Month: February 2025

A seven layer burrito at Taco Bell is a good value.  It’s fairly healthy, but a bit heavy on the calories because of the avocado, the sour cream and the flour tortilla.  What I enjoy about it is each bite tastes different. If you don’t like a bite, quickly swallow it and go for another.  It will be unlike the previous.   One time you might get mostly beans and the next might be lettuce and tomatoes, which brings me to my analogy for the day.  I am mused by the varied experiences I get with multiple readings of Scripture.  The words on the pages do not change, but the power and meaning change.  Yesterday the healing of the leper in Mark 1 impacted me with Jesus’ compassion.  Today I am in admiration of the persistence of the leper.

Paul’s writings seem especially varied.   I Corinthians 13 is different every time I read it.  Today I was overwhelmed by the thought that one could be martyred and have it be for nothing.  Everything depends on one’s motives.  If I allow myself to be burned at the stake thinking I am earning heaven I will be sadly disappointed.  Heaven is a gift.  I cannot earn it no matter how rigidly I live my life and no matter how much of my goods I give to the poor.  The last time I read it I was taken by the idea that love keeps no record of wrongs.  Once forgiven – it’s gone.   I wish organizations were that way.

Of course the reason for the variety is the Holy Spirit’s awareness of our daily need.  Like any good physician the prescription varies by the patient and by the exigency.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 31, 2009

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I had a few moments yesterday to talk with a Fed-Ex delivery driver. Naturally our conversation turned to the economy and he told me his average day’s deliveries are 50% of what they were six months ago, indicating a major economic slowdown.   Afterward I wondered if we could develop a national economic index by monitoring Fed-Ex and UPS package deliveries. Perhaps there already is one.

Later I wondered if we could develop a spiritual index indicating the health of one’s relationship with God.  We have a tendency to use numbers for all manner of measurements.  Perhaps we could keep a running tally on the number of minutes we spend each day watching television verses the number of minutes we spend in prayer or Bible study.   How many minutes a day do we talk to others about National Inquirer or Entertainment Today material verses the number of minutes we speak of a new spiritual insight obtained from our time spent in Bible study?

Actually that kind of activity would most likely ruin a real spiritual walk by turning it into a numbers game and perhaps a competition with others for bigger numbers which would most likely foster some sort of perverted pride like the Pharisee who prayed aloud on the corner.   Perhaps the best spiritual index would our joy at being able to participate in divine nature and our eagerness to share that joy with others.  Do you remember the restored leper at the close of Mark 1?   Jesus told him not to tell until he had been officially declared well by the local priest.   He couldn’t wait. Immediately he told everyone who would listen.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 1, 2008

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Several years ago one of my church members confessed to me, his pastor, that he had committed a crime that was currently being investigated in the small town where we lived.  He told me he had a hard time sleeping because he imagined every sound he heard was the police coming to shackle him.  When he would pass a police car on the highway his hands would instantly grow wet on the steering wheel and his knees would go weak.  He was a paranoid psychological wreck.  The only way he was going to find peace was to make things right.

His predicament reminded me of Proverbs 28:1, “The wicked flee when no one pursues.”  There are amazing benefits to be had by living an honest life. Not only will God bless such a life but you don’t have to worry about being caught.  If you cheat on your income tax you hold your breath every time you open the mailbox thinking today is the day you get the letter from Uncle Sam informing you of an impending audit.   If you are speeding down the highway you cannot enjoy the scenery.  You have to have one eye on the rear view mirror and be tensed to hit the brake whenever any government-looking car appears.

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD.  He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, . . . and whatever he does shall prosper.”  Psalm 1:1

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 6, 2008

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Daytime television is full of small claims court programs and having never been to a real one I decided this morning to observe a real life small claims court in our little city.  I was sitting toward the front trying to hear every word when I heard the door open behind me.  Almost instantly in a very clear, loud and authoritative voice the judge commanded, “Take off your hat in the presence of the United States flag!”   I turned just in time to see a young man quickly strip his hat from his head.

