Author: Ian Bothwell

Last summer the rhododendron plants set this year’s blossoms. The buds were formed and all winter they have slept and waited for this coming June.  We have hundreds of blossoms waiting to overwhelm us with beauty.  This afternoon I stood holding one in my hand and I understood much more about Jesus’ kingdom.

In Mark 1 we read, “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.’”  If we were expecting an immediate change in government it didn’t happen and Jesus would have been a false prophet.  But Jesus never sought to overtly overthrow any political establishment. Instead He was far more subtle and far more effective.  Had He demanded the fruit of Christianity to immediately be established, anarchy would have ensued.  But ever so slowly the internal principles, the fruit of the Spirit, matured in the minds of people.  Civil rights, equality of women, religious liberty, the value of a single human life and the emancipation of slavery are a few of the revolutionary and radical changes that have blossomed in nations populated by large Christian populations. Our world is not the same world in which He said, “The Kingdom of God is within you.”

Most of us are impatient for moral change.  We want to reform the world in our time.  We want to see the fruit of our teaching manifest itself in our children.  For Jesus it was setting the blossoms and knowing in due season the hearts of men would be aroused to do the morally right thing.  We have a tendency to want to believe the world is getting worse and worse but a careful examination of history reveals that so much good has come to us and we can trace it back to the teachings of a Galilean carpenter.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 25, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

It had been a long dusty trip over some of the world’s worst roads after we left the only paved road in central Uganda.  Four of us were packed into a small English Ford as we tried to breathe through the clouds of dust generated by the buses in front of us.  We only had another hour to go until we arrived at Bukoba, where we were going to hold a series of evangelistic meetings.  Only one more hour and one more ferry trip across a river and we would arrive.

Alas, life does not always work the way we plan.  Arriving at the ferry we discovered it was broken and would not be repaired for days.  The closest ferry was 95 miles north.  We were so close and now we added 190 miles of bumps and ruts.  (No potholes.  No pavement.)  We had eight more hours of dirt to go, if we were lucky.  It’s amazing what we can do when we are young.  Today I would have turned around and gone home.  Even then we most likely would have, had we known what was ahead; a broken transmission, a night in a refugee camp, a tow by a bus into a town to awaken a drunken Chinaman to repair the car.   Oh, did I mention the cobra?

Life is an adventure filled with wonders.  How grand it is to re-experience all this only in memory.  But how often in life do we almost complete a goal only to find more challenges ahead.  The important thing is not to quit. “Quit” is another English word that can sometimes mean the opposite.  “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.”  “Quit” meaning to be resolved.  I Corinthians 16:13.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 24, 2010

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

 

I passed a very specific group of people this weekend and found myself grateful that I did not have to associate with them.  My sons would accuse me of being an elitist but I would argue that was not the case.  It was not that I felt that I was better than those in that group.  Not at all.  It is just that talking with them would be uncomfortable because we have so little in common.  Conversation would be strained and artificial.  I cared little about what seemed important to them.  I could have asked them lots of questions.  I don’t mind appearing ignorant; I am in many areas.  And while I could have informed myself, I really didn’t care to.  It’s true that birds of a feather flock together and for very good reason.  It is comfortable.

Jesus tells us we must love each other.  He does not expect us to like each other.  I doubt if Jesus liked Herod the night Herod had Jesus beaten. Sometimes we err in confusing liking and loving.  Loving is wanting the best for you and wanting the best for your family.  Liking is wanting to spend time with you.

I have never understood Will Rogers’s famous line that he never met a man he didn’t like.  He was so much more eclectic than I.  I wish I were like him.   (That’s a different use of the word “like.”  No wonder English is difficult.)

