Author: Ian Bothwell

While sitting by a Wal-mart I watched seagulls clean the parking lot.  They are most likely the same gulls that are always there.  They have a good thing going.  People are trashy so there are ample French fries and other pieces of food from the McDonalds inside the Wal-mart.  Then, of course, there are the dumpsters out back.  We live over an hour’s drive from the ocean so I doubt if these birds are tourists.  They have contented themselves with an ocean of blacktop and the refuse of humans. It is a long way from riding the winds and soaring along the coast and feeding on fresh seafood.

They reminded me of people content to live second-rate lives far from God’s design for them.  God longs for us to ride first class.  He dreams for us to grow into excellence and to do and experience things our parents never dared hope for us.  There are levels of accomplishment and challenges to conquer waiting for those no longer content to mentally eat the media trash fed to us on a daily basis.

God calls us not only to salvation from sin but from the mediocrity of coasting through life like water that always chooses the easiest path downhill.  If we would discipline ourselves to learn something new each day about our job, our spouse, our children and our God we would soon ride the wind and soar above those content to eat other’s trash.

Paul wrote to Timothy, “Study to show thy self approved unto God” not just to make God happy but to fill us with grandeur.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 28, 2003.

Spring of Life, 901 Signorelli Circle, St. Helena, CA 94574

It is an old chest of drawers.  I am absolutely sure it is older than dirt.  This evening the top drawer came out and refused to go back.  Is it not logical to assume if something unchangeably solid came out of an unchangeable hole it would go right back in?  That drawer has been in that slot for decades.  Perhaps that’s the reason it would not go back.  It was like a genie escaping from the bottle.  Both my wife and I pushed, begged and sweet-talked that drawer and it refused to go where it belonged.  I was tempted to think of James’ discussion about words coming out of a mouth and not being able to be put back.  And then suddenly after much fussing and fuming on my part with absolutely no resistance it quietly slipped back into place.  I have no idea at all why it went back and since I have no idea why it was so difficult I will not investigate any farther.   Sometimes ignorance is bliss and it is not worth trying to know.

When I was young I wanted to know everything.  Now I have become more selective.  There are some things we are much better off not knowing.  We all would have been better off if Eve had decided she did not want to know what would happen if she ate the fruit.  Alas, she ate it and we have been suffering ever since.  However, there are some things very much worth knowing and the one at the top of the list is “Jesus loves you very much.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 25, 2003.

Spring of Life, 901 Signorelli Circle, St. Helena, CA 94574

Just as food, water, oxygen, and warmth are vital to the wellbeing of the body and education is vital to the welfare of the mind, prayer is vital to the soul.  Without prayer the soul will starve as the body will starve without nourishment.  While public prayer is important private prayer is essential.  In private prayer our only listener is God and we don’t have to tell lies to impress anyone.  We can be completely honest.  We might as well be honest because He knows all about us.  If we study nutrition so that we might eat right, should we not also study prayer?

The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray.  They watched Him.  They saw the hours so spent.  Jesus wants us to tap heavenly resources so He has given instructions.  He said, “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”  John 14:13-14

We get so excited about asking for anything we often miss the key, which is that the Father be glorified.  So often the things we ask for are for our glory, our prosperity, our selfishness.  We fail to think how our request will affect the Kingdom.  Jesus also said, ^“How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that comes from God only?”   John 10:44

I am so busy wanting you to think highly of me, I forget my purpose is to be a servant and the servant’s assignment is to honor the Master.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 24, 2003.

Spring of Life, 901 Signorelli Circle, St. Helena, CA 94574

Drooling while I was looking through the glass at all the flavors of Ben & Jerry’s, it occurred to me these two guys will forever be connected by an ampersand.  A lot of people are ampersanded together because their initials are carved together in a heart on a tree.  Do people still do that?  I think the invention of spray paint has replaced the knife.  Most of us are ampersanded with someone.  Ever since I was a teen my name has been ampersanded with my wife’s name.  It is interesting to watch one’s children grow up and see whom they bring home for the ampersanding process.  It is one of life’s more fascinating wonders.

