Month: December 2022

Most likely everyone has a box filled with useless things that we cannot throw away.  Usually they are the fragments of one’s childhood or of our children’s childhood.  Artwork from first grade, father’s day cards, cheap souvenirs from a family trip, golf score cards, kissing pictures from a photo booth, ticket stubs from a roller coaster ride, a pressed four-leaf clover.  These are important things. My heart breaks for people whose homes are destroyed. While one can always buy new things, one can never reproduce a box filled with useless (wonderful) mementos of a time long gone. Surely in heaven Jesus has a box with a favorite tool from His carpenter’s shop in Nazareth, a driedel, a lock of hair, something from His bar mitzvah, a temple coin from Jerusalem, a collar from a favorite puppy.

My box has an old metal dog tag with my name pressed into the soft aluminum.  Vividly I remember making it on a machine at Hershey Park.  It was in the 1940’s just after the war.  My dad put the 10 cents into the machine (a lot of money) and helped me turn the wheel with the letters.  Then I pulled the lever that pressed my name.  I put it on a string (didn’t have a chain) and wore it about my neck like GIs.  It was wonderful.

Jesus wants to press His ID on us.  We are already written in His heart.  Now He longs for us to allow Him to be written in ours.  He wants us to be so like Him we don’t have to tell people we are Christians.  They will just know because of how we treat them.  He said, “Hereby shall men know you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 18, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Anyone who owns a car has at least one time gotten in and turned the key only to hear a click.  It’s a sickening sound.  Most of us who are optimistic turn the key again only to rehear the click.  And if we have really lost control of our brains we turn it the third time.  If it didn’t work the first two times it isn’t going to work the third time because the battery is dead or so close to death it needs hospice.  It’s time for the jumper cables.  Hopefully there is a kind soul about who will let you connect to their car for electrical sustenance.

We could be the one who needs the power or the one who supplies the power depending on our personal supply.  When we are with Jesus we are charged with enough power to overcome the world.  That’s a promise in I John 5.  But there are times when we aren’t so supercharged.

Spending time in the Gospels and Paul’s letters keeps us connected and allows His power to flow through us to others.  These days, before the holidays, are especially hectic and busy and the time we have to pay attention to our spiritual life can be quite limited.  Often we have to really purpose it. If we don’t, life’s chores just crowd our days leaving very little time for Jesus.  It’s ironic that the celebration of His advent becomes the very thing to pull us away from Him.  If you find yourself feeling a bit separated from Him don’t chastise yourself.  He understands and is grateful for any time you can devote to Him, be it five minutes or an hour.  Just don’t let it be zero or you will hear the dreaded click.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 17, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I grew up in a culture that rarely read the Bible in context.  Instead we pieced together ideas by taking a text from here and a text from there.  Unfortunately this often leads one to believe they know much about the Bible when they do not.  It is most beneficial to sit down and just read without trying to find texts to support ideas we already have.  But just read and wonderful things will happen.  The Holy Spirit will paint pictures in our minds of things past and things to come.  They will be fresh pictures unlike our preconceived concepts of what is supposed to be there.

Try the Gospel of Mark.  It was the first one written. Try not to approach the text with an “I already know these stories” attitude.  Try to read them as if you did not know and were reading them for the first time.  An average reader can read Mark in about an hour.  That is if one can keep reading.  My problem is my mind wants to fill in details of the story which slows me down.  That’s okay.  Smelling the leper in chapter one, listening to Jesus voice, seeing the hungry multitudes crowding Him is an enlightening experience.

In chapter two Jesus tells us to put new wine into new wineskins.  Don’t try to stuff what you are reading into your old wineskin (frame of reference).   Let the Holy Spirit give you a whole new wineskin for your new insight. (You will have a new perspective.)  Reading Scripture is unlike reading any other book.  It is not merely the thoughts of wise men.  It is God’s Word for our time.  It is for all times.  The Holy Spirit will make us more intelligent.  And who does not want to be smarter?

