Month: August 2022

Today I wrote a check for twelve months of car/home insurance.  Ouch.  As I did so I remembered one of my high school/academy teachers who didn’t believe in insurance because he returned his tithe to God, who promised to rebuke the devourer.  I wonder what he would have done if he lived in Massachusetts where auto insurance is required by law?  To my knowledge he never had an accident nor did his house ever burn down. Was it random chance or did God honor his faith?  It’s one of the questions I have to ask God someday.

I thought about not paying for my house insurance for my former teacher’s reason.  Was my purchase of house insurance an act of disbelief in God’s promise? I don’t think so.  I had to pay because I believe God expects us to do as much as we can to protect ourselves and He will do the rest.  Actually it was He who made sure I had the funds to purchase the insurance.

Was my professor being foolish?  I don’t think so.  I believe God treats each of us in a unique manner.  He knows our thoughts.  He knows our levels of faith and why and how we arrive at our conclusions.  Thus for me it would be foolish not to purchase insurance.  But, what about people who have watched in agony as their children die because the parents would not seek modern medical care and trusted in prayer?  God didn’t save their children because of their parent’s faith.  So the issue is murky in my mind.  There are so many issues about which I wish I knew more and someday I shall know.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have all the answers?

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 21. 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

The well-known phrase “If you think education is expense try ignorance” is playing out around the world.  In Liberia ignorant people stormed an HIV clinic and carried away infected patients.  How can we begin to assess the price this is going to cost mankind?  In the Middle East extremists are beheading people, burying people alive, crucifying people and doing other horrors in the name of Allah.  Paul was one of those extremists and he said in I Timothy 1:13, “I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.”

Paul was an extremely well-educated man, who could hardly be classified as ignorant.  Yet, he orchestrated the stoning of Stephen.  Paul knew Scripture but, he didn’t know God.  He never knew God until He met Jesus.  To the Ephesians he wrote regarding those who don’t know Jesus, “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.”

He also wrote in Ephesians 4, “. . . we all reach unity in the faith in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”  Ignorance is expensive because it retards our growth.  When we learn about Jesus we can grow into the whole measure of being like Him.  That knowledge equips us for an eternity of becoming.  Let’s shed the “I want to go to heaven for material things.”  Let’s want to go to heaven that we might understand the deepest secrets of the universe and that we might be everything God wanted us to be when He first said, “Let us make man in OUR image.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 19, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

It’s been another quiet summer day in Leominster, Massachusetts.  The hummingbirds have been busy at the window feeder.  It’s hard to believe they will be gone soon on their winter trip to the Caribbean.  We think it’s possible that the orioles are gone already along with the catbirds.  It seems too early for them to leave.  Maybe the neighbors have better grape jelly. One wants to eat at the best restaurant in town.  That’s what the first commandment is all about.  Our Heavenly Father wants us to eat at the best place possible.  Why should we serve gods who are not alive and can give us nothing?  What He is saying is, “Don’t be stupid and eat and drink from polluted, poisoned wells. I’m here and I have the best for you.”

God’s law isn’t burdensome unless we decide to make it so.  It is a law of freedom.  It frees us from the tyranny and violence of others.  It gives us the guidance to be free from the retaliation of others, since they will have nothing to retaliate against because we haven’t harmed them.  Actually, that only works if they are intelligent people.  So often other’s selfishness wants to harm us when they see us living so well.  They don’t understand.  They think somehow we are cheating them.  However, “Thou preparest a table before me.  My cup runs over. Goodness and mercy follow me.”  They just don’t understand that they too could have the same daily banquet.  God isn’t playing favorites. Obedience bears good fruit.  When we understand we get it.  When we obey God we are obeying ourselves.  The fruit is what we really want.

Psalm 119 tells us that God’s law makes us wiser than our teachers.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 18, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Just two weeks ago if asked what kind of squirrels do you have in your neighborhood I would have responded, “Gray and red.”  I had no idea that we had flying squirrels.  It seems they are nocturnal and since I am diurnal I had no knowledge of these big eyed creatures.  But for the past two weeks one has taken up residence at night at our bird feeder.

