Author: Ian Bothwell

When we think of the names of Bible writers we rarely mention King Lemuel.  But he was responsible for one of the more famous chapters in Scripture.  Proverbs 31 describes the perfect wife.  She does everything and she does it well.  I have one of those wives.  My snow blower broke and we have a storm moving in tonight.  The next thing I know is she walks in from the garage and says, “If you will loosen those two bolts and reposition that part, it will be fine.”  Really?!  So I went out and loosened the designated bolts, repositioned the part and presto.  It works just the way it is supposed to.

Someone might ask, “Doesn’t that threaten your masculinity?”  And my response is, “Are you kidding?  It’s wonderful.  Now I don’t have to walk across the street to my engineer neighbor and ask him for help.  That threatens my masculinity.”

So I am a happy man with my cup running over with blessings.  I realize very few men have wives that can diagnosis a broken snow blower.  And she even makes me Cream of Wheat for breakfast.  You can’t beat that!

Riches come in many forms.  One cannot and should not equate wealth with numbers in an investment account.  Riches are so much broader than that.  And of course the thing that makes us extremely rich is Jesus.  Because of Jesus, God has adopted us into His family making us princes and princesses of the Most High.  Ephesians 2 says, “He has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”   Now that is rich!

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 18, 2017

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Thursday morning was recycling morning.  Stacked in front of one house was evidence that a heavy drinker lived there.  Maybe.  There is a trailhead close to these homes and occasionally a lone man with his dog can be seen cleaning up the trash left there by partiers.  It is amazing how people can come to a nice clean place in the forest and leave it looking like a pigpen.  So it is not unusual to see this man leaving the forest with a garbage sack full of trash and beer cans.

It is so easy to judge people.  Feeling somewhat like Sherlock Holmes we observe and then form clever deductions.  The people walking by the pile of beer cans waiting to be picked up by the recycling man might draw a conclusion about the residents of that house.

Most of us are guilty when it comes to playing the Sherlock Holmes game.  Often the things we think we know about people are just not true.  Much of what we think we know is conjecture and supposition.  And even when we do actually see someone doing something we cannot know his or her motivation.  Jesus is so right when He tells us not to judge others.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 27, 2000

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Thursday morning was recycling morning.  Stacked in front of one house was evidence that a heavy drinker lived there.  Maybe.  There is a trailhead close to these homes and occasionally a lone man with his dog can be seen cleaning up the trash left there by partiers.  It is amazing how people can come to a nice clean place in the forest and leave it looking like a pigpen.  So it is not unusual to see this man leaving the forest with a garbage sack full of trash and beer cans.

It is so easy to judge people.  Feeling somewhat like Sherlock Holmes we observe and then form clever deductions.  The people walking by the pile of beer cans waiting to be picked up by the recycling man might draw a conclusion about the residents of that house.

Most of us are guilty when it comes to playing the Sherlock Holmes game.  Often the things we think we know about people are just not true.  Much of what we think we know is conjecture and supposition.  And even when we do actually see someone doing something we cannot know his or her motivation.  Jesus is so right when He tells us not to judge others.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 27, 2000

rogerbothwell.org

Thursday morning was recycling morning.  Stacked in front of one house was evidence that a heavy drinker lived there.  Maybe.  There is a trailhead close to these homes and occasionally a lone man with his dog can be seen cleaning up the trash left there by partiers.  It is amazing how people can come to a nice clean place in the forest and leave it looking like a pigpen.  So it is not unusual to see this man leaving the forest with a garbage sack full of trash and beer cans.

It is so easy to judge people.  Feeling somewhat like Sherlock Holmes we observe and then form clever deductions.  The people walking by the pile of beer cans waiting to be picked up by the recycling man might draw a conclusion about the residents of that house.

Most of us are guilty when it comes to playing the Sherlock Holmes game.  Often the things we think we know about people are just not true.  Much of what we think we know is conjecture and supposition.  And even when we do actually see someone doing something we cannot know his or her motivation.  Jesus is so right when He tells us not to judge others.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 27, 2000

rogerbothwell.org

Masses of people are scurrying about trying to finish their list before Christmas Eve.  Fortunately for those of us in New England this year we don’t have any snow to hamper our doings.  While doing my doings today I heard people greet each other with “Are you ready for Christmas?”  Some people had reduced it to “Are you ready?”  I thought it might be a great greeting all the time – referring to the second coming of Jesus.  Are you ready?

I grew up in an environment where it wasn’t PC to say “Yes.”   We were trained to say, “I hope so.”  After all we might have sinned in the past hour and hadn’t had a chance to ask for forgiveness.  As a child of God who has read the Gospels and the letters of Paul I now understand how insulting that is to God.  It takes love out of the equation and replaces it with a computer-like program of ons and offs.  Sin and it’s off.  Ask for forgiveness and it’s on.  That is really pathetic.  If we as parents loved our children that way the state social service should remove them from us.

Salvation isn’t about ons and offs.  It is about family.  Being in God’s family with Him being the best ever Father is what Jesus talked about.    Just as a good human parent would not cast his child out of the house for an infraction of some sort neither will God reject us; especially for an unknown sin of some kind.  Salvation is about belonging to the family.  We enter the family by accepting the invitation.  So do it.  Once done we can always answer with a big “Yes” to the question “Are you ready?”

