Month: May 2022

When I went into school this morning one of my colleagues said, “I have a lilac bush that hasn’t blossomed for two years.”  Immediately I thought about Jesus and the fig tree.  It was Monday of Passion Week when Jesus and His disciples came upon a fig tree in full-leaf.  It should have had fruit amidst those leaves but had none.  The whole story seems so out of character for Jesus except for the fact it was a great teaching opportunity.  He cursed it.  Too curse something is not that He did something bad to the tree other than to remove His own life sustaining power.  Nothing on earth lives of itself.  Moment by moment, breath by breath, heartbeat by heartbeat we do so because of His life flow to us.   Cut off that connection and we, animals, trees, flowers, everything dies.

The lesson of the day, the lesson for history was that each of us is here for a reason.  In Ephesians 2 Paul tells us we have a work to do, a special work prepared just for us.  We might never know what it is.  God knows what it is.  If we allow He will guide our lives and place us in the right place at the right moment that we might do what will advance His kingdom.  How grand it is going to be, to someday be told by God Himself, “Well done.”  We will be amazed because not only might we not remember the moment but if we do we might have thought it was nothing much.  There will be the surprise.  The smallest act can have huge implications in history. We are here to blossom, to bear our fruit.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 12, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

My wife and I just finished a game of Upwords (3-D Scrabble).  There are certain letters like the Q, X, and J that one needs to play as soon as possible.  I had the J.  An opportunity arose to change “fail” to “jail.”  In haste I played an N and made “nail.”  I missed my one and only opportunity to shed my J.  It cost me the game. When we finished I had to subtract five points because I still had it.

Haste.  How many endeavors in life have been lost because of haste?   How many times would we have done much better if we had only paused long enough to think things through?   Haste really does make waste.  It isn’t an old maxim without cause.  Eve would have done so much better if she had only thought through what the snake was saying.  Then there was David who thought it through and still made an awful mistake.  His plot killed one of his mighty men.  Usually, and I emphasize usually, we make wiser decisions if we just pause before we leap into something.

In Mark chapter one, we have a picture of Jesus calling Andrew and Peter and James and John to leave their fishing boats and follow Him.   If all we had was the Gospel of Mark we would have thought them to be hasty to leave their livelihood.  They had families.  When we read the other Gospels we realize even though the account is in Mark chapter one this event was a year into Jesus’ ministry and they had seen and heard much to aid them in their decision.

If you haven’t yet made Jesus your savior, don’t leap, think then leap.  It will be the wisest decision of your entire eternal life.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 20, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I was shocked when I looked into our birdbath.  There must have been 10,000 mosquito larva swimming and growing and ever so anxious to soon make my life an itching, scratching horror.  They are so tiny and yet if in the right environment so lethal.  Things don’t have to be big to be dangerous.  Actually we do pretty good protecting ourselves from the big dangers.  It’s the microbes, viruses and bacteria that can take us out. It’s the little guys.

This is much like sin.  I’ve never robbed a bank nor have I murdered anyone.  Those big ones I can deal with.   It’s the tiny ones that I sometimes excuse for the very reason that they are tiny.  Those feelings of pride and being better than another, those are the truly dangerous ones.  Just this morning I referred to someone as being sub.  I will not elaborate by telling you sub what.  I cannot imagine Jesus ever thinking of someone as sub.  The lepers were worthy of His care.  The publicans (tax collectors for the hated Romans) were His dinner companions.  Ladies of the night were treated with respect.  The people He had the toughest time with were the smug.  Smug is a nasty disease.  Smug sneaks up on us and lives in us without our being aware.  Smug alienates.  Smug kills.

I used to be discouraged when I read in the Sermon on the Mount that I was to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.  Really?  Then came the joy of learning that just as salvation itself is a gift so is the victory over all those “character infecting little guys”a gift.  In Ephesians 2 Paul assures us that this whole process from A to Z is all Jesus.  Such Good News.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 19, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I’m sitting here looking at a picture of a very pretty lady.  There is just one problem.   It’s a picture of a tree with three birds flying to the upper branches.  One bird is the lady’s eye, another her nose and the third her lips.   It is really well done.  I would post it for you to see but I fear I would be violating a copyright law.   We all have seen pictures like this.  The most prominent lesson learned from these pictures is we sometimes are so sure we have seen something and we didn’t.   I have heard people say, “Don’t tell me what I saw.  I know what I saw.”   It is difficult to admit that we cannot trust our own senses.  We want to be confident.   Sometimes we say, “I know what I know.”  The challenge is we don’t know what we don’t know.  Thus no one can be president of the United States until they are 35 or older.

