Author: Ian Bothwell

While sitting in a pizza shop this afternoon I picked up a newspaper that contained the local police blotter.  I soon became aware of my naiveté.  It took me a while to figure out what A&B and B&E meant.  It was (for me) like reading something from a different planet.  Maybe I ought to watch an episode of Law and Order and educate myself.  I wonder if people are embarrassed to appear on this list of infamy.  It would be very difficult to claim it was some other John or Jane Doe because birthdays and addresses were also published for all to see.

This is like the Book of Remembrance mentioned in Revelation 20.  And “I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.”  Talk about a police blotter!  This book even has motives listed.  I don’t know about you but I have to be saved not just to live forever but to keep you from looking up my heavenly obit.  If we are saved all the bad stuff is blotted out.  “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”  Acts 3.

Can you imagine how juicily entertaining it would be to read all the records of the lost?  This is better than gossip.  This is true.  Somehow I don’t think we will be passing our days by filling our idle curiosities with this material.  There will be so much better ways to grow.  I believe we would find it quite distasteful – even painful.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 5, 2013

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When I got to 18 across on my daily crossword puzzle it told me to see 43 down.  But when I read the clue for 43 down it told me to go to 18 across.  Thanks for all the help.  I was reminded of James 2, “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?”   Thanks for all the help.

I’m sure you have noticed the latest cliché repeated over and over, especially by our political leaders, is “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.” Really?  What good is that?   Sorry to be so cynical but real help isn’t what we say.  It is what we do.  During my first twenty-four months as a pastor I had twenty-six funerals.  I was young and didn’t have a clue as to what to say.  Finally it dawned on me.  I didn’t have to say anything.  I just had to be there; even if it was two in the morning, perhaps, especially if it was two in the morning in the emergency room of the community hospital.

When it came to our fallen earth, God didn’t just say, “My thoughts are with you.”  He is a God that does.  Not only does He provide eternity for us He sends care packages to us on a daily basis.  We just don’t notice.  This world isn’t in automatic.  It is sustained. We are sustained. And when we say, “Thanks for the help” we are not being cynical but pouring out the gratitude of our hearts because we have a God who does.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 2, 2013

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We are currently parrot-sitting for our son.  Max is an African Gray we once thought was a male until one morning we found an egg in HER water dish. Recently we gave her a Fisher Price toy with a white knob.  We never imagined what a success it would be.  For weeks now she has been sitting on that knob. I am wondering when she will give up thinking it will hatch.  But for now she loves it.

Her futile efforts remind me of the vast hordes seeking happiness in all the wrong places.  The Book of Ecclesiastes is the chronicle of Solomon’s quest.  He tried everything under the sun.  Everything was available to him.  However, over and over he came to the conclusion that he was chasing the wind.  Wealth, women, education, building and philosophy left him empty. He was a bird on a fake egg.

Every once in a while I see the bumper sticker, “Jesus is the answer.”  I always ask, “What’s the question?”  But I know.  The question is for all of us, “Where do we find fulfillment?  Where do we find satisfaction for the efforts of daily life.”  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”  Jesus provides us with meaning and purpose.  And what is that purpose?   Godliness.  Once we accept the free gift of eternity we have an unlimited amount of time to cultivate our mind, our body, our social relationships and our spiritual life.  The fruit of such a quest is unbelievably rewarding.  We open our lives to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and little by little each day we are refined and molded into God’s original purpose for us.  The result is happiness and contentment unheard of in any other arena.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 27, 2013

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Last evening I had the joy of standing in a storm.  It was exhilarating and primitive to feel the wind in my hair and hear the rush and roar in the trees above me.  When lightning flashed I could feel the thunder inside. I was fascinated that my dog was not phased in the least.  She stood with her nose in the air enjoying it as much as I.  Now this is a dog that will erupt with volcanic emotion should someone ring the doorbell or let there be a strange noise at night. Together we stood soaking up the rain like parched ground.  I do so wish I could talk to her about it and understand her rationale and feelings.

As I relished in the wonder of the storm I remembered Job 37:4, “After that comes the sound of his roar; He thunders with his majestic voice. When His voice resounds, He holds nothing back.”  It is a sumptuous thought.   When it comes to His love and making provision for our salvation, He gave everything.   He made Himself poor when He gave us Jesus.  There was nothing more precious in the entire universe.  He emptied all the treasure of His heart when Jesus became one of us.  It is no wonder the Gospels speak of a great darkness falling over the cross.  Sinful man should never have been allowed to see the fullness of Jesus’ agony.  That was something so special only the Father and the Son should have shared.

Thunder happens often when God is around.  There was Mount Sinai.  There was God speaking at Jesus’ baptism and check out the word “thunder” in the Book of Revelation.  The redemption of man and the eradication of evil are thunderous events.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 26, 2013

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It was a magnificent demonstration of excellent driving.  I was sitting across the street watching a fuel tanker truck driver back into a very busy very crowded service station between parked cars and pickups.  He put it right on the dime.  But wait.  When he got out of the truck he was not a he.  She was not tall and strong looking.  As a matter of fact she was quite chubby.  So much for my sexist assumption that that splendid exhibition of skill was performed by a man.  And if I had known it was a woman I would have expected a large rugged looking female.  Shame on me for my stereotyping.

I am suspicious I am not the only one who commits this social faux pas.  For convenience we categorize and pigeon hole people.  We think all Muslims are this or that.   We do the same for members of denominations that knock on our doors.  I have this thing about television preachers that are always begging for money.  But I will resist sharing my prejudiced thoughts.

