Last Friday morning about 3 AM my dog bumped my bed.  It was time to take her outside so down the stairs we went and out the side door.  It was magical.  The moon was full, there were no night sounds and gray shadows displayed intricate patterns across the hostas.  Normally I am in a hurry for her to finish and come back in, but this time I wanted to linger.  Fetching a bottle of cold lemonade I sat on the porch steps waiting for dawn.  Eventually my dog came and snuggled.  She was happy to wait with me.

Waiting for dawn isn’t new.  Adam and Eve sorrowfully had to leave their garden home. They waited 900 years for a dawn that is yet to be as the darkness of sin encompassed their beautiful world. But, the promise had been given. A Messiah would come and what an incredible dawn would come with Him.  In II Peter chapter 1 Peter speaks of the surety of the promises and the dawn will come just as promised.

Together we basked in the moving moon and ever changing maple and oak shadows. Both of us were nodding when we saw the morning paper being delivered and we both knew it was time to retreat inside. Falling back to sleep was easy because I knew the dawn was coming. But before I was deep in slumber I heard the soft breathing of my beautiful lab rising from her place beside my bed.  She too seemed assured that dawn was not far away.  Indeed there is a new day dawning.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 12, 2017

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While filling out a form at the DMV this week I was sitting on a bench beside a lady who appeared to be a bit older than I.  (All of them are older than I.)  I particularly noticed this one because she was muttering fairly loudly about how stupid the form was.   I thought it was pretty straightforward.  They just wanted to know if there was any physical reason why you shouldn’t drive, etc.  Finally, I offered to help her with it. She never did stop talking about how stupid the form was.   Ah, how human of her.  It is never our fault.  She was a true daughter of Eve.  “The serpent made me do it.”  It is so difficult for us to accept that when something goes wrong it is our fault.  If we fail a test it was the teacher’s fault. If we get a speeding ticket the officer was just waiting for us.  It is so refreshing to have a student say, “I’m sorry.  I watched television instead of doing my assignment.”   Actually I guess I never have heard that. Instead grandma dies several times during the semester.   I think people must name their cat Grandma.

Can you imagine all the excuses and all the blame that will be cast around on judgment day?   No one will be lost because of their sins.  It will be someone else’s fault.  It is so Freudian.   I wonder if on judgment day someone said, “Yes, God.  I see you offered me salvation as a gift and I didn’t take it.”  Will God be so amazed He will give them another chance?

Who’s to say?   After all He is a God of mercy and the parable of the workers hired at all times of the day tells us to mind our own business. God will save whomever He deems.

Written on May 23, 2009

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There are about 150 varieties of fuchsias each with a special name like pinwheel, flaming pink, cardinal, red spider, pink rain, and snowcap.   These plants have the reputation of being expensive and fragile—plants one buys each spring only to have them die each fall. However, in Ireland fuchsias grow like weeds.  They line the roadsides with red walls for miles on end.  They are beautiful, hardy and need no special care—they have found just the right environment.

People like plants will flourish if placed in the right environment.  Sometimes there is the temptation to think of some students as just bad kids—those kids voted most likely to end up in jail.  However, that does not need to be so.  Sometimes a student is hostile and belligerent for what we are tempted to think is no reason at all.  But usually there is a reason; we just do not know what it is.  It is the same for many adults. 

 Oh, that we would pray for God’s wisdom to know how to help those around us find the right environment—to flourish.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 19, 2004

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I called the 800 number to order a new batch of checks.  The nice man on the phone told me he was going to give me a nice leather checkbook holder.  When he finally stopped adding on this charge and that charge I complained and told him I was going to shop around.  “Oh,” he said, “I can subtract $10 from your total.  But, I can’t send you the leather checkbook holder.”  “Wait just a moment,” I said.  “Then you really weren’t giving me the checkbook holder.  You were selling it to me for an additional $10.”  I really should have hung up at that moment but I didn’t.

 

Don’t you just hate it when it becomes apparent that you are being duped? And when we object the duper plays innocent.  Nobody enjoys being a dupee.  How often in life are we dupable?   We have dupability and I hate it.

 

Let me assure you that when Jesus promises us eternal life as a gift He means it.  There are no take backs.  No, not once saved always saved.  We can give it back and so often we are foolish and do so.  But I repeat.  He never takes it back.  If God is anything He is honest, forthright, and open.  When Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive” He is transparent and telling the truth.  Satan is the great duper.  He is the liar.  He is the one who lures us with things that look good but are filled with death.  He puts the cyanide in Kool-Aid.

 

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 4, 2013

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If I put all green wood in my wood stove nothing happens.  I can put all kinds of fire starters under them only to come back a bit later to find the fire starter is consumed and the green wood is just sitting there.  I would be tempted to think that wood would never burn.  But if I put one or two pieces of green wood in with seasoned wood not only does the green wood soon catch on fire but the fire lasts longer for when the seasoned wood is gone the now seasoned by association green wood is burning nicely.  The analogy almost writes itself.  Put a group of inexperienced young people on a project and mix in some older seasoned veterans and it isn’t long before those young people are very capable.