I am sure one of my colleagues in the English department at my college will tell me the word “ampersand” is a noun and I can’t use it as a verb.  But I just did and that’s how language grows.

The more I think about it, I would like to be ampersanded with lots of things like the words “kind,” “unselfish” and “thoughtful.”  I would also like my name to be ampersanded with Jesus.  That has a good sound just like Ben & Jerry.  Roger & Jesus.  How about you?  Could I invite you to ampersand your name with Jesus?  Try it out.  See how it sounds.  I think you’ll like it.  I know Jesus likes it and if you want you can be ampersanded with Him long after people have forgotten Ben & Jerry.

^“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”  John 10:21

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 23, 2003.

Spring of Life, 901 Signorelli Circle, St. Helena, CA 94574

I came around a corner and discovered a huge 18-wheeler stopped in front of a crosswalk.  It is the law in Massachusetts to stop when a pedestrian wishes to cross at a crosswalk so I too stopped.  We, the trucker and I in my pickup, waited while a Scottie dog crossed the street.  There was no human in sight as he held his head high and walked precisely between the lines.  It was amazing.  I thought I must have been on Candid Camera.

As the huge truck lurched forward and as I proceeded along my way I thought about how well the world works when everyone obeys the rules.  When we are where we are supposed to be and do what we are supposed to do life works.  And that is what God’s laws are all about.  The Ten Commandments are nothing more than a concerned wise Father telling us to use the crosswalk and not to play in the street.  God never asks us to do anything that is not in our best interest.  He never asks us not to do something if it would be good for us to do.

Sometimes we are afraid to tell our youth they are saved by grace lest they run out and break all the commandments.   We underestimate their intelligence.  Instead of teaching the heresy of salvation by behavior lets pour our energy in explaining just why the laws exist.  Just maybe we as adults will then also understand that life works, families are blessed and people prosper when we listen, understand and obey.  Psalm 119:1

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 21, 2003.

Spring of Life, 901 Signorelli Circle, St. Helena, CA 94574

When in Rome one must be sure to visit the Pantheon.  Constructed between the years 118 and 126 it has a wonderful dome with a span of 142 feet and was the largest known dome in the world until 1436.  To support the massive weight until the compression ring could be put in place the building was filled with sand.  Coins were mixed in the sand and carefully guarded until the grand day construction was complete.  All that was necessary to remove the sand was to open the door and allow the people to come in with buckets and carry out the sand and keep any uncovered coins.  There was no lack of eager workers.

Occasionally I pick up an acorn and ponder the thought that I hold a mighty oak tree in my hand.  The reality is there.  It is only a matter of time and growth.  Our Bibles are filled with God’s promises.  Each time we claim one for our own the inherent gift is ours.  Its reality is only a matter of time and growth.  How can it be that people flocked to the Pantheon to find coins that would soon be spent and yet so few explore God’s word for treasure that will never be gone?  Once the talents and gifts are ours, we can have them forever.

Our heavenly Father wants us to be rich.  Incredible treasures await us if we will only look.  Jesus promised, “Seek and you will find.”  Angels must be amazed at our comfort with poverty when riches lay at our fingertips.  Look, explore, they are there.  They can be yours.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 20, 2003.

Spring of Life, 901 Signorelli Circle, St. Helena, CA

My newspaper delivery guy wants to get paid each week so he leaves me an envelope to put it out for him.   I don’t mind because it is an easy way to use up the change I accumulate through the week and it somehow gives the illusion I’m getting a free paper since I never hand over a check or cash.  On a regular basis I put in a few extra coins.  It isn’t much but over the course of a year it might help him.   Last week just to see what would happen, I shorted him a dime.  Sure enough this week he left me a note pointing out I owed him an extra ten cents.  He never once left me a note telling me I put in too much.