We can also be confused when we are reading.  Reading isn’t as straight forward as we might think.  Words are loaded with history and nuances do not mean the same thing to everyone.  Thus we have one Bible and hundreds of churches, each with their own set of doctrines.  Each group is sure they are the one with God’s message.  What is grand about God is we are not saved by being correct.  We are saved by grace.  We do not have to march in mental lockstep with others to be loved by Jesus.  The next time you are drawn into a Bible Battle back out.   You are not going to win and neither is the other guy.   So don’t waste the emotional energy.    If someone genuinely wants to know, a Spirit filled Bible study is just what the doctor ordered.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 17, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Emily Dickenson wrote, “I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know.”  She must have thought of being somebody (at least for a few moments) because she also wrote, “Success is counted sweetest by those who ne’er succeed.  To comprehend a nectar requires sorest need.”  Being somebody is the native fruit of success unless your goal was to be nobody.

In 1954 Marlon Brando immortalized the line, “I could have been somebody” in the film On the Waterfront.  I’m sure there are some people who have never wanted to be somebody but I’m not sure that I know any.  Being that I know a lot of preachers I can safely say they are the worst.  They would never admit it because that would mar their self images as God’s messengers.  Deep within they are attracted to the pulpit because of the attention they receive from fans and foes.  I know some will say, “Speak for yourself.” So I do and I hold to my belief from decades of associations.

Now to the important stuff.  You are somebody.  You are God’s son.  You are God’s daughter.  You are a prince of the Universe.  You are a princess of the Universe.  In Romans and Galatians Paul assures us that we have been adopted into God’s family and are co-heirs with Jesus.  It is an unfathomable thought, a non-comprehensible concept.  Sometimes Paul shocks us with his ideas of God’s lavish love and God’s plans for our futures. People who are not overwhelmed by many of Paul’s concepts are so merely because they have not yet read them.  Please pour over Ephesians 1 & 2.  The ideas within are astounding.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 21, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

We all had special assignments beyond the classroom at our school in Uganda.  Mine was to daily check on and maintain the water pump that supplied our school with the best water imaginable.  Away from the campus and down into a jungleish valley was a path I could navigate with my small motorcycle.  It was a place I always approached with care.  The small shed over the pump was vine covered and often displayed some of the most amazing orchids.  My apprehension was caused by not wanting to have an “Eve at the tree” experience.  My feelings were well founded because late one afternoon as I pushed open the door I came face to face with an African Black Mamba.

Eve’s heart could not have pounded faster or harder than mine.    This one did not need to talk to me.  I understand they are really fast but so was I.  The difference between my encounter and Eve’s was only my life was in jeopardy.  Billions, perhaps a trillion since then, have perished because of her experience.  Paul wrote, “By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” When the catastrophe occurred our Creator God immediately initiated a previously well conceived plan.  This was not a head scratching “what will do” moment.  From a parent’s heart of deep love came the promise that all would someday be well. Jesus did not falter with a “should I or should I not.”  This was as definite as definite can be.  No matter the cost you and I will be saved.

Oh, and what about the mamba?  We seemed to come to an agreement that I would not bother it and it would not bother me for I saw it again and again.  Neither of us were harmed.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 16, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

How much is enough?  Are we satiable?  And if so for how long until our appetite for more slowly creeps in making us hungry again?   In cases where people make lots of money and still want more, surely it can’t be about the money.  Is it about keeping up with those in our profession?  Is it more about pride and self respect than what we can afford?  One can only wear one pair of shoes at a time.  What is it about a hospital CEO supposedly dedicated to the care and well-being of others making three million dollars a year?  No matter what excuse he or she gives about being competitive in the market place it just means you are part of a greedy marketplace.

