Author: Ian Bothwell

When I was a teenager a Christian hospital near Washington D.C. refused to admit black people.  They would treat them in the emergency room and then transport them to the nearby county hospital.  Today I had an opportunity to vote for an African American for president of the United States.  When I first began in the ministry of a Christian church I was shocked to discover the church would not pay women the same as men even if they did similar tasks like teaching.  Today I had an opportunity to vote for a woman to be the vice-president of the United States.  Today I was pleased to know in my lifetime just how much has changed.  We as a people have come a long way. Unfortunately as a church I am not sure if we made much progress because the church was forced to do the right thing by the law of the land.

Why is it that the church so often is not the moral leader but the tail that slowly comes along or worse has to be forced by the civil government to do right?  I wish I knew the answer.  But I do have to say there was a real joy in my heart today as I stood in the voting booth with pen in hand knowing I had such choices.  So often we think the world is morally deteriorating butin some arenas we aren’t doing so badly.

To stand for right, to speak for the oppressed, to want for all the rights and privileges we have, should be the heart of the moral compass of all who follow Jesus, who never hesitated to defend the poor and abused.   The reason He cleansed the temple in Jerusalem was because the establishment was abusing the weak.   Jesus is my Hero.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 4, 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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This is the best time of summer. Roadside farm stands are filled with mountains of sweet corn, cucumbers and big, dark, red, juicy, vine-ripened tomatoes.  The best meal ever is the simplicity of thick slices of tomato on a plate with boiled or roasted sweet corn.  While some people salt their tomatoes and corn, other insist that tomatoes should be sugared.  The tomato salters are horrified at the idea—sugar on tomatoes??  Who would ever eat a tomato like that?  Most will not even try sugaring a tomato.  Ah, human nature! If we are not used to or haven’t done something before often we are not about to change.

But change is such an important part of living.  Change is what being a Christian is all about.  Real Christians are always looking for ways to improve.  It is our goal.  Tomorrow I will be less selfish than I was today.  Tomorrow I will be more concerned about others than I was today.  Tomorrow I will speak more kindly than I did today.  Tomorrow I will be more sensitive to the needs of others than I was today.  Being a real Christian is all about change.  It is all about growing—daily growing more and more like Jesus.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 24, 2004

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This is the best time of summer. Roadside farm stands are filled with mountains of sweet corn, cucumbers and big, dark, red, juicy, vine-ripened tomatoes.  The best meal ever is the simplicity of thick slices of tomato on a plate with boiled or roasted sweet corn.  While some people salt their tomatoes and corn, other insist that tomatoes should be sugared.  The tomato salters are horrified at the idea—sugar on tomatoes??  Who would ever eat a tomato like that?  Most will not even try sugaring a tomato.  Ah, human nature! If we are not used to or haven’t done something before often we are not about to change.

But change is such an important part of living.  Change is what being a Christian is all about.  Real Christians are always looking for ways to improve.  It is our goal.  Tomorrow I will be less selfish than I was today.  Tomorrow I will be more concerned about others than I was today.  Tomorrow I will speak more kindly than I did today.  Tomorrow I will be more sensitive to the needs of others than I was today.  Being a real Christian is all about change.  It is all about growing—daily growing more and more like Jesus.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 24, 2004

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It is raggedy.  It smells.  Sometimes it is slimy and unpleasant to touch.  It is a dirty green.  It has been chewed and mangled.  It is old and worn.  The squeaky box inside stopped working a long time ago.  It has been buried and dug up.  It has been washed several times.  It is loved.  You guessed it!  It is the loved toy of a dog.

The more we think about this toy, the more it sounds like us.  Sometimes we are raggedy, slimy and smelly.  We have been washed several times and buried and dug up.  Before we met Jesus we were dead in our sins, but He restored us and gave us a new life that will never end.  Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.  John 5:24.

The loyalty of a dog to her treasured stuffed frog is matched and exceeded by God’s love for you and me.  We look in the mirror and realize we are not part of the world’s beautiful people and further, life can take its toll.  But maybe that is confusing pretty and handsome with beautiful.  Pretty and handsome are what is on the outside.  Beauty is what comes from within.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 27, 2004

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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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One of the joys of a computer is the ability to take old photographs and revitalize them.  Time fades prints and with a few careful keystrokes and movements of the mouse they look new again.  We can remove wrinkles on loved one’s necks and bags from under their eyes.  We can put a sparkle in their eyes and ever so lightly whiten teeth.  It is great fun!  We can even create events by putting people in the same picture with another person they never met.  Photography is an art.  It is no longer always a representation of reality.

It is little different from what God longs to do for us.  He is an artist.  He longs to paint a portrait of Himself in each of us.  We will look so great with Him as part of our being.  After all He has no wrinkles, no blotches, no blemishes.  He longs to take the wrinkles out of our personalities.  He wants to remove the blotches and blemishes.  It must be great fun for Him to see His loved one becoming what they want to be—like Him.

Isaiah 1:18 is one of the most famous of all verses in Scripture.  It reads, “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord.  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be as wool.”  We must never forget—we were first made in His likeness and it is to that end that we are destined.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 23, 2004

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The gas station attendant walked up to the car and said, “Sorry we are out of regular.  But I can fill you up with premium for the price of regular.”  It was like going into a store for plain vanilla and coming out with Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia.

So often our spiritual life is like that.  We pick up our Bibles to study and as we start reading the Lord often gives us “premium for the price of regular.”  Passages like “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.  In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”

Wow!  He blessed us with every spiritual blessing.  He chose us to be blameless. He adopted us according to His good pleasure.  He lavishes us with wisdom and understanding.  And best of all it is free.  That is premium.  That is Cherry Garcia for the soul.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 11, 2003

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One of the most precious words in any language is freedom.  It is pronounced a hundred ways but means the same thing in every human heart.  The desire to decide for oneself what to think and how to live is an inborn desire planted there by our Creator.  Contrary to many religious leaders, true service to God does not demand mental lockstep.  If God wanted us all to live and think and act in unison, He could easily have created us that way.  And what a dull existence life would be!

God is a creator.  He thinks new thoughts and plans new things.  Furthermore, he created us in His image with that same characteristic.   Freedom to dream of doing, writing, singing and going where no one has ever been before is what makes us so special.  To sing freedom, to write freedom, to act freely makes life full and complete, but only if we use that freedom wisely.  One could easily use freedom to destroy one’s own health and the lives of those about them.  We can eat our way into the grave.  We can gamble away all our substance if we choose.

But freedom used wisely is a magnificent thing.  In Galatians 5:1 Paul declares that Christ has set us free from the bondage of rule-keeping systems to allow us room to grow into our own special uniqueness.  God only wants one of you so that forever you will be special.  Your thoughts, your dreams, your goals belong to no one else.  In love we blend them with the dreams of others and produce the harmony of a community.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 22, 2004

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Dirt sneaks up on you.  Ever so slowly it changes the appearance of something in a house until one day you look with horror at the door from the garage into the house and wonder how something could have gotten so dirty without your noticing it.  What about the earpiece on your telephone–have you looked at it lately?

Dirt sneaks up on our characters.  Continued exposure to media that feels the need to press the edge of decency has its subtle effects on us.  Things that used to offend are now taken for granted.  The edge of offense has moved.  Little by little we change until one morning we wake up wondering how we got “here from there.”  We never noticed it happening.

Sometimes we think it is sophisticated not to be offended or shocked by indecencies.  We are fearful of appearing immature or prudish if immorality insults.  Paul understood this and appeals to us in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

We really need to be careful; dirt does sneak up on us!

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 28, 2003

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