I am trying to decide whether or not in weeks to come to continue putting in extra.  Most likely I will because the truth of the matter seems that God continually showers me with extras and most of the time I fail to mention to Him that I noticed.  But come a shortfall, a need or a concern about the future, I make sure I tell Him about it.   So I don’t think the way I treat God is much different from the treatment I got from my paper deliverer and I certainly don’t want God to stop delivering the extras.

One of my favorite verses is Ephesians 2:7 where Paul speaks about God saving us so He can throughout eternity shower us with blessings.  God is never stingy with us.  How grand that is!

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 19, 2003.

Spring of Life, 901 Signorelli Circle, St. Helena, CA 94574

At the close of Mark 1 Jesus healed a leper and told him not to tell anyone.  But the man was barely out of earshot when he exploded with joy and told everyone what Jesus had done for him.  The result of his disobedience made it impossible for Jesus to enter any of the surrounding towns because the crowds were so great and the streets so narrow.

One of my students asked me if the man had sinned because he disobeyed Jesus.  I told him I thought Jesus understood and did not count it against the poor fellow.  One of life’s great lessons is God understands.  Why we do something is often more important than what we do.  According to Paul in I Corinthians 13, we can be martyred and have it mean nothing because we did it for the wrong reason.  Yet in Mark 2 Jesus commends David for breaking the law by feeding his men the showbread from the sanctuary, which was reserved exclusively for priests.

I am not advocating robbing banks to give to the poor, yet we do have a national holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., who led non-violent civil disobedience demonstrations.   It is obvious to any thinking person there is an ethic that transcends strict legalism.  There is no question that God calls us to a life of obedience.  There is no question that God calls us to a life of thoughtful action based upon unselfish love.

“For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself.”  Galatians

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 18, 2003.

Spring of Life, 901 Signorelli Circle, St. Helena, CA 94574

It isn’t rare to find inconsistency in psychological research.  One can find a study to support almost any bias; however, there is major consistency in studies seeking to answer the question, “What attracts a man to a woman and visa versa?”   Studies reveal, and this is no surprise to anyone, men are attracted to women because of the woman’s appearance.   However, women are attracted to men because of perceived power.   Studies also report men respect other men when they perceive the other man has power.

Power comes in many forms.  There is financial power.  People of means get to serve on boards of companies and institutions.   There is physical power.  We admire someone’s large biceps.  There is intellectual power.  Academic achievements, literary works, scientific discovery bring respect and honor to the scholar, author or scientist.  There is political power.  Charismatic people persuade us to vote for them thus giving them power.  There is moral power.  We respect our pastors and teachers only if they uphold standards worthy of such position.

Surely out of the above mentioned forms of power we need to add the power of goodness.  More than scholars, more than politicians, more than wealth the world needs people of noble character.   While it would be nice to have someone who never made a mistake, what we need is someone who even though he or she did err they erred on behalf of others and not themselves.

Our world is hungry for such men and women to lead us out of the dark morass of spin and into the light of truth and unselfish concern for others.

 

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 17, 2003.

Spring of Life, 901 Signorelli Circle, St. Helena, CA 94574

Using passwords is nothing new. Armies have used them from the beginning of time.   In Judges 12 men from Gilead took control of the passages across the Jordan River and used the word “Shibboleth” as a password.  They knew the men from Ephraim could not pronounce the “Sh” sound and so they were able to sort out the good guys from the bad guys.  When we were children we had clubs with secret passwords and handshakes.  Today we have computers that require a host of passwords.  We need passwords to access our email, Ebay, Amazon.com, bank accounts, ATMs and faculty records.     Passwords are the key to opening locked doors or blocked passageways.

 

I know some Christians who think the name “Jesus” is a password.  They treat it like it was “Open Sesame” to heaven.  Because Jesus instructed us to pray in His name we are tempted to think of it as a magic word.  Nothing could be further from the truth for the very same Jesus who told us to pray in His name also said in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

 

Ahh, so there is a password or maybe I should call it a pass action or a pass behavior.  The secret is doing the Father’s will.  And what might that be?  “This is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: . .”  John 6:40

 

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 16, 2003.

Spring of Life, 901 Signorelli Circle, St. Helena, CA 94574