Author: Ian Bothwell

My wife and I decided to go to Denny’s for breakfast this noon and play the “Who Went to Church Game.”  Fifty years ago this game was much easier because most of the men would be wearing a necktie, but that custom has waned making the game more difficult.  There was one elderly gentleman, anyone older than me, who was sporting a nice suit and tie.   He and his wife were easy.  There was another young couple with two girls wearing nice dresses.  Surely they had to be. Then there was another couple with a boy.  I hope they had not just come from church because much to my amazement they walked out without paying. I could barely believe what I watched.  Now I am going to make an educated guess that twenty years from now one family will have two wonderful brides and another family will be lucky not to have a jailbird.

I realize there have been many debates through the decades regarding nature versus nurture.  Just how valuable is role modeling versus inheritance? Most of us have come to the conclusion both are extremely valuable.  Not only do our children arrive in this world with our predispositions but they also watch us.  Speech and behavior patterns are copied and become a blessing or a curse to the next generation.

I have talked with many people through the years who have longed to write a book so they could leave a legacy to the world after they are gone.  A book can become a musty old object that fills our basements with unsold copies or sits on a freebie table at a yard sale.  But a child grown to adulthood, now there’s a legacy!

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 26, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

There’s a funny thing about humans.  The kind of world we think is out there is the kind of world we see out there.  One would think the latter would come first but quite to the contrary. We are the designers of our world.  We don’t see the world that is.  We see the world we think is.  Once upon a time I knew a woman whose life was most miserable.  It is true she only had one leg but the last time I checked our limbs were not connected to our brain, the source of our attitudes.  I was her pastor and I have to admit (I shouldn’t say this) that I was happy for her when she passed away.  She sat home alone and had a rebuttal for every positive comment any of us could make.  Nothing we could say could get a smile.  I do so hope the Lord can make her happy.  None of us could bring even a tiny ray of sunshine into her dismal world. I hate to sound like someone from the Sound of Music but think of your favorite things and life wouldn’t be so sad.

The law of God’s Kingdom, the rule for happiness, is service.  When we set out to improve another’s life we are the ones whose lives improve.  It almost seems counter intuitive but God’s Kingdom is like that.  The first shall be last and the last first.  Matthew 19:30.   So how much sense does that make?  Very little in our way of thinking but it is brilliant when Jesus says it.  The reason being is He is the Master Psychologist.  He created us.  He designed our minds and knows exactly what we need for happiness.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 21, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

We often hear people speak about having a sixth sense.  There are things we know even though they are beyond our five sense’s capabilities.  They are not empirical.  We cannot weigh them or measure them in any manner.  Yet they are real.  No one would say love isn’t real.  However, only lovers playing an up-man-ship game try to quantify love by claiming they love the other more than they are loved.   Justice is real but cannot be put in the balance held by the blind statue of justice.  Perhaps it is because justice cannot be measured that we often times want to retaliate just a hair more than our cause demands.

I have come to believe faith is our sixth sense.  It is something Jesus certainly thought we should have.  He actually expected us to have it.  Just in Luke we find the following.   Concerning those who lowered the paralytic through the roof, “When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’ ”  Luke 5:20.   He spoke of the great faith of the Centurion.  Luke 7:9.  To the woman who washed His feet He said, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” To the woman who touched his garment, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.”  Luke 8:48. To the cleansed leper, “Rise and go: your faith has made you well.” Luke 17:19.  The list goes on and on.  It is a great study if you are wanting to have a refreshing time.

In Luke 17:5 the disciples figured this out and asked for more faith.   Perhaps it is the greatest want of modern man.  We are so educated in inductive and deductive logic and in the scientific method of research it is difficult for us to reach beyond our rational minds.  Philosophers call it the “leap of faith.”  It does appear it is something we need.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 20, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

She was a contradiction, a walking irony.  As she waited on me at the checkout counter I could not help but notice her lack of grooming which was accentuated by the title under her name: Beauty Consultant.   She almost hurt my eyes.  I looked around to see if I was on Candid Camera and maybe I was.  There are so many security cameras these days one cannot tell for sure.

