paul wrote to Timothy, “I have fought the good fight.   I finished the race.  I have kept the faith.”  So there is some kind of battle.  It isn’t accepting the gift and going on with life as usual.   There is something else involved.  One issue is character development.  The obligation of love draws us to be like our Savior.  Another issue is to continue to abide in grace.  If one has come from a works environment such as Paul there is this constant lure, a pull back to the theology of the past because the story of grace seems way too good to be true.  Keeping the faith for Paul was just that.  Hang on.  Don’t get sucked back in.

 

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 9, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

All over the nation 18-year-olds hold their breath as they anxiously open mailboxes.  Is there a skinny envelope or a fat one from the university of their choice?  Skinny means you’re out.  Don’t bother opening the envelope.  Fat means you’re in and there are lots of forms enclosed for you to fill out.  Getting in or not creates a lot of sleepless nights.

I know some people who toss and turn at night who are not 18.  They are tossing as they fret about a more important destination.  They are concerned that as hard as they try they just can’t feel like Jesus has saved them.  They try to keep all the rules and laws they know of.  Somehow that doesn’t take away their stress.  Maybe they are missing one and will be lost because they only kept 631 out of 632.  They heard a sermon last weekend telling them that isn’t the way.  Jesus is the Way.  That seems far too simple.  Despite saying the words, “I am saved by grace” they just don’t feel safe.  What if the preacher was wrong?  They certainly don’t want to accompany him where he’s going if he misled all those people in church.

Hopefully, I have some good news for these folk.  And yet why should they believe me if they aren’t overly sure of their pastor?   So forget me and believe Paul.  He can’t be wrong and even if they don’t feel saved, the truth is we are not saved by feeling, nor by intellect, nor by any other thing except what is expressed in the promise in Ephesians 2. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”  Best of all there aren’t any forms to fill out.  The skinny envelope works.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 7, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

After beginning a class today by reading from Luke 14, one of my astute students asked, “How can salt lose its saltiness?”  That’s a good question in the twenty first century when the salt we think of comes in a Morton’s Box.  That stuff could sit forever and never change its molecular structure.  Salt is salt.  We are so spoiled.  The salt Jesus grew up with in Nazareth most likely came from the Dead Sea area and was probably a poor quality of rock salt.  It didn’t take much moisture to wash away the real salt and leave behind a bag of useless tiny stones. Dilution was not uncommon.

And so we come to Jesus’ real point.  Should we allow work, relationships, responsibilities, life itself to dilute our experience with Jesus, we lose the abundant life.  No, we don’t completely lose it.  We only lose it in proportion to the loss of our walk with Jesus.  I realize there are some who believe you are either in or you’re out.  Either you are walking with Jesus or you are walking with the devil.  I don’t think so.  I have come to believe God loves us so much that He is willing to stick with us through the good and bad times.  If we want to walk afar from Him He follows along.  He is very persistent and just plainly doesn’t give up on us.  He isn’t a “my way or the highway” kind of Father.  He is so much better than that.

I realize this could encourage someone to say, “Hum?   I think I will walk a 70% walk with God.  I can get some of the blessings and get by without all of them.”  I guess someone could think that.  But frankly, that doesn’t make much sense.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 12, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

My wife just asked me if today she told me she loved me.  Let’s see. I had clean clothes to put on this morning.  Breakfast was ready for me when I came downstairs.  She drove me to a doctor’s appointment and sat with me for an hour.  She filled the bird feeders so I could enjoy the Goldfinches already in all of their summer splendor.  I just finished a great supper she prepared. I don’t actually recall hearing the words but she told me over and over and over. There is a song in our church hymnal that ends with “How much do I love thee my actions do show.”

One of Jesus’ stories was about a father who asked his sons for help. One said, “Sure, Dad.”  But he never did anything.  His other son said, “Sorry, Dad.  No way.”  But after leaving he had second thoughts and went and did what his father wanted.  Matthew 21.   This is so plain there is no need for an explanation.  Love shows. Love grows.

Jesus also said, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me.”

Now that I have said all this, I have to confess while fruit is nice, words are so sweet to hear.  Ooops – she just reminded me that she had on the way to the doctor.  Uh-oh.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 11, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Decades ago when I took flight training I learned that flight traffic controllers respond back to pilots at the same speech pace the pilot used upon initiating contact.  If I called in with the N number of my plane and spoke rapidly they would rapidly send me altitude and directional heading.  If I spoke slowly I got my directions slowly.  I made sure I spoke slowly so I did not have to say, “Say again, please.”  I seem to process numbers only at a pace that I can visualize them.  Thus I have immense difficulty with my answering machine.  Often people give me a callback number at such a pace I have to listen again and again just to be able to write it down.  So, I have a policy.  If I cannot get it on the third attempt they don’t get a call back.  Sorry.  Slow brain here.

What I have discovered through the years is God is a patient communicator.  He consistently feeds at a pace He knows I can grasp.  He should understand my intellectual pace because He made me.  Even then I have discovered I do have to say to Him, “Say again, please.”  It isn’t because He was speaking so fast.  It is because what He is saying is so phenomenal.  He has said things like just “confess your sins and I will cleanse you.”  Wow.  Say again, please.  Or how about “believe in me and you will cross over from death to life.”  Awesome!  Say again, please. And I love it when He says, “While we were yet enemies He died for us.”

I have gotten to the place where I think I understand but I still say, “Say again, please” just because I love hearing it.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 6, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org