How much is enough?  Are we satiable?  I know a man who has a loving wife and children and yet still acts as if he still needs more demonstrated by his philandering ways.  Yes, there is a difference between the performance and ride of a nice car compared to a cheapie that will need to be replaced within a hundred thousand miles.  But there isn’t a 50,000 dollar difference in the ride of 100,000 dollar car and a 50,000 dollar car.  And if we buy that $50,000 car when it is a year old we can get it for $40,000.

How much prestige is enough?  How many honors are needed for our walls?   More is the disease of mankind.  The Good News is there is a cure.  Jesus is enough!  He fills our hunger for more because He gives us everything and His everything sates us.  When we pray Bread of Heaven feed me til I want no more, He does.  If we are tired of wanting more please come to Jesus.  He will fix us.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 15, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

While browsing about in Barnes and Noble I could not miss the wide variety of mystery books.  I am going to assume that mysteries sell really well or Barnes and Noble would not use up their precious space with something that just sits and gathers dust.  This week we could not find apple butter at our supermarket.  When we asked where it was the manager did not even know what apple butter is.  Apparently it is not something often requested.  So why clutter up their space?

This week someone told me there would only be 144,000 souls saved.  He quoted Revelation 14.  He failed to note Revelation 7:9 which speaks of a saved multitude so large no one could number them.   Heaven is big.  There is lots of room for everyone.  God does not have to conserve space.  There is room for you and me and all our children and grandchildren and ancestors.  If need be God could make it bigger like old farmhouses that have extra rooms built on the back to accommodate more children.

This whole idea of being special to other’s disadvantage is so human and so unchristian.  We want to be honored no matter who else isn’t.  This is the mystery of iniquity in us.  In Ephesians 3 Paul speaks of a different mystery.  It was an idea so new that past generations did not know.  But now via God’s revelation to Paul we know grace is available to everyone.  Disregard your genealogies.  Your blood line or church membership has nothing to do with salvation.  It is all about Jesus and God’s grace.  So if you were counting on getting a special seat in heaven you can forget it.  Egalitarianism is a gem from the “unsearchable riches of Christ.” Eph. 3:6

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 14, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

“Everyone has a passion.  A new idea to share.  What will your verse be?”  This is Apple iPad Air’s latest advertising challenging us by appealing to our core.   Everyone has a passion.  We might never have stopped long enough to probe our inner being and put it into words.  Maybe for the first time we are asked to articulate just why we think we are here and what will be our legacy.  Others form ideas of who we are.  Unfortunately, they are not always positive.  But we are the owners of ourselves.  We are the ones who should define ourselves.  We have the right to reject other’s flawed projections. We have the right to say who and what we are.

There has never been another like you.  There will never be another like you.  You are unique in eternity.  What is your verse?  What do you want to say that no one else can ever say?  What passion fills your life?  How will the world be different because you were here?

You are not a cipher. You are not an accidental combination of DNA resulting in your consciousness.  God is not a God who plays favorites and He said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; . .”  In Ephesians 2 Paul wrote, “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”   In God’s great plan you have an appointed task no one else can do.  It is your God given passion. One of life’s great tasks is to discover it, identify it, give it flesh with your words and do it with all your might.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 13, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

When we arise in the morning we begin a marketing campaign.  We shower so we will not offend other’s olfactory nerves.  We shave or trim.  We brush our teeth. (Please do.) We put on makeup to add some color.  (“If the barn needs painting, paint it.”  H.M.S. Richards, Sr.) We comb our hair and hopefully put on clothes that match.  We are marketers and the product is us.  This is not a modern phenomenon.  For thousands of years humans have been decorating themselves.  Tribes deep in the rain forests put on their best.

Off to the workplace we go, often pretending that we know what we are doing.  One of life’s basic rules is fake it until you can do it because perception is important. What is sometimes disconcerting is when we are given awards for excellence and we think we are still acting.  I often feel like this in regards to my role as a Christian.  If people knew what I really think about things, I would be put out of any congregation.  But I pretend to be nice and I pretend to know things even though I am not sure of many things.  I owe it to my Savior.   I am not only marketing myself but more importantly I am marketing Jesus.  I want people to see Him and desire to be like Him and that most likely will not happen if I, who profess His name, am offensive.

Just as the CEO of a major corporation has a lot at stake for the sake of his shareholders, we have an eternity at stake for those who know us.  What is fascinating about all of this is little by little reality replaces the pretending and we really are what we are marketing.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 12, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org