“Wow,” I thought.  “I wish we could have such respect for coming into God’s presence.”  I realize it is a sign of old age to be distressed over the apparel of some who come to church.  Yes, I have heard the arguments about God wanting us and taking us as we are.  We sing songs like, “Just As I Am.” I understand.  But somewhere along the way as people get to know our heavenly Father as the Almighty Supreme Ruler of the Universe it seems there would be a growth in respect.  If I were invited to the White House to meet the President of the United States I would not appear in shorts and flip-flops. (They wouldn’t let me in!)

One of the most powerful moments in the great film “To Kill a Mockingbird” Reverend Sykes says to the little girl protagonist, “Stand up Jean Louise, your father is passing by.”

This is not an issue of God not wanting us or God not accepting us.  It is a matter of respect.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 7, 2008.

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While waiting at a traffic signal this morning,  I was suddenly struck in the eye by a sparkling beam of light .  At first I wondered if someone was playing with a laser, but the mystery was easily solved when I looked in the rearview mirror.  There was a lady driving the car that was waiting behind me.  She had her left hand raised to shield her eyes from the morning sun.  The angled sun was shining in her windshield and her diamond ring was dazzling in the morning light.  A shaft of sunlight had bounced into and out of her ring and through my back window into my rearview mirror and into my eye. I can assuredly say that has never happened to me before this.

As the signal changed and I drove away I knew that she had no idea that light from her struck me.  “Ah,” I wondered, “how often, if ever, does the light of God’s presence shine from us unto another without our ever knowing? Just how many people will be saved or have been influenced for good and we will never know?”   Most likely it has happened to all of us and we will only know when in the Kingdom those we have affected will approach us and share with us what had occurred and oh how happy we will be.

Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”  I have always loved the fact that our good works are not to glorify us but our Father in heaven.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 18, 2008

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Reverence has returned to churches in Monterrey, Mexico.  Cell phones have been silenced.  Never again in the middle of a sermon will the congregation hear “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” or some other catchy ring.  Electronic devices have been installed that flood the sanctuary with a signal that renders the cell phones inoperative.  The jammers overwhelm the phones with electronic noise.  The phones shut down and incoming calls go immediately to voice mail.

Like these jammers, the many activities of some people’s lives overwhelm the still small voice of God.  It’s not that God isn’t there.  He’s there.  He’s everywhere.  Psalms 139 says,

“Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?

To be out of your sight?

If I climb to the sky, you’re there!

If I flew on morning’s wings, you’re there!

To the far western horizon,

You’d find me in a minute.

You’re already there waiting!

There isn’t any place one can run or go that He is not there.  He is chasing you.  But He will not force you to listen.  You can push Him away with the noise of a hectic life.  So please slow down.  Turn off the television.  Put down the magazine and listen.  You’ll hear Him wooing you.  It’s a sweet sound of love offering you the best gift of all time.  He’s offering a gift that transcends all time.  He is offering you eternal life.

Written by Roger Bothwell on Sept. 27, 2004

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I am trying to write to you this evening but my dog keeps pestering me.  Last evening we took her swimming and another Black Lab named Cyrus gave her a tennis ball.  You would have thought he had given her the moon.  She was ecstatic.  We couldn’t get her to come home until he went home.  That tennis ball has become the object of much attention.  Because I will not throw it for her, I am trying to write to you, she is throwing it for herself and then running to retrieve it before it rolls under the couch.  When it does I have to get up and lift the couch so she can retrieve it.  If I don’t I am barked at until I catch on.  She wonders about my intelligence and why I can’t learn faster.

My dog and God have that same characteristic in common.  He cannot understand why I don’t learn faster.  For decades He was been trying to teach me all kinds of useful habits.  And for decades I have been resisting.  I eat things I shouldn’t.  I don’t get enough rest.  I read and watch things that rot my brain.  I don’t spend enough time in His Word.  It really isn’t that I don’t know better.  It’s that I just do the things I want to do regardless of the resulting effects.

I know I can’t be the only one in this sorry state.  I see people smoking.

Now how can anyone in this age not know what that does?  My newspaper runs stories about alcohol related fatal auto accidents.  Really now, does anyone not know drinking and driving is a recipe for disaster?

