Author: Ian Bothwell

So many things in life become more and more complicated as one immerses oneself in the complexity of design and function.  But in the development of morality it is quite the opposite.  We start off life as a child. (That was profound.)  For a child the world is full of dos and don’ts.  There are hundreds of them for the child to learn if they are to stay safe and please the giants in their lives.  But something wonderful happens as we mature.  Most of those rules and regulations cease to have any meaning because we have come to understand our world.  No longer does the rule not to touch the hot stove exist.  We know better.  We need no rule.  We become freer and independent. We are governed by intellect and knowledge.

Soon we understand there are really only Ten Commandments and once understood they encompass everything else.  Then Jesus tells us there are only two and finally we come to grasp the marvelous truth that the way we love God is by loving other people and we are then down to one.  Jesus tells us when we do it to the least of them we have done it to Him.

Thus we come to Galatians 5.  Freedom in Christ is Paul’s great theme.  How difficult it must have been for one who described himself to be a Pharisee of Pharisees to free himself and step into a whole new morality.  How grand to grasp the truth that all laws were nailed to the cross of Jesus and God doesn’t have a Santa Claus list that He is checking twice to see if we are naughty or nice.  Instead we become temples of the Holy Spirit that lovingly lives out its life within us and by thus we automatically keep the rules without thought.  Oh, the glory of such freedom.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 14, 2011

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

One of life’s great truisms is if we are selfish we will never reach our fullest potential.   And one of life’s great ironies is if we are unselfish we will never reach our fullest potential.   If we are selfish we will become stagnant and cease to grow.  And if we are givers God will launch us upon a journey to infinity, for God is a giver and we were created in His image.  Should we seek to be like Him the possibilities before us are amazing.  Paul says our possibilities are beyond our wildest imaginations. Peter says we have been given exceedingly great and precious promises. Jesus says ask and we will receive.

So what is wrong when we ask and don’t receive?   It is all about motive. If our asking is selfish it is futile. When we cease to be givers we cease to be like Him and thus we have lost our original purpose for being.  Why should God pour out blessings for us if we are like the Dead Sea that only takes?   The more God can trust us to be a conduit of blessings to others, the more blessings He will channel through us.  Heaven is full of blessings and God needs ways to dispense them.  The more we give the more we become. The more we become the greater the possibilities for us to become even more. It is a never-ending pattern of growth.

Here is the fascination of this.  If we don’t give we die and will never be all that we can be.  If we give we will live and never be all that we can be, because there is always tomorrow with bigger and better blessings. The possibilities are infinite.  How grand.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 16, 2010

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

It is Boston Marathon Day.  World Class, elite runners are gathering from all over the planet. However, because the temperature will be near 90 degrees and for the first time in 116 years officials are advising many not to run and to defer their applications fees until next year.  Over 1,000 people have been trained in the art of CPR and will be stationed along the route from Hopkinton to the finish line in the city.   In 2007 in Chicago when the temperature hit the mid-eighties the race was stopped at 3.5 hours.  It was just too dangerous.   However, the winners will cross the finish line in just over 2 hours.

Racing is as old as people.  Who is the fastest is something we want to know. It drives us.  In New Testament times reference is made to crowns that fade.  For a short time it sits on top of the winner’s head but is very short lived.   In Boston in 2011 there was $806,000 prize money to be awarded so the motivation is a bit more than just olive leaves.

Lest we feel left out because our physical prowess does not rank us in the money winners there is another crown waiting for us.  Paul wrote, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”  I Corinthians 9:25 and Peter wrote, “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.”  I Peter 5:4.   In Christ we are more than conquerors. What great verses!

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 16, 2012

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I was sitting in a Burger King this evening when an employee started yelling, “No, no. Please no.”   My imagination immediately created the worst possible scenario.  I was ready to run for an exit or hide under a table as I imagined someone had entered with a gun.   What a relief to know it wasn’t what I thought.  A bus had pulled up to the door and offloaded forty-six teenage girls who then lined up at the order counter.  The financial boon for Burger King meant a whole lot of work for the three employees behind the counter who were contending with a never-ending line of cars at the drive-up window.

