Month: October 2021

The brownish, reddish, yellowish leaf danced outside my window.  Up and down in the autumn air it pirouetted with all the flourishes of a ballerina.  Having let go of its branch it was not about to settle to the earth without one last performance – one last encore.  Could I, by applause, have kept it dancing I would have clapped until my hands grew weary.  Masterfully it pretended to be a butterfly reeling above the asters as if it wanted just one more sip – one last draft of nectar sweet.  Just as I thought the recital was concluded when it neared the lawn, up it soared for yet another performance – another presentation of beauty.  Did it know it was being admired?  Did it know I wanted it never to end?  No – this was beauty for beauty’s sake.  This was the springtime violet that would never be seen by human eye.  This was the summer’s daylily behind a rock wall.  This was beauty created when God said, “That is very good.”

Our God is a God of beauty.  He breathes into us the lushishness of life that we might see what He sees and rejoice with that which causes Him to rejoice.  Beauty comes in many forms.  It is exterior.  It is interior.   To create inner beauty is to become more like our God.  Character building is more important than all the cosmetics in Macys.

Everybody is beautiful to somebody.  The secret is love.   The more we love someone the more beautiful they grow.  Considering that Jesus loves us enough to go to the cross for us means only one thing.  We are looking good.   When God looks at us He sings Joe Cocker’s “You are so beautiful.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 21, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Our squirrels have disappeared.  There is neither a gray nor a red anywhere to be seen. I’m not sure that I mind.  They ate an enormous amount of expensive bird seed and for that their absence makes me happy.  But, I really would like to know what happened. Does my neighbor have better tasting birdseed than what I provide?  A few years ago I saw a red fox grab a red squirrel off our patio.  Do we have another fox or has the neighborhood coyote gotten them?  The neighborhood is full of rabbits this summer so the coyote should be doing quite well.  I saw him recently and he is looking well fed.  We also have a cooper’s hawk who, on occasion, watches the bird feeder.  Aha, about three weeks ago there was a bobcat just outside the window.

It is a mystery I will most likely never solve. Most people like mysteries. The mystery section at Barnes and Noble is huge.  Somewhere in my elementary years I thoroughly enjoyed Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works.  Agatha Christie has been dead since 1976 and is still one of the world’s most read authors.  Her estate claims she is the third most read author after the Bible and Shakespeare having sold over 4 billion books.  Paul enjoyed speaking of the mystery of salvation and redemption.  His mysteries are not whodunits.  God did it!  But why did He do it?   Over and again He speaks of the mystery of Christ and that now in this generation God has revealed to us the knowledge of His love.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 16, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

It is often said the sweetest revenge is to live well and be happy.  It is a variation on a verse most familiar.  From the 23rd Psalm we read, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”  Even as a child I knew there was a tinge of “in your face” to this verse. There is a touch here of God saying, “Back off.  Go live your life with my blessing. I’ll take care of the revenge.”  In Romans 12 Paul wrote, “‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. ‘To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’”

If there is someone who really doesn’t like you, if there is someone who wishes your life would totally collapse, don’t worry about them.  Send them a magazine subscription.  Then they will think of you at least once a month.  Pray for their good health.  If something needs to happen to them God will do the right thing.  If we tried we would do the wrong thing.  We aren’t smart enough to do the right thing when we are emotionally involved.

How grand it is that we have this amazingly brilliant God who knows exactly what Joe Blow needs. If he needs to see us prospering God will lay incredible blessings on us.  While we are living the high life just remember that God also loves Joe Blow.  Yes, God loves our enemies.  Remember once upon a time we were God’s enemies and Jesus died for us anyway. Romans 5:10

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 17, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

They were cherry tomatoes and they looked especially good in the afternoon sunlight.  I was walking my dog and one of my neighbors has a garden that abuts the street.  The tomatoes were on the curb which is city property and I pay my taxes; therefore, it seemed that the tomatoes were in public domain.  Accompanying my salivation came the thought that in Mark 2 Jesus’ disciples plucked some grain to eat from fields that did not belong to them.  It was lawful for a hungry traveler to pick a handful of grain.  Is this ancient law germane in the 21th Century?  Was it morally right for me to harvest a handful of cherry tomatoes to satisfy my hunger?