The more I think about it the more I understand God and my dog are not alike.  He knows I know.  She wonders.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 1, 2009

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I am eating an ice cream popsicle – vanilla dipped in chocolate.  It would be a perfect gastronomic treat except my dog is sitting in front of me just staring with the most soulful eyes.  Ever so carefully she watches every bite.  There is a string of drool spilling out of the left side of her mouth.  The tip of her red tongue barely protrudes from her black lab mouth.  She is beautiful and pathetic.  I am awash with guilt. How can I continue to do this?  So I eat off the chocolate shell, since that is poison for her, and yield the vanilla ice cream.  I must say she is a lady.  Ever so delicately she cleans off the stick without once biting it.  I feel good.

Whether it is my dog or a child or one of my students I have to say it feels so good to share.  Since we were made in God’s image I believe we can safely assume He loves to share.  Paul says in Ephesians 2 that God plans to shower gifts upon us throughout eternity.  We will have no end of resources that we too can shower gifts on all we meet.  One of my students once asked me why God made us.  My answer was that it made Him feel good.  When He pronounced at the end of creation week, “That is very good” it had to feel good.

One very big difference between God and us and me and my dog is my dog gets the remnants.  God never gives us leftovers.  Everything from His hand is first class, top of the line with all the bells and whistles.  We don’t even have to stare with soulful eyes.  No drool from the side of our mouths.   How grand!

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 4, 2011

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This evening I suddenly came to my senses as I realized I was in the midst of doing something really stupid.  I called a local pizza parlor to order a medium cheese pizza.  The female voice on the other end of the line said, “I’m sorry.  We don’t have medium pizzas.  We have small, large and extra large.  So I said, “Then you mean your large is your medium.”  “No,” she said, “Our large is our large.  We don’t have a medium.”  “But,” I said, “If your large is your middle size then it is your medium.” She then said, “This is a stupid conversation.  We do not have a medium!”  It was then that I realized I best shut up because you never ever want to antagonize someone who is going to prepare your food.  So I quickly said, “Oh, I see. You have no medium.”

Being stupid is something that happens to me with great regularity and I don’t think I am alone.   Surely the all time stupidest thing to do is to know about Jesus and just walk away.  The rich young man did so in Matthew 19.  The Bible says he went away sorrowfully.  At least he was smart enough to be sorrowful right away.  Most people who walk away don’t catch up to the sorrow until many years later when life falls apart and then they wonder what happened.

No one wants to be miserable.  So why don’t they believe Jesus when He said, “I have come that you might have the abundant life.”   Jesus doesn’t lie. He means what He says.  His way is the abundant way and best of all it is a gift.    Perhaps the reason is they are watching so many of us who claim to have the gift.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 24, 2008

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As you can imagine with several feet of snow beginning to melt there are streams of water running down our New England streets often hiding this year’s new crop of potholes.  Potholes are nature’s way of telling us we do not have its permission to drive cars.  It’s the most wonderful time of the year for businesses that sell tires.  Last week when I picked up our car from the shop the mechanic had it all washed and shiny.  That was a labor of futility.   By the time I got to the first traffic light the car was covered with salty, gritty, muddy water.  He really should not have bothered to clean it.

This is so much like our attempts to be righteous and have a clean heart.  We are living in a world of moral potholes filled with sinful gritty slime designed to keep us dirty.  I once had a church member who told me how good he was because he prayed three times every day and asked for God to forgive him his sins.  He felt like he could go six hours or so without sinning and thus he could stay clean by praying so often.  Really?  That would be like me washing my car three times a day while continuing to drive on our city streets.

Part of the problem was his understanding of sin.  He thought sin was an act, a deed or some kind of performance.  Sin is much more than that.  Sin is a condition.   Sin is a state of being.  Sin is selfishness that oozes from our almost every thought. This is why Paul tells us in I Corinthians 15 that corruption must put on incorruption before we go to heaven.  Until that happens we are indeed forgiven but we are forgiven sinners.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 6, 2015

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