When Jesus started His ministry He gathered a mixture of young and mature men to be His disciples.  James and John were teens while Peter and Andrew were mature men with families.  Timothy must have been young because Paul told him not to let anyone despise his youth.  I was twenty-two when I began to pastor five churches in Iowa.  In one of them the youngest person was forty-five.  I learned so much from those midwesterners.  They were very patient.

Now I am on the other end of the timeline and I find myself learning so much from my college students.  If we keep our minds open we can always learn.  I have some very conservative friends and some very liberal friends.  I enjoy fellowshipping with both of them.  I sometimes think one group doesn’t think much of the other group.  I always learn if I don’t do so much talking and instead just listen.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 11, 2009.

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I had a forty-pound bag of seed for our birdfeeder in the garage and then a gray squirrel discovered it.   Obviously the many layers of paper were not enough to keep him out so I closed it in a large plastic garbage can.  I know what you are thinking and you are right.  He chewed right through theplastic and continued to help himself to the seed.

This squirrel is like Satan, the opportunist, who squirrels his way past and through our best defenses.  Satan is probably the second best psychologist. For thousands of years he has studied human nature and knows how to press our buttons to get his desired result.   He preys upon our appetites and fears.  He feeds upon our insecurities and watches with delight as we develop prejudices and hatred toward groups that are different than we.  He watches for us to make promises to do better and specifically tempts us in those areas for he knows when we fail we will often give up trying as we resign ourselves to our inabilities.

Our defenses are no match for him.  However there is a psychologist far superior to him.  Jesus, our creator, knows our thoughts and weaknesses and promises to fill us with real power, the power that spoke worlds into being. With this help, which is always available upon our request, we can make Satan look exactly like the second rate power he is.  In John 14 Jesus urges us to ask for power and He promises we will receive all we need.  Never will He allow us to be forced to do wrong.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 23, 2008.

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It went “buzz-z-z,” followed by three tones that counted– one, two, three.  Over and over it was clearly imprinted on the hiker’s brain.  Coming out of the forest he went directly to the computer.  It took only a few moments to identify the call as that of the golden-winged warbler.  He had never seen a golden-winged warbler, but he knew without a doubt where one lived.  He went back to the forest the next day and the call came again from the very same place.  “Aha, if I am patient, maybe I will see this elusive bird,” the hiker thought.

We have never seen the Holy Spirit, but we do know without a doubt where He lives.  In Ephesians 5:18 Paul writes of his desire that his readers be filled with the Spirit.  It is through the Spirit that Christ dwells within us.  In John 3 Jesus speaks of the reality of the Spirit, not by seeing it, but by seeing what it does.

It produces major changes in our lives and fruit is produced—the fruit of affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity, a willingness to stick with things, and a sense of compassion in the heart…” Galatians  5:22

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 27, 2004

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Surely there has not been a more decent, honest and honorable man who was President of the United States than Jimmy Carter.  Without a doubt he has had the most successful post-presidency of any man who ever lived in the White House.  His foundation has reached out to provide clean water for the poor, medical care for the blind of the world and conflict resolution among nations.

 His marriage with Rosalynn is an example for all of us.  Interestingly, however, in an interview both of the Carters recalled how difficult it was to co-author a book.  As each wrote the truth about events that had occurred in the White House they discovered their stories were very different.  Each was sure the other was having memory problems because each was sure their version was what really happened.

 Truth is difficult to know.  Even the sincere see things through personal biases and faulty memories.  So often we know only what we want to know, filtering out everything that contradicts what we want to believe. Perhaps the person most difficult to know the truth about is the person we see in the mirror.  How very fortunate we are that the One who really knows the truth about us also loves us dearly and died for us.  While we were sinners He gave His life for us that we should not only live but also actually grow into the person our dog thinks we are.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 28, 2004

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After ten years of accumulated stuff it became obvious that the garage was in serious need of attention.  It is amazing how stuff accumulates.  It makes one want to believe in spontaneous generation.  It seems as though at night when there is no moon stuff must pop into being.  Usually it is useless stuff that might possibly become useful someday.  But eventually reality hits—the stuff is not ever going to be useful.  Then one can only hope the garbage man will carry it all away.

It is like that with our brains as well.  They too are often filled with useless stuff.  The problem is we cannot get rid of it as easily as we can the junk in the garage.  It seems that the best solution would be to keep filling our minds with quality material.  If one concentrates on good stuff, there will be no time to think about the trash and it will eventually fade away.

Paul said, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”  Philippians 4:8

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 1, 2004

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It is not uncommon to find in old books small pieces of paper filled with nonsense scribbling.  What fun it is to find such treasures.  Many of us have them tucked away in our books.  What precious reminders they are–  reminders of a four-year-old thrusting into your hands a tiny blue piece of paper with wondrous markings!  Oh, how we value those “love notes.”

 

Have you ever considered that our attempts to communicate with God must be on the level of scribbling?  The thought of forming any sentence either elegant or plain to present before the Creator of the universe fills one with an overwhelming sense of inadequacy.  Praying almost seems an act of arrogance.  Yet God invites us to do so and is pleased when we take Him up on his invitation.  Psalms 91:15,16 says, “He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.  With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

 

Perhaps the books of heaven are filled with small pieces of paper loaded with some very precious scribblings.

 

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 29, 2002

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