If I ate them I probably would feel guilty.  I would awaken in the night thinking I needed to knock on my neighbor’s door and confess my larceny.  That was the heart of the matter. It was not a matter of law.  It was a matter of what I thought might be wrong.  James wrote, “Therefore to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin.”  I think the reverse logic is logical.  To him that thinks it is wrong and does it, it is wrong.  It might not be wrong.  But if we think it is and still do it, it has all the damaging effects as if it really was wrong.

To add a bit more context to this.  The garden belongs to one of the pastors in town.  I have in the past talked with her about her garden and she has given me eating rights. But I know many of my neighbors walk their male dogs along that curb.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 18, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

The bees on the aster were side by side like morning coffee drinkers at a local diner.   Slowly they were tanking up for the trip back to the hive.  Just as the diner benefits from the morning customers so the asters benefit from the visit of the bees.  It was a win-win.  Being able to engineer a win for both sides takes skill and is wonderful when everyone leaves a winner.

Salvation is a win-win scenario.  We win.  How could I begin to list the benefits of making Jesus one’s savior?  God wins.  Just as any loving parent rejoices when their children are safely home so there is great joy in heaven when we accept our prepared place. The question is who wins the most?  Do we or does God?  While I am tempted to say we, I am instead going to say God wins the most.  I realize that sounds very egocentric and we are so wonderful but He is love.  He is love unbounded.  His love has a capacity beyond our comprehension.  We think we win life eternal, a great place to live, unlimited goodies, unending growth, etc.  What He wins is the satisfaction of love.  Paul wrote, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” Ephesians 3

This love is so deep we just don’t get it.  But we try.  Think of our love for our children and multiply it by a thousand times.  Then we are getting close.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 17, 2013

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

rogerbothwell.org

As we near the end of the year catalogs have started appearing in the mail.  One that arrived today is filled with ridiculously expensive items.  One of which is a manual typewriter for 200 dollars.  While I have not recently been to our Salvation Army store in town I am going to guess one could most likely find a manual typewriter for ten dollars or maybe less.  The description in the catalog makes it sound as if one just laid their fingers on the keys Pulitzer Prize winning prose would flow all over the paper.  This is akin to giving someone a brush and a set of oil paints and coming back the next day to collect a comparable Monet.  Or how about giving one a gift certificate for the tool section of Sears and expecting a new home?

Giving someone a Bible is not going to make them a saint.  Actually even reading the Bible will not make someone a saint.  Satan has it memorized.  I don’t think it has done much for His character.

Having the tools and/or talent doesn’t produce quality.  Quality comes from serious application of mind and talent.  Paul told Timothy, “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  I once heard a commencement speaker use this text to mean study itself would result in God’s approval.  I don’t think that is what Paul meant.  I don’t think he meant study biology, study philosophy, study German.  The topic of study was “How can I be a good discerner of God’s message.”   It will not be the result of random verse hunting. It comes with careful, prayerful application to context (never forget context) and asking for the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 16, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Because our bedroom windows face the rising sun, the room can get extremely bright at five in the morning during the summer.  Thus we have light blocking shades.  No light pierces that barrier but it does slice through the cracks between the edges of the shades and the window frames.  There is something about light that will not be denied.   Jesus called Himself the Light of the World.  He said, “You have seen me you have seen the Father.”  For thousands of years Satan managed to distort the true character of God.  God was depicted as being harsh, vindictive and capricious. Nothing could be further from the truth.  When Jesus came that all changed.  Jesus taught us to pray by beginning with “Our Father.”  That was revolutionary.

