Author: Ian Bothwell

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

A car company could purchase every available advertising minute during the Super Bowl and not sell any cars if the people who already had one spread the word the cars were debris on wheels.  I sometimes wonder if the money we spend on evangelism is a testimony to our failure as Christians.   We talk about witnessing as if it were something we go somewhere and do.  Witnessing is living.  Witnessing is not standing on a street corner passing out pamphlets.  It is not knocking on doors annoying people.  Witnessing is being the happiest, most peaceful person in our workplace and neighborhood.

Everyone wants to be happy and to be loved.  Everyone.  If we were truly happy loving people it would not take long for others to notice.  The world would rush to us.  “Build a better mousetrap . . . .”

Yesterday one of my undergrad classes came in looking like Red Sox fans.  What doom and gloom!   I asked them if they would be happy if they just won the lottery.  “Oh yes,” they said.  I asked if I gave them a ticket assuring them a place in heaven if they would be happy.  “If we believed you,” was the response I received.  There it was.  We talk about salvation but so often fail to really believe it.  At least so often that’s the way we act.

Isn’t it strange that we find it easy to believe stupid urban myths and yet struggle with the Gospel?  Could it be that we just cannot imagine being so blessed?  Is it for everyone else but not me?  Repeat after me. “It is for me.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 13, 2003

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