While driving away I couldn’t help but think about my calling myself a Christian. The irony of encouraging and exhorting while failing to be that which we proclaim is often excruciatingly painful.  Almost the entire chapter of Matthew 23 is a record of Jesus attacking the religious establishment for their hypocrisy.   I chose the word “attack” because that is exactly what it is.  There is no gentle Jesus meek and mild in Matthew 23.  He pronounces seven woes upon the religious leadership for “traveling all over the world to make a convert and then making that person twice the son of hell as you are.”  Ouch.  He tells them they are like white washed tombs, lovely on the outside and stinking rotten on the inside.

I am so thankful for Matthew 5:6 which says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled.”  Often the desire to be a good person is as powerful as any hunger for food.  Without Romans 1:17 I would be overwhelmed with despair but Scripture is very sure on this. “The just shall live by faith.”  Righteousness is not a matter of doing.  It is a matter of being.  And the being is a gift.  Paul assures us in Romans 5:17 that righteousness is a gift.   It is a gift God is so pleased to give.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 27, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

After years of watching I am still amazed at how long it takes my wife to get through the fresh fruit and vegetable section of our supermarket.  If she sends me with a list I can quickly pick up the melon, the tomatoes, the potatoes and the lettuce.  It is so different with her.  Each melon is carefully fondled as she sniffs where it had been attached to the vine.  The tomatoes have to be just the right mixture of shades of red and green.  Each potato is sniffed and lettuce is, well actually I don’t know what she does with the lettuce.  I just know it is done with the care of a scientist.

If God checked us out with such precision there is no way we could be saved. Thankfully we have an advocate with the Father.  He is Jesus Christ, the righteous.  I John 1.   He and He alone is so utterly spotless, so pure, so untainted, so perfect He can stand before the Father and say, “See me.  I represent the redeemed.  I give them the gift of my righteousness.”  Don’t misunderstand.  He is not a cloak that covers evil.  He throws away our filthiness and fits us with His robe of righteousness.  It is all Him from start to finish.  He is the alpha and the omega of salvation.

The end result of my wife’s diligence is spectacular eating.   The end result of Jesus’ diligence is a wedding banquet mentioned at the close of Revelation.  Just as there is nothing spoiled on my table there will be nothing spoiled on or at Jesus’ table.  He is a great fruit inspector.  When our records are examined there will be nothing there except fruits of righteousness.  The other things have been blotted out.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 28, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

I think I was about five years old the first time I heard Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”   It made a great impression on me.  I recall associating it with a picture of Peter drowning in the stormy sea because he had taken his eyes off Jesus.   He called and Jesus grabbed his hand and together they walked over to the boat.  I am awed by this now, let alone the impression it made on me at five.  I determined right there that I would always be ready to call to Jesus.  It wasn’t until I went to an academy (high school) in Bible classes that I unlearned Romans 10:13.   What I mean by unlearning is my Bible teacher added a lot of “buts” to the promise.  According to him, while it was true I was saved by calling out to Jesus I then had a list of do’s and don’ts if I was going to stay saved.  It was most depressing.  I almost gave up on the whole thing.  Sadly to say many of my classmates did give up.

Fortunately, I went on to college and I am so grateful that once again I relearned Romans 10:13 along with some accompanying verses like verse 9.  “If thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved.”   I also learned that Paul wrote in Galatians that the moment anyone adds a ‘but’ he has negated the cross.

I think some people fear this will lead people to live a self-centered life of sin.  But it is just the opposite.  Because I have been given such a gift I don’t want to sin.  I want to be like my hero – Jesus.  That’s the way it works.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 17, 2009

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Shocked again.  Sunday I saw a man and woman with a small boy walk out of a Denny’s without paying.  What I saw today put spoiled icing on the rotten cake.

Coming to a red light at a busy intersection I was watching young people with containers going from car to car collecting money for the Jimmy Fund – Cancer Research.  People were putting their hands out the window with cash as the collectors walked to their cars.  Catty-cornered across the intersection from me a window came down, a hand came out which then flicked cigarette ashes into the container as it neared.   After the light turned and I could proceed I took special note to see the scumbag.  It was a teenage girl.  I feel very sorry for the man that marries her. Without a conversion experience this will without a doubt be someone her high school senior class should vote to be the one destined for a life of misery.  Sorry about the derogatory term.  I thought about replacing it with something less offensive.  I asked myself what Jesus would have said.  Then I remembered Matthew 23 and decided it was right to retain the word.