It has always been this way.  Jews thought all Samaritans were lowly dogs.  When Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan He raised eyebrows because in many eyes there was no such thing as a “good” Samaritan.  Self love is an important part of our psyche and therefore we value those who belong to OUR group.  We are God’s chosen.  God is on our side. It takes just a bit more grace for God to save them than it does to save us.

I’m sure God must shake His head and go “Tsk” when He listens to our bias filled conversations.  Fortunately He forgives us because He knows it comes naturally with our sinful natures.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 25, 2013

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Ah, the shear luxury of a warm summer day.  Robins in the birdbath, petunias in the garden, chipmunks in the shade, white plumes decorating the blue sky all bathed by a zephyr. There are some days when it should be illegal to work and all should be mandated to just sit in the shade.  Dogs lulling in the grass and doves cooing from the maples.  It is a taste of eternity.

The tastes of eternity come in various flavors.  There is the extravagance of forgiveness. “He is faithful and just to forgive all our sins.” There is the comfort of never being alone.  “Lo, I am with you always.” There is the opulence of being a prince or princess of the universe. “Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”  There is the sumptuousness of being Jesus’ friend.  “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.”  There is the lavishness of His generosity.  “Thou prepares a table before me.”

I just finished reading Ecclesiastes and my heart broke for Solomon who never knew Jesus.  He speaks of us all ending in the dust of earth with no different end for anyone.  But our end is different because it doesn’t exist.  There is no end for those who trust in Jesus. “Whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”

I love warm summer days when we are satiated with tastes of eternity.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 24, 2013

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I am sitting here watching a tick walk across my keyboard.  I am assuming he got here via my dog who sits by me as I write. I have a choice.  I can take it outside and release it back to the wild or I can dispatch it via a large variety of options of murder.   I am reminded of the famous fire and brimstone sermon by the Massachusetts pioneer preacher Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”  The famous line is “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked.”  I have this abhorrent power over this tick.  He knows it not but he is doomed.

Wow, how grateful I am that Jonathan Edwards could not have been more wrong about God.  He does not abhor us.  Quite to the contrary Paul wrote, “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”  Romans 5:10.

If Jonathan Edwards had been correct there would be no Gospel just bad news. What concerns me is I know some Christians whose theology is very little different from Edwards.  They seem to think God is watching to catch them doing something wrong lest they be saved.  It is true that God is watching but just for the opposite reason.  He wants to catch us surrendering to Jesus.  If there is any way to squeeze us in He will find it.  He is a savior quite unlike me with the tick who is now history.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 21, 2013

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It was a brand new toothbrush.  I unwrapped it and carried it into the shower.  After a good scrubbing I opened the shower door and tossed it in the sink.  Never in a thousand tries could I ever have duplicated what happened.  It hit the rounded sink, where I wanted it to go, but then launched out in perfect arch into the toilet bowl.  So much for a brand new toothbrush. Alas.  I believe it was Robert Burns who wrote something about “The best laid schemes of mice and men” going awry.  No matter how carefully we plan something and prepare things can go wrong.

There are some who maintain God’s plan of redemption could not go wrong.  Sending Jesus here to die for us was a plan that could not fail.  Should that have been true then it was all a sham.  The fascinating horror was that Jesus was, in the words of theologians, peccable. He could have failed. The writer of Hebrews 3 tells us, “For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

This was no playacting.  Everything hung in the balance as He cried out in the Garden of Gethsemane. How marvelous it is that God’s plan did work and we are the benefactors.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 19, 2013

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There is a flower seller with a large sign that says “We want to be your florist.”  There is one small issue.  The flower beds in front of his establishment are overgrown with grass and weeds.  It reminds me of a church I visited that advertised, “Come here and you will be home.”  I went.  I was never greeted nor welcomed. The advertising did not measure up to reality.  Or perhaps it was representative of their homes.

Being is so much more important than speaking. What we are is so much more important than who we are.  The rich young ruler asked Jesus the wrong question. He asked, “What must I do to be saved?”  He should have asked, “What must I be to be saved?”   In Romans 1 Paul wrote, “since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

History is filled with lives of God-like people who, while never knowing the Gospel, recognized God’s true nature and they allowed themselves to be drawn to it and to be molded by it.  Unknowingly they became individuals God could trust throughout eternity.  They are not saved by individual actions of good nor lost by individual acts of evil.  They are saved because their actions are but the fruit of a character that automatically spreads love, generosity and kindness.   They are people who not only meet others needs but anticipate the needs of others.   It sounds like a huge task but can come as easily as an apple tree producing apples.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 17, 2013

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On a corner property connected to our college is a hillside, once the home for settlers who braved moving westward from the safety of Boston.  They paid a harsh price for their adventure.  In 1675/6 a war party of natives came burning, killing, scalping and capturing.  Only ashes were left behind.  An engraved stone that memorializes that hillside.  The stone is small considering the magnitude of what happened to those people.

Memorials are interesting.  We try to build something that will keep us from forgetting. Yet, as hard as we try, our carved stones always seem inadequate, no matter how well designed.  Stones with names can never compensate for the loss of flesh and blood.  Memorials in time seem more meaningful than stones because time cycles round and round.  Each time the day returns we remember.  This is so much better than a stone that will fade away in the wind and rain.

God wanted us not to forget where we came from.  We are not the product of an impossible chain of favorable mutations.  We are the fruit of His loving design.  When Moses descended Mt. Sinai with the tablets of stone, there tucked in the middle was the fourth commandment.  It started with the word “Remember”.  God had established a memorial in time.  Every Sabbath day we are to stop our commerce and remember Eden.  It became even more meaningful at the Cross.  That wasn’t just a god from heaven who died for us.  It was THE GOD who made us and paid the price for our failures by becoming one of us.   John 1.

Memorials are, without a doubt, very important.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 30, 2011

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