Light is color.  Jesus is color.  The Father is color.  The black and white world of crushing those who did not measure up was past.   Jesus ushered in a world of forgiveness and redemption for God’s children.  Satan hates Jesus for exposing the heresy he had foisted upon mankind.  The challenge was to pervert the truth.  Tell people they are saved by grace and add the word “But.”  Everything that follows “But” negates what preceded it.  “Yes,” Satan said, “you are saved by grace, “But” you have to do this or do that.  With the Galatians it was circumcision.  However, you can substitute anything for circumcision.  It all cancels the Good News.  Paul wrote, “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?”  We know who it was.  It was God’s enemy, our enemy.  If he can’t live forever then he wants to make sure we don’t.  But light will not be denied.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 15, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

It all started days ago when I thoughtlessly put the mayonnaise jar back in the fridge with the lid unscrewed.  It finished today when I lifted the jar out of the fridge holding only the lid.  Fortunately the jar was plastic and not glass, but that contributed to what followed. The impact on the floor enabled the plastic to collapse and pop back propelling a huge amount of mayonnaise onto the front of a cupboard.  It stuck like wind-driven snow against the side of a building.  I love my dog. It wasn’t long until the cupboard was spotless and I never had to lift a finger. Ah, life has its moments and this was one of them.  She is such a good dog.

This isn’t the first mess I have made in life.  Some have been much messier and more difficult to clean up.  Ah, that is what Jesus is all about.  He has come after me so many times cleaning up.  What is amazing about this is many of the people involved can remember the stories with great detail, often enhanced for effect, but Jesus doesn’t remember them at all.  Someday when I ask Him about some of them He will say, “What, I don’t recall.”  How I wish people were like Jesus.  Perhaps the biggest cross we have to bear is unforgetting “friends.”

Jesus is so much better than that.  Jesus is so much better than anyone.  He is the ultimate cleaner. “If we confess He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  How grand.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 14, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

All of a sudden this afternoon I really wanted an apple turnover.  I have no idea from where this came.  I was driving, not by apple trees, not by a bakery, and soon I found myself swinging into a supermarket parking lot.  I am puzzled because I am not prone to sudden urges of appetite and I know I am not pregnant.  On occasion I do long for a plate of cooked bananas smothered in peanut sauce.  It is a staple in Uganda.

The Psalmist in number 42 wrote, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.”  How grand it would be if we could make our worship experiences so appetizing and so satisfying that people longed for the weekends to arrive so they could attend church.  It would be especially good if we could do that for our young people.  So often we have an abundance of small children in church and a famine of teens.  Our greatest evangelism challenge isn’t bringing lost sheep into the fold.  It is keeping the lambs from disappearing out the back gate.  So often we spend hundreds of thousands on public evangelism and a pittance on Christian education.

Often I hear remarks like this, “If we had contemporary music our youth would stay.”   While I do think music is important I think this does not give our young people credit for thinking.   If we challenged them intellectually with a message of God’s love that meets their everyday needs, I believe they would stay with us.  Our teens are people and people long to be loved.  Let our love be the fence that keeps them in the fold.

The apple turnover was really good.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 18, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Before taking my car for its annual state inspection today, I looked in the glove box for the registration.  They will not inspect the car without it and it wasn’t there.  Thus began the search.  I looked and looked throughout the car and house to no avail.  Finally in desperation I looked in the glove box of the other car.  It was there.  Why?  How did it get in the wrong car?  Neither my wife nor I know.  Actually at this point it doesn’t matter.   What was important is I found it. It is important for it identifies that this very car belongs to me.

In Genesis God asked Abraham to circumcise his family and it was a sign that Abraham and his family belonged to Jehovah.  It’s fascinating to make note of the various ways people use to declare their identity to a group.  Some use tattoos.  Some have special handshakes.  Others have secret code words.  The one that I like the very best in mentioned in Matthew 7.  Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.”  How do people know we belong to Jesus?  The answer is by the way we behave.

Please note He didn’t say we should put a fish on the back of our car nor hang a cross from our neck.  I am not condemning those who do that.  It’s just that we should remember the real identifier.  Be a good, honest, fair, decent person.  I am not a card carrying Christian.  I just want to help people and improve their lives.  It is more than saying, “I’m praying for you.”  It is actually doing something tangible to make life better.  See James 2.  He is great on this topic.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 19, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org