I am delighted to learn something new about my own backyard but at the same time I am a bit chagrined regarding my ignorance. It has been a good experience for me.  It reminds me of how little I really know.  Occasionally someone will phone me asking a Bible question.  When I was much younger I would pontificate answers with great authority.  However, as the years have passed by, I have become aware of the vastness of Scripture and my very minuscule knowledge.  Also, some of what I thought was so I now know isn’t or wasn’t so.

The smartest time in my life was when I graduated from high school.  It has been an intellectual downhill journey ever since.   I have discovered that the more education one obtains the more aware they become of how much there is to learn and how little we know and how little time there is to learn more. Once I heard someone bragging about her education and wondered if she got her degree from a Cracker Jack box.

If you would enjoy the treat of being humbled, just spend a few evenings on a clear night enjoying the two thousand plus individual stars we can see with our unaided eye.  If that were all there was we would be overwhelmed.  But there is so much more, much more, much more, much more to learn.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 18, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

It’s been a quiet day in Leominster, Massachusetts.  The sun drifted across the sky warming the maples and birches to 75 breezy degrees.  It was a day to go into the backyard with a salt shaker and pick vine ripened tomatoes. We don’t have any tomato plants but we do have a generous neighbor who says, “Come and help me.  I have zillions of tomatoes.”

One of the things I don’t like about the 21^st century is the lack of children playing outside.  We loved summer evenings in the 40s and 50s when everyone’s yard was a playground for all the children to play hide and seek and to fill a mason jar with lightning bugs.  Fortunately the ice cream truck still creeps through the neighborhood playing Turkey in the Straw.  But I do miss hearing “Ally Ally in Free” echoing down the street.

After reading the Gospel of John in one sitting I have this gut feeling that our God is frustrated.  I think He has an urge to say something that just will not work.  Have you ever wanted to say something but just couldn’t get it out?  Is there someone you love but every time you start to tell them the words get caught in your throat?  In a new relationship who will be the first to say, “I love you”?  What if you say it and the other person doesn’t say it back?  Does it sort of just hang out there in no man’s land?

God has certainly been able to tell us He loves us.  He not only said it, He demonstrated it for thirty some years.   Jesus was a walking “I love you” card.  So what is it that He wants to say but can’t?  “Ally Ally in Free.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 18, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Are you as irritated as I when the phone rings and you get up out of your easy chair, rush across the room, only to listen to a recorded message telling you that you have been called in response to an inquiry you made?  You know you never made any such inquiry.

In the mornings when I record the day’s devotional on our 800 line* I sometimes discover on the messages left behind that one of those machines called our machine.  In order for it to send its message it first has to listen to ours.  Only then can it leave its message.  I am amused at the idea of the machines talking to each other.  I wish their machine would as a result of listening to our machine repent.  If so then it would stop calling you and me.  A hundred years from now, if Jesus has not yet returned, we can send our personal robot to church in our self driving cars to listen to the robot the pastor sent.  Upon returning home our robot can deliver to us a word for word recitation of the morning sermon.

Sometimes I get the feeling that even though we are in church in the flesh that the same routines and the same prayers are not much different from robots.  If we have a friend to friend relationship with God I doubt if saying the same thing over and over really works.  Imagine an evening out with friends where you said the very same things with the very same words that you said the week before and the week before that. Jesus did say to us in John 15, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 14, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

I’m sure you have noticed the older we become the earlier we arrive at appointments.  There are exceptions to this.  You can count on some people being late.  It seems to be part of their fabric no matter how old they are.  But most of us seem to follow the “old people show up early” syndrome.  I’m guessing one of the reasons is experience has taught us many things can happen on route that would make us late.  So we build in time to change a tire or take a detour.

It is disconcerting to have tickets for an event and be told late-comers will not be seated until intermission.  How can that be?  I paid for these tickets.  I have always wondered if there were people who planned to get into Noah’s ark but were late arriving at the door.  Wow – talk about not being seated!