So I wondered why it was that my mind had first gone to something bad. Could it be that we have developed a culture of fear because of all the bad news we continually hear on our radios and televisions?   Twenty-four hour news channels have a voracious appetite for content.  In order to stay fresh they garner all the bad stories that occur all over the world and frighten us into thinking our neighborhoods are filled with all the gruesomeness they can dish up.   Organizations with a need for government or charitable funding hype their cause and exaggerate so they can maintain their existence.  The end result is we have come to believe the worst.

I would like to state that while it is true some places in the world are racked by war, famine and genocide, that is not the norm.  The norm is so much better.  I don’t want to be a Pollyanna but if we really believe we are under the shadow of the Almighty we can truly say to each other, “Fear not.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 15, 2010

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I am sometimes amazed at the longevity of things that are just not so. Decades ago we were told we only use ten percent of our brains and if we used all of them we would be incredibly intelligent.  Despite the fact we have known for a long time that we use all our brains, one can still hear the old wives’ tale. Our brains are amazingly complex organs with different parts designated for different tasks.  Fact retention and mood retention are executed in specific and separate locations, and so it is that researchers have discovered something most interesting.   People with Alzheimer’s disease have difficultly retaining memory of recent events.  We can visit grandpa only to have him in just a few minutes forget we were there.  However, the mood we set for grandpa will stay with him all day.  If our visit makes him happy, even though he forgets we were there, he stays happy for the rest of the day.  Our visit made a huge difference in the quality of his life.   He cannot tell someone what it was that made him happy.  He just knows life is good.

When I was young our church would visit “The Old Folks Home” on Sabbath afternoons.  We called what we did, “Sunshine Bands.”   We would sing and visit people who couldn’t get out of bed.   I must confess I used to be a bit cynical about the value of this.  I thought it did more good for us than it did the old folks.  Now I am not so sure.  I know it is good for us.  But research now tells us it makes grandpa’s day.  Matthew 25 has become more meaningful.  “When I was old you came and visited me.  You made my day.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 14, 2010

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

If you are thinking about getting a dog but you’re not sure, don’t (I repeat. Do not.) visit an animal shelter just to see what’s there.  We did. We now have a new dog.  A shelter is totally pathetic.  As you walk down the aisle past all the cages it seems like some form of a penitentiary.  Some of the prisoners rush to the door of their cells barking “Pick me, pick me. Please pick me. I need to get out of here.”   Others sit and look up with the most pleading eyes you have ever seen.   One fine fellow put his paw out as if to say, “If you touch me, we will be friends forever.”  One very muscular bulldog gave me the eye as if to say, “Hey Buddy, you looking for some protection?  I’m your man.”

I, along with many of you, grew up hearing Joshua 24:15, “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.”   So we chose thinking we were initiating a relationship with God.  We couldn’t have been more wrong.  In Matthew 25 the king said to those on His right hand, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” God said to Jeremiah, “Before you were born I chose you.”

Unlike the dogs at the shelter, we do not have to jump up and down or beg for God to pick us.  He already did before we were born.  Actually, He already did before the day He said, “Let there be light.”   He knew us.  He knew we would be here and He longs to have us with Him.  That’s why Jesus told us to call His father our Father.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 13, 2010

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Annie and I took our first late night walk together last Thursday evening. We didn’t get very far because the neighbor left his yard light on.  Annie soon discovered something was following her.  It was dark and no matter how fast or slow she went it stayed with her.  She pulled the leash to go home so I released her. She ran as fast as she could go, but that thing chased her right into the alcove to the door.

Shadows can be frightening and also comforting.  Consider Psalm 17:8, “Keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings.”  That’s one very comforting shadow.  Too bad they are all not that way because we must also consider Psalm 23:4, “I walk through the valley of the shadow of death . . .”    Just as shadows grow longer toward the evening of day so that shadow grows longer in the evening of life.