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 24, 2015

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It’s been a busy day doing the Lord’s work.  It started snowing last evening and we are at about the two foot level now.  That makes it very difficult for the chickadees, cardinals, blue jays and others birds to stay fed.  We have had to refill the seed feeder and the suet feeders because of the constant stream of about eighteen different kinds of birds staying nourished.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

God’s work manifests itself in a huge variety of ways.  Who’s to say which is more important than another?  The farmer plowing his field, the auto worker going to his assembly plant, the teacher going to her classroom, the grocery store shelf stocker stocking, the cook cooking at Denny’s, the highway patrolman patrolling, the nurse nursing in the emergency room are all doing God’s work.

Occasionally I talk with someone ruing the fact they never got a job working for the church.  They made the mistake of thinking that working for the church is the only way to do God’s work.  God’s work is caring for others’ needs.  If I had to rank jobs as to what is the number one task that is God’s work I would most likely list Hospice workers.  The fact is God needs all of us to make life work.   Our part can change from day to day.  Today our job was to feed His birds.  Tomorrow when the snow melts it will be something else.  Whatever it be let’s do it well.  Luke 9:62.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 28, 2015

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On our walk today we came upon Santa.  He had painted the big letters UPS on the side of his brown sleigh.  I think that stands for Ubernorth Pole Service.   I’m glad he got an early start this year because if what I saw is any indication of how busy he is, he is slammed.  I kid you not.  He stopped at more than half the houses.  My dog and I eventually passed him and turned the corner before he did.  He even had an elf with him and we were taking time to sniff along the way.  Well, at least one of us was sniffing.  Often after a good inhale she looks up at me trying to understand why I am not down there enjoying the pure essence of it all.

As we rounded the corner I pondered about how wonderful it is that our heavenly Father is omnipresent; talk about orders needing to be filled and delivered.  Our prayers and those of billion of beings on each of billions of planets are continually reaching His ears.  The sheer cacophony of languages asking for something all at the same time would totally overwhelm a lesser being.  But have no fear.  He is more than up to the task.  He is even anxious for increased attention from us.  He loves it when we trust Him to care for us.

When speaking about Jesus, Paul wrote in Colossians 1, “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”  How marvelous to think that He and the Father are tuned into us all the time.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 15, 2015

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Snow had been falling steadily for seven hours and a foot of snow covered the ground.  The wind was pushing tiny crystals of ice into the tiniest of cracks.  Just before sundown a towhee along with a pair of cardinals and lots of juncos were stuffing themselves at a sheltered bird feeder.  They seemed to know it was going to be a long difficult night.

Towhees are not supposed to find themselves in this situation.  Had he stayed behind in the fall because of the birdfeeder?  Had he figured, “Why make the long journey?  There is plenty of food here.”  Where did the towhee spend the night?  Was he cold?  Was he sheltered?  In the morning after the storm had passed did he have access to food?   Had the owners of the birdfeeder remembered to clear the snow and refill the feeder.  In Luke 12 Jesus spoke of His father’s care for the birds.  In the same way our heavenly father makes sure we have access to our needs.  Storms come in life and when they pass God is still there.  He always was there.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 9, 2001

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So I figured I would get a Christmas haircut just in case people wanted to take pictures around the tree.  I went early to the barbershop – 8:15.   But there were already four really old guys there, one in the chair and three waiting.  While I was waiting two more old guys came in.  The gray hair on the floor around the barber chair was piling up – not a dark hair to be seen.

Old guys get a senior discount – only 12 dollars.  But the first guy gives her a twenty and says, “Keep the change. Merry Christmas.”  So the second guy gets out of the chair, gives her a twenty and says, “Keep the change. Merry Christmas.”  The third guy does the same.  So it was my turn.  By now there are three old guys watching.  What could I do?  Did I want these crotchety old guys to think that I was either a jerk or unsuccessful in life?  So much for the senior discount!  I learned a life lesson.  Never get a haircut a few days before Christmas.

Life is full of learning experiences.  A lady was in line ahead of me at a Kmart checkout.  She was coughing over and over into her hand.  Then she picked up that pen-like thing to sign for her credit purchase.  Well, I quickly put my credit card back in my wallet and paid in cash.  See, I do learn.  Another thing I learned along the way there is no better life than a life in Jesus.  He provides peace, resolution and a fantastic out of this world future.  So come with me.  Learn the same lesson from an old guy whose gray hair is on the floor mixed in with lots of other old guy’s hair.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 23, 2015

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Tis the season for Christmas programs.  Our schedules are filled with The Messiah, Readings of the Night Before Christmas and many children’s choirs.  We passed a church this morning that had so many cars in the parking lot they were parked four deep.  It would be a while before some people got out.

Some time ago I saw a choir where the children knew all the words and were spot on coming in and out when they were up.  But there was something wrong.  Something was missing.  And then it hit me.  The children were not smiling and there was little joy being expressed.  They might as well have been singing Old MacDonald Had a Farm.   The joy of Christmas isn’t so much the technical prowess of the choir but the emotion expressed.  The children were prepared in their heads but not their hearts.

Oh Holy Night is only moving when the singers are moved.  The Hallelujah Chorus is only wonderful when you cannot keep yourself in your seat but have to stand, not because it is convention, but because God is so great and so mighty.  I have to say that this weekend I did hear and watch a mother and daughter sing a duet about Jesus Our King that caused me to well up; it was so full of love.

Jesus really is Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God, The Prince of Peace.  I heard someone sing wonderful counselor.   He is a wonderful counselor but that is not what Isaiah was saying.  Jesus is Wonderful period.  Wonderful is not an adjective modifying counselor.  Wonderful is His name.  He fills our hearts with His splendor and love and majesty and it is beyond comprehension.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 14, 2015

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