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 19, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I just had a fascinating conversation where the other person said, “My father taught me to take a stand.  Something is either right or wrong.  There is no middle ground.  If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.”  “But,” I said, “what if you discover you were wrong.”  “Then,” she said, “at least I stood for something.” It seems the virtue wasn’t knowing truth but being intransigent.  I am so thankful I am not married to that person.  She had learned something from her father and she was not going to change.  Taking a position was to her a righteous position.

She is not the first person like this that I have known.  One such person was someone who prided himself on the number of Bible studies he gave so others could learn his truth.  The irony was he wasn’t open to change but he wanted those to whom he gave Bible studies to change.

The older I get the less I know.  I don’t think it is the result of senility.  I think it is the result of meeting righteous people who see life differently than I.  I rejoice in the Biblical truth that we are saved by grace and not by knowing the right things.  I do so hope in heaven when Jesus tells us the TRUTH we all will come to realize we all had it wrong.

If we were all like my intransigent lady we would destroy the world because peace talks, negotiations and compromises would be impossible.  The only thing left would be to agree to disagree or to destroy the other.  I fear we would choose the latter.   Only God who knows everything can stand firmly without changing.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 18, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

In the musical “The Music Man” there is a wonderful song called, “The Wells Fargo Wagon.”   The words are “The Wells Fargo wagon is a-comin down the street. Oh, please let it be for me.  I wish – I wish I knew what it could be.”  Every time the big brown UPS truck comes up my street my brain sings that song.  I kind of like it because it’s a fun song.  It reflects an immature childishness of wanting something.  Just something.  Nothing in particular.  That bothers me a bit. Because I am sated with things.  I am like the Laodicean church in Revelation.  I have need of nothing.   I can only wear one pair of shoes at a time.  I have a pair.

The world has two billion people who really need things – essentials.  Here I sit in a warm home surrounded by my books and electronics.  My fridge is adequately full and yet I want more.  I could beat on myself for this.  But I teach psychology and I know it is just being a human being.  I am sure Bill Gates has moments when he wants more.  He cannot help himself.  He’s human.

This is why it is essential that we give.  We must give to counterbalance this primitive selfishness that lurks beneath our thin shell of being civilized.  Perhaps it feels so good to give because we have a moment of knowing we are not just animals.  We are sons and daughters of the living God who made us to be like Him and He is a giver.  He gives us everything we need each day.  And so we give.  When someone gives us something, we receive and we just gave them an opportunity to also be a giver.  We both grew.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 17, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

In my human development class I start my lectures talking about prenatal development and end the semester talking about nursing homes and hospice care.  I am sure to point out to my young students that they can be very smart and well informed but they are not yet wise.  You have to be old before wisdom arrives.  So one of my students put up his hand and said, “Tell us something wise.”  After the laughter I said, “If you like to tell funny stories about people be sure you are a member of that group.  Then you have the privilege.  White people should not tell black jokes.  Gentiles should not tell Jewish jokes.  As for me, I can tell old short bald guy jokes.”   Recently I heard someone make a crack about people with doctorates.  I tell lots of them.  But this person did not have the right.  His attempt at humor made him look envious.

We, according to Paul, are saints.  His first letter to the church at Corinth was addressed to the saints.  If you have made Jesus the Lord of your life you qualify and with membership comes the right to tell jokes about saints.

Just think of the joy and privileges that come with membership in the greatest group that will ever be assembled.  In Revelation 7:9 it says our group will be so big it will be numberless.  How grand.   After I am done crying because of the joy, I want to spend the next hundred years laughing.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 16, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

This weekend I heard someone say, “The reason I come to church is to increase my chances of being saved.”  I wanted to cry.  This came from the mouth of a regular church goer.  Then I wanted to scream.  What are we doing wrong?  What are we not saying?  Have we not all heard John 3:16-17 over and over?  Are we so dull?

I have come to believe the French philosopher Henri Bergson, “The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.”  The wonder of God’s love, the free gift of salvation is incomprehensible to us who have been taught to believe we only get what we work for.  And so we hear.  We hear week after week (if you are in the right place) but we just don’t get it.  Jesus’ words take on real meaning.  Jesus said, “They may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding.”  Mark 4:12.