I cannot imagine what that must be like without having Jesus in one’s life. Though the shadow looms for me, it isn’t terrifying.  Yes, we will miss our families.  Perhaps we will miss seeing our grandchildren graduate from college or see our great grand children graduate from eighth grade, but we know it is not the end.  Paul so eloquently put it in II Timothy 1:12, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

There are no shadows dark enough or deep enough to swallow up the light of Jesus.  He is the light of the world.  He is the resurrection.  The only shadows He creates are good ones.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 12, 2010

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Occasionally a small rectangular box appears in the lower right hand corner of my computer screen with the following message, “Security Essentials has detected and isolated a threat to your computer.”   It then gives me an opportunity to “clean” my computer of the offending bug.  Needless to say I appreciate this feature.  It keeps my computer healthy.  Wouldn’t it be grand if we had such a feature built into our brains to defend our characters?  Each time we were confronted with something that would diminish us we would hear a small voice warning us.  But wait, I think we do.  It’s called our conscience.

However, our conscience is educated and honed by its environment.  Social norms and cultural expectations become the standard of behavior.  What I need is a voice that speaks to me the social and cultural norms of heaven.  But I can quickly see that would eliminate a huge amount of my intellectual input.  Most television programs would be red-flagged.  The local evening news would definitely have to be turned off. Most popular music would set off a warning once I listened to the lyrics.

Philippians 4:8 is the gold standard.  It says, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”  I must admit I would have difficulty with the Old Testament book of Judges.  There are a lot of stories there that do not meet Paul’s criteria.

I find the way to being a better person is a tricky path.  I need help.  Fortunately that help is available to us.  The Holy Spirit is able and anxious to be our guide.  We merely need but ask for help.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 11, 2011

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

It was creepy looking.  All winter it appeared in various places around the house. We often found it crawling up and down the drapes in the family room. Today was spectacularly warm for April and so tonight it used up its welcome.  Knowing that it would not have to fend against ice, snow and below zero weather I cupped it in my hand and took it outside.  I was not expecting that my hand would smell so good.  Really.  I’m not being facetious.  It was a very sweet smell quite unlike the pungent odor left behind by lightning bugs.  I cannot imagine it was a defense smell so I am going to anthropomorphize this potato bug that spent the winter with us and fantasize that it was saying, “Thanks for the winter accommodations.”

We anthropomorphize so many things.  We give human characteristics to our pets and other forms of life.  We even anthropomorphize our heavenly Father. I think He wants us to.  He knows it helps us approach Him and understand that we are loved.  Jesus told us to call Him Father.  However we make a huge mistake if we limit Him to some grandpa in the sky.  He is so much more than the figure on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel touching fingers with Adam.  His Fatherhood is only one aspect of a creator who not only knows how to convert energy into mass but established the laws that govern our vast universe.  The laws of gravity, magnetic fields, and light rays filled with color all originated from His massive intelligence.

How grand that someday we will see Him face to face.   Jesus promised, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”  Matthew 5.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 8, 2010

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Six weeks ago one of my very best friends gently went to sleep in my arms. Mandy, our black lab, had been with us for over thirteen years.  Needless to say, it was a very emotional moment, so much so that I have not been able to write about it til now.  I still am not able to say much because she was to me the perfect dog. Her devotion and love were beyond description.  We spent so much time together roaming the mountains of Massachusetts.  But the years took their toll and finally she just ran out of gas.  The last few days she needed assistance just to stand up.  The vet came to our house and Mandy closed her eyes in the comfort of home.

The reason I can now speak of it is that this afternoon Annie has come to live with us.  She too is a black lab.  So here we go again.  The next few weeks we will be soaking up puddles and trying to keep the house from being chewed to pieces.  For the past few hours she has bounded about the house sniffing everything.  She climbed the stairs to the second floor but getting back down was very scary.  It’s much easier going up.  We are wondering if we will get much sleep tonight.

While I do not believe Jesus died to save dogs I do believe Jesus will do everything possible to make heaven great for us.  Therefore, I anticipate opening the door of my heavenly home to see Mandy waiting for me.  Some of my friends tell me I should anticipate about a dozen other dogs I have loved through the years.   If I add thirteen or fourteen years to my present age this will be my last dog.  Surely God smiled the day He made dogs and even though Genesis doesn’t mention it, I am sure He said, “That is very, very good.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 9, 2010

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org