Jesus’ comfort level with everyone has always intrigued me.  He was comfortable with the lowest of the low and seemed equally comfortable with the wealthy.  He was a common man.  He was a man who labored with His hands. He was royalty. I really wish I were like Him.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 23, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I love musty old bookstores.   There is something mystical about browsing about shelves of books that have not seen the light of day for who knows how long.  There used to be, maybe it is still there, one near Columbia University where room led onto room.  Each room seemed a bit darker than the former and the smell deepened.  There I imagined I would find some ancient tome filled with the secrets of the ages.   That is so strange because I know better.  I know the book filled with the secrets of life is not lost in some New York City bookstore.  I have owned one since I was five-years-old.

I am, of course, talking about our Bible.  It is the story of redemption. It is the story of God reaching out to man.  It is the story of God becoming a man so we would know the truth.  God is not a capricious, temperamental being who acts on whims.   He is consistently steady in His resolve to redeem us.  Never a day goes by when He is disinterested in our progress toward infinity.   We are the apple of His eye.  We are His children.  We are princes and princesses of the universe.

Ever since Eden, Lucifer has tried his worst to discredit God.   Lucifer inspired people to do horrible things and convinced them it was God who was the source of their inspiration.  Ignorant people then claimed they did it because God wanted them to do it.   Finally God came here to set the record straight.  The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.   The Word said, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.”   The secret is no secret.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 22, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

After every winter comes a spring.  It is the natural order of eternity.  Crocuses have braved to pierce the brown lawn still decorated with patches of white in places the sun cannot quite reach.  Beautiful heralds of daffodils promise green grass will timidly follow.  It’s a fine time.  It’s a time to know our heavenly Father loves new things.  Thousands of years ago He spoke and by the breath of His mouth the heavens became.  Earth with all its abundance and verdancy was made ready for something new – us.

“There went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

We have not been the best caretakers of either our souls or our earth.  I do not want to say that has been alright because the redemption cost was horrific.  Yet on this side of the cross there is so much hope, so much assurance, so many promises that this will pass away as last year’s fall — and spring will come anew.

“He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.”

The really good news is we get to taste it now.  It is not all future tense.  This very moment we can experience the newness that God loves so much.

“We are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 21, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

A son of the dictator of Equatorial Guinea has a $35 million dollar home in Malibu to which he commutes in his $35 million Gulfstream.  Recently he has authorized the construction of a $380 million dollar yacht.  The average income of the 700,000 citizens of Equatorial Guinea is less than $2 a day and most have no clean water. Equatorial Guinea is an oil rich nation.  Could we possibly feel more disgust?

Now let’s talk about Jesus.  The following is from Philippians 2 paraphrased in The Message.  Jesus “had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.”  Could we possibly feel more pride?

There are some individuals who deserve to be the king.  They have earned the right to receive our respect and adoration.  The Book of Revelation describes a heaven filled with various forms of intelligent life.  They gather around the throne and give worship to the One who not only created all life but astonished the universe by sacrificing Himself to bring back those who deliberately turned away.  Jesus came as a poor man.  Jesus lived as a poor man.  Jesus died a poor man.  Jesus resurrected as the richest man ever who now reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  How grand!

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 17, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

It’s a pretty hill with horse paddocks and spring flowers blossoming from the fertile Massachusetts soil.  One would not think too much about it if it were not for a small stone memorial by the road.  One horrible night in 1675 it wasn’t so tranquil.  Native Americans swept over the hill destroying the small homes of the settlers.  While standing by the marker I tried to imagine the carnage, the gunfire, the roar of flames, the scalping, and the screams of terror of the children and others who perished midst the war cries of the slayers.  I know this place well because it is adjacent to our little New England college.

Walking back to my classroom I looked over the faces of thirty-four students waiting for me to interrupt their tunes and texting as I asked them to turn off all their electronic gear.  Their faces are as deceptive as that tranquil hillside.  Without the marker no one would ever know about the hill’s violent night.  Unless my students tell me, I have no idea what their lives are all about.   They range in ages from 18 to 40.  Each has a story. Some are stories of a happy home and others could most likely tell tales that would raise the hair on our necks.   Sometimes they fill me with exasperation but I try to not say what my impulses want to say.  I have already made the mistake of saying things in jest only to have them break into tears.  That is crushing to me and to them.