One can miss a lot by arriving late.  I have known people who knew they should become Christians but they knew about God’s love and grace and therefore, put it off thinking to take advantage of the offer later on in life.  That might work.  God is amazingly forgiving.  I say it might work because life can end abruptly not affording that late chance.  However, the real issue is what they have lost along the way.  Being a Christian isn’t merely about salvation and eternal life.  There are quality of life issues for now.  Life is amazingly stressful for many people.  A life in Christ can help.  One of my favorite authors wrote, “A life in Christ is a life of restfulness.”  There is a peace that comes with the assurance of salvation.  One’s whole approach to problems is much more sane and relaxed when one is resting in God’s strong hand.  It is foolish to be late.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 15, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

During the seventh-inning stretch at a ball game we traditionally sing the old favorite Take Me Out to the Ball Game.  When we sang “Give me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks” it occurred to me that I hadn’t had a box of Cracker Jacks for at least fifty years.   So I got one.  I opened it and just like I did as a child I dug around looking for the prize.  Even as a child I knew the prize was junk but now it was a piece of paper with a crummy looking picture.  We’ve come a long way from the glory days of a plastic finger ring or some other worthless item.  How can something that is worthless become even more worthless?

Thinking about things being worthless I remembered Ezekiel 7:19, “They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be treated as a thing unclean. Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s wrath. It will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs, for it has caused them to stumble into sin.”  The value of things is quite relative.  Shakespeare nailed it in Richard III.  “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse.”

In Mark 8 Jesus said, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”  I knew a man who was very rich and I knew he had not come by it honestly.  When asked how he could do that he responded.  “I am not going to heaven anyway so I better make the most of what I can now.”  Worthless – oh so worthless.  What a shame.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 14, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Research reveals that managerial style directly influences workplace productivity.  The bosses who harangue and manage with negativity do not get as much product from their employees as opposed to bosses that encourage workers with positive statements about their workers’ skills and talents.  So why do so many preachers try to motivate their congregations with threats of hell and eternal loss?  Could it be that we grew up with Jeremiah and other Old Testament prophets who really could stick it to their people?  Negativity seemed to work for Jonah when he went to Nineveh, but that reformation was short lived and Nineveh did eventually fall.  Fear is a horrible motivator.

Jesus was so different.  He wanted children to come to Him.  He told Nicodemus that God so loved the world.  He forgave those who crucified Him.  He told Zacchaeus He wanted to eat with him. Over and over His dealings with the common man were filled with compassion and love. The only times Jesus became harsh were when He witnessed the religious leadership abusing people.  See Matthew 23.  And we have to note His crucifixion quickly followed that tongue lashing.

To my colleagues and fellow preachers I appeal to be more like Jesus and less like Ezekiel. People are hungry to be loved.  The news of the world frightens them.  They don’t need to come to church and be frightened even more.  Make church a true sanctuary from the terrorism that stalks our world.  Love your people.  Encourage and inspire.  Inspiration fertilizes growth and becomes a part of people’s lives.  Jesus said, “Fear not for I am with you even to the end of the world.”  We are very much safe in the arms of Jesus.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 13, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Unless you are Rodney Dangerfield or some other self-deprecating comedian, people do not tell lies to make themselves look bad.  When I am ordering a pizza and I am asked for my name I tell them I’m Hercules.  Why should I lie and tell them Casper Milktoast?  The lies we tell about ourselves are designed to make us look better than we are, more manly, more courageous.

In the Gospels the disciples often looked bad.  They fell asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus asked them to pray with Him.  That very night they ran away and abandoned Him.  Peter cursed and denied knowing Jesus.  James and John wanted to call lightning down from heaven and burn up a town.  On the beach at Gadarenes they ran away and left Jesus at the mercy of two very violent demon-possessed men.

For me this is evidence that the Gospels stories are true.  If these men were making up stories they would have been like the rest of us and they would have made themselves look quite a bit more heroic.  Both Peter and John testify to the veracity of their stories by saying they saw, they heard, they touched with their own hands the Lord of Glory.  See I John 1 and II Peter 1.  They were eyewitnesses.   When television was new to us Walter Cronkite narrated a program called You Are There taking us to historic events and giving us front row seats.   Peter and John and the others Were There and they shared with us the unvarnished truth about what they saw.  Jesus was wonderful and they were not.  Jesus was perfect and they were not.  If they were lying to us surely they would have looked much, much better.

Written by Roger Bothell on August 12, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org