Back to “if we are in the right place.”  I experienced being the pastor of a congregation that ever so slowly got it.  I moved.  A new pastor came.  I returned for a visit.  They no longer knew.  It is difficult to hang on to it if one is constantly bombarded with all the things one has to do to “get ready.”  The subtly of works just sucks us back into its torture chamber.  I had a colleague who continually preached that we were “saved by relationship.”  No!  We are saved by grace.  The relationship follows as fruit.

Please, I beg of you to concentrate on the real truth of Christmas.  The baby in Bethlehem was a gift who brought us the most wonderful gift of all – Grace.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 15, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

When my students give me excuses for late papers I have no idea if they are telling the truth.  Since I am employed to be a teacher and not a judge I choose to believe them.  I’m sure that many walk away thinking I am a big patsy.  That’s okay.  I would rather err on the side of the student than on the other side.  After all the result is only the shape of a symbol on a piece of paper.  I haven’t always been that way but I think as one ages one begins to prioritize what is really important.  If a paper is a class late it is not the end of the world nor will it take away from the quality of my life while it might add to the quality of the student’s life.

It’s difficult to make excuses to God because He was watching all along and He does know the truth.  That’s scary.  He knows more truth about us than we know about ourselves because we tend to rationalize things to make ourselves feel better.

Solomon said, “For God will judge us for everything we do, including every hidden thing, good or bad.”  How very frightening that would be if Jesus had not come and said, “I say emphatically that anyone who listens to my message and believes in God who sent me has eternal life, and will never be damned for his sins, but has already passed out of death into life.” John 5

How awesome it is that even though He knows the truth about us He still loves us.  Never make excuses to God.  It’s futile.  Bite the bullet, admit guilt and then accept His grace.  Our Father loves to give us grace.  It makes Him happy.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 12, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Every once in awhile one comes upon a quotation that tastes so good.  Today I read the following from John Steinbeck and my mind won’t let it go. He wrote, “And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.”

Some of the most miserable people I have ever known are people obsessed with being perfect.  Often they are so very hard on themselves that it spills over into their being hard on others.  Self-introspection is good to a degree but like all things it can get out of balance.    Either they never learned or somewhere along the way forgot that Jesus is our perfection.  It is a gift of His grace.  Yes, I know about Jesus comment in the Sermon on the Mount, “Be ye therefore perfect as you Father in heaven is perfect.” It is a grand goal.  But it is not a goal designed to make us miserable over what we have not obtained.  Paul wrote, “I don’t mean to say I am perfect. I haven’t learned all I should even yet, but I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be.”  Philippians 3:12  The Living Bible

So there it is.  Press toward the goal.  But don’t make yourself miserable thinking you will not be saved if you don’t make it.  Guess what.  You won’t make it.  So relax.  As Steinbeck says be a good person.  Being a good person is a great way to live.  Being good doesn’t mean you will not err.  I committed a big error today.  I will not tell on myself.  But I knew. And it did not ruin my day.  I will just work on it without thinking it disqualified me from eternal life.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 11, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

This afternoon I sat at a vantage point where I could study the graffiti on the sides of about twenty coal cars. Some of it was surprisingly good art; not that I’m a critic.  However, some were very colorful and the designs were intricate and not just haphazard spray painting.  There were a lot of tags which consisted of overlaying initials.  I assume it was the artist’s initials or at least their personal logo.  Two of the cars had lovely landscapes with mountains, lakes, trees and clouds.

“Why,” I asked myself, “why this compulsion to paint in public places?”  Then I realized these makers of graffiti were little different than any of us.  No one wants to spend decades here without leaving a mark, without making a difference.  Some of us leave books, some of us leave children, some leave legacies by giving large sums of monies to schools and hospitals in exchange for having their name on a building.  We want to know that we count for something other than just being a consumer of the world’s precious resources.

One of the great rewards of Christianity is the permanence of self.  According to the Book of Revelation our names are recorded in heaven and for eternity we will enhance the value of that name by personal growth in the sciences, arts and literature.  The universe is endless.  There is no danger that we will fill it.  Opportunities for incredible developments from the depths of our enormous intellects will continue to amaze.  Never worry about leaving your mark.  You will and it will be out of this world.

As I pondered the coal cars I realized one could do worse than being a decorator of train cars.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 9, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org