Is a little respect too much to ask?  In Romans 12:10 Paul exhorts us to honor others.  He even goes so far as to tell us to prefer others over ourselves.  In Philippians Paul encourages us to adopt an attitude of humility and to labor to do all we can to advance others.  One of my favor pictures of Jesus is found in Mark 1 where Jesus reaches out and touches a leper while the man was still a leper. True respect for self can only be real when it is a reflection of our treatment of those about us.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 29, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

I spent considerable time this evening looking for my glasses.  I scanned my desk where they were supposed to be.  I went to my bedside table.  I checked the bathroom and the kitchen.  I tried retracing my steps from the time I came home from school.  All the searching was to no avail.   Knowing they had to be here somewhere, I figured they would show up sometime so I gave up and sat down to write.  And what to my wondering eyes did appear but my glasses.  They were right where they were supposed to be.  On my desk – the very desk I had so carefully scanned.

How can it be that I looked right at them?  They were not hidden under a book or a magazine.  They were in plain sight.  But I did not see them.  My eyes saw them.  My eyes sent the necessary bits of data to my optic nerves which carried the signal to the back of my brain and yet my brain never processed the data.  I was blind to them while they were right in front of me.  Need I say more regarding the spiritual blindness that cripples so many of us?  God’s love, the intricate design of creation, the miracle of life, the simple complexity of the Gospel is all there all the time and yet so often we just don’t see.

I am reminded of John 1:4-5.  “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”  Jesus came and walked, talked, healed, resurrected and yet the darkness that blinded His own people prevailed and does so to this day.   We can look and not see.  It must not be that way for us.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 15, 2010

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124

St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

 

Some people call them résumés and some call them vitas.  They are similar.  Basically they are a brief account of somebody’s life.  Usually they are put together in an effort to impress us into giving the author a job.  Often they are amusing to read, especially if they contain dates.  Often we can see that someone has lots of experience but we wonder why they changed jobs every year.  The list can be impressive except it might reveal they don’t wear well.  Actually I like just the reverse.  Lots of experience in a few places tells me a lot.  I saw one today that made me smile.  He put down, “International speaker.”   Since he didn’t put public speaker or mention how many countries I figured he and his wife drove to Toronto and he talked with her in the car.  Yes, I know.  That’s harsh.  Forgive me.

It all set me to wondering what we need on our résumés for entrance to heaven.  I’m sure many people would list all the money they have given to charities.  They might list the clothes they put in the Good Will box or calculate the number of hours they volunteered at the local hospital.  If they were brave they might list the temptations and opportunities for sin that they resisted.  How about mentioning they haven’t eaten meat or mustard in twenty years?  Or better yet if they were a pastor they could list all their baptisms – stars for their crown.

I think I have figured out the ultimate résumé for heaven.   “Sinner – Forgiven.”   You must admit it’s not very long.  But, it has a certain elegance about it.  Its simplicity tells the whole story.   The only story needed.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 14, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

While waiting for a waitress I watched a young man service one of those big glass boxes with a large claw that sells you a chance to snag a stuffed toy.   I was intrigued that he did not just randomly toss in a new supply of Bert and Ernies.  Ever so carefully he put in each new toy so it was positioned upright.  Layer after layer of cute teddy bears and such were all poised so the claw could easily grasp it by the head.  The advantage was for the child operator and not for the owner of the restaurant.   He was smiling as he locked it up and carefully cleaned the glass.

I liked that guy.  He reminded me of Jesus who also positions everything to our advantage.  Jesus has tried to give everyone the best chance possible.  However, I must admit life’s circumstances do indeed impede millions of people.  If one is born into the home of an abusive father, calling God “Father” can create a gigantic barrier to the Gospel.  If one is raised in an underprivileged neighborhood the disadvantages can distort one’s view of God and can very much get in the way of realizing what is available.

I am a great supporter of Head Start programs.  They aid underprivileged children to have a running chance at a good education.  I’m wondering if unbeknownst to us God has a “Head Start” program for those who need it.  What I do know is God is in the business of saving people and positions “heads-up” all that’s needed for our salvation.  What is great about it is we don’t have to put two quarters in the slot to have a chance.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 13, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org