I am not surprised that Jesus told us not to judge others.  We cannot make accurate assessments because we have not been where they have been nor have we shared their joys and their pains.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 19, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Fifty years ago my mother-in-law made the world’s most amazingly scrumptious sweet rolls every Friday afternoon.  The weekend house was olfactory heaven.  I think my wife thought I was coming to visit her.  I will never admit that I didn’t want to miss Friday evenings for another reason.  Recently my wife has been trying to replicate those rolls.  She can almost get them that good, but not quite.  I think if she does get it I will not let her know.  The longer she tries the more sweet rolls I get.

I wonder if she already has reproduced them but is it our older taste buds that are the problem?  Could it be that things were just not as sweet as we remember?  When we visit wonderful places we remember from childhood those places are rarely as big or grand as what we recall.

However, there is something that does grow better.  Our walk with the Lord can actually be sweeter as we age.  Because I teach human development, I think I know the reason why.  As we mature so does the complexity of our mental gifts.  There are some ideas that young minds cannot fully grasp.  Some ideas need the experience of years in order to move to a higher level – thus the reason one cannot be President of the United States until one is thirty or older.  According to cognitive experts that is being generous.

The story of our redemption and the nuances of God’s plan to rescue us will fascinate us forever.   As we grow so will our grasp of God’s love.  We will never tire of this study.  It is a story that will grow sweeter as millennia roll by.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 15, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

One of the very first stories I ever read was the tale of the lazy grasshopper and the industrious ants.  He played all summer and they worked all summer.  Eventually winter came and the winds howled and the ants were snug in their home with lots to eat.  Poor lazy grasshopper shivered at their door and they generously took him in.  As a child I wondered about the lesson from this story.  It seemed to me I could be like the grasshopper and play instead of working because someone would help me when I needed it.  My school teacher father assured me that was not the point.  We were to be like the ants so we could not only care for ourselves but be heroes and rescue stupid Mr. Grasshopper.  While I loved and trusted my dad I was never so sure.  It seemed to me the grasshopper won.

What I did not understand as a child was one’s needed sense of worth and esteem.  One of life’s very important needs is to be able to look in a mirror and have respect for the person we see.  If one has never really worked and has consistently lived off the labor of others one cannot, in all honesty, feel the same about themselves as can the person who has toiled and been productive.

God made us in His image.  He is extremely productive.  He is a creator.  He desires for us to be fruitful and to multiply the labor of our hands and minds.  Paul certainly understood this when he wrote in Ephesians 2:10, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”    As His sons and daughters we will be most happy when we are like Him.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 17, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Just in case you thought you could believe everything you research on the Internet, think again.  Even my devotionals have now fallen into doubt. Last night I reported that the Derek Redmond event that included his father occurred in 1988 in Seoul.  Wrong!  It was in 1992 at the Barcelona Olympic Games.  I looked it up and the first reference I got on Bing told me it was in Seoul.  I did not double check my facts and passed on the error.  Sorry about that!

It is easy to pass error about with our electronic tools. It happens with regularity and even checking with Snopes does not always guarantee accuracy. Eyewitness accounts do not necessarily make things true because each of us, despite our complete confidence in our own intelligence, sees things through our biases and prejudices.  Whether we like it or not, or are willing to admit it, each of us sees what we want to see and are blind to concepts, events and facts that do not fit what we want to be true.  Just talk to teachers about parental reactions to negative information about their children.  Too often Jimmy can do no wrong.

Unfortunately, this is also true regarding our religious experiences.  When we read Scriptures we are inclined not to notice passages that conflict with our “truth.”  And when they are brought to our attention we spin them so there is no conflict. We spin before we change.  God certainly has His work cut out for Him when it comes to teaching us something new.  Yet there are new things for us to learn.  Pray that God would open our minds to what He wants us to know.  His light shines more and more as we grow.  Let’s let it happen.  See Proverbs 4:18.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 16, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org