Author: Ian Bothwell

In preparation for a coming weekend retreat for our administrators I am reading a very fine book on leadership.  The book is designed to instill in corporate leaders the importance of such vital concepts of gifts of love, power, significance and authorship.  The author’s goal is to impress leaders to lead with soul and heart.  It’s a very fine book.  Now comes my negativity.  Because the book was written for people of all faiths it is very generic.  It has to be so.  The authors had no choice if they wanted the book to have a broad appeal.  But it is missing the richness of Christ.  As fine as other faiths are there is nothing that compares with the love, mercy and grace of Jesus.   Take the best of every other faith and you will find excellent ideas but they pale when compared to the extravagant richness of Christ described in Ephesians.

Reading this excellent book is like eating an Oreo cookie without the middle layer.  The cookie all by itself is excellent but doesn’t come near being as spectacular as when we savor that middle layer.  The authors have a fine idea but they are looking for the best of humanity inside humanity.   We are only at our best when our humanity, our personhood is filled with the divinity offered to us by Christ.  Peter says it so well in his second letter, “. . . given unto us are exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, . . .”   We are at our best when we open ourselves to being God’s temple.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 3, 2010

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We have a new neighbor.  Recently he purchased a home close by that had been on the market for several years. I was working in the front yard this afternoon and he stopped and introduced himself.  When I went to tell him my name he said, “Oh, you’re Roger and I know lots about you.”  He went on to say he had as a boy been best of friends with the boy who grew up in our house before we moved here.  He said, “I have probably been in your house as much as you have.  I know everything about it.”  Then he went on to describe things in the house that were not here when he was a boy.  He described things on the walls and furniture.  That was super strange.  He explained.  His now best friend is a man who replaced our windows.  That man spent a lot of time inside.

As he drove down the hill I thought about God knowing all the trivia of our being.  He knows the secret parts of our hearts.  He knows stuff we don’t want Him to know.  He knows stuff that’s in there that we don’t know is in there.  It is amazing to think about God knowing everything.  Does that mean He is never surprised?  Is His foreknowledge based on knowing actual events or is it wisdom based on an eternity of experience?  After one has been around the barn a few times one knows what’s on the other side of the barn.   Could that be how He knows and our free choice could surprise Him by our doing the unexpected?  There is so much we don’t know and the only way to find the answers is to meet with Him face to face, which might not be as far away as we imagine!

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 20, 2010

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In the latter part of last year a mother of four was admitted to a hospital in Phoenix.   She was in the first trimester of a pregnancy and the right side of her heart had ceased to function.  After careful and prayerful consideration Sister Margaret McBride, the hospital administrator, granted permission for the baby to be aborted.  It was the only way to save the mother who had four children at home who needed her.  Sister McBride is a highly respected member of the Sisters of Mercy and had an unblemished record but she had broken church law.  The Bishop of the Phoenix diocese forthwith excommunicated her taking away her rights to communion and any other sacrament.

I mention this because it is a classic example of following the letter of the law and forgetting the spirit of the law.   In Mark 2 Jesus commends David for feeding his men the shewbread from the temple because his men were in need of food.  It was a clear violation of temple law.  Only the priests were to eat the shewbread. David’s men with all the notches on their spear shafts could hardly be considered priests.  Over and over Jesus sought to have us understand that people are more important than laws.  Laws are made to protect people and when they do the opposite principles come into operation. In Galatians Paul says the entire law is summed up in how we treat others.

Solomon once said there is a time to kill.  Sister McBride’s dilemma was which one was to die, the mother or the developing baby.   If we think this was an easy decision it is only because we have never had to do so.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 10, 2010

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In the midst of a torrential downpour I looked out the window and saw the most bedraggled looking bird at our feeder.  It took me a moment to recognize that it was a male cardinal.  He was so soaked you could barely identify what is usually the most beautiful bird in the neighborhood.  What was he doing?  Why had he not taken shelter like the other birds?  He filled his beak and was off through an incredibly storm.  Having a hunch I raced to the other side of the house where we can view a very active cardinal nest. Sure enough mom was covering the chicks as he swooped in with food.  His family needed him.

When I was small my father was a school teacher.  He would come home from the classroom and sleep until 10:00 pm and then go to work in the steel mills of Pennsylvania from 11 to 7.  He would come home in the morning, change clothes and go to his classroom.  He did that for years.   My mom, my sisters and I were well cared for.

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:11, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”  That soaked male cardinal reminded me of my dad.  My dad reminded me of Matthew 7:11.   Jesus was so right.  Why should we fret and worry?  We are loved.  We are cared for.  And should things get difficult there is always a better tomorrow.   He will always care for you and me.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 28, 2010

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There is a fascinating clause in Ephesians 3:10.   Paul makes reference to “. . . the principalities and powers in heavenly places. . .”  This evening’s network news reported that astronomers have upped the number of stars accessible to our instruments.  The number is now a three followed by twenty-six zeros.  That looks like this 300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.  Are we impressed yet?  Or is it so incomprehensible that it is just a string of zeros?

I have no desire to take advantage of your time by filling this message with my fantasies, but it is so difficult not to wonder just what Paul meant.  Is there some form of government and leadership on each of the worlds God has made?   “. . . his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds. . .”  Hebrews 1:2.  It is obvious that Paul certainly did not think we were alone.

Diplomacy in our State Department is the fine art of representing our nation to other nations.  Might this be our eternal task?  To glorify God by being diplomats that bear physical witness to our redemption.  We, like no other beings, can personally speak of grace.  With us it is not an academic topic.  Salvation is not a subject for sermons or lectures in a classroom.  With us it is personal.  Those who have personally been rescued from some horror can speak with moving power that cannot be replicated by the greatest of actors.

One of my students mentioned the possibility of finally visiting everywhere and becoming bored at some point in eternity.  I am most anxious to find him tomorrow and give him an opportunity to pronounce the number three followed by twenty-six zeros.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 3, 2010

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While passing by the recreation room in a nursing home I was about knocked over by the volume of the recreation director literally yelling, “N-17.” Looking in I saw a collection of old ladies playing Bingo. There weren’t any old men. This wasn’t because old men are not interested in Bingo. There aren’t any old men. We, men, just don’t last long enough, at least most of us. There are a few stalwarts but for the most part we check out sooner than our wives. Just then I was assaulted once again with a very loud “C-19.”

It’s a good thing God communicates to us in a still small voice that is heard internally or very few people over 75 would ever hear Him. I think God likes old people. He didn’t call Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt until he was 80. In addition, Moses’ brother Aaron, the high priest, wasn’t any spring chicken. However, we must mention that John the disciple was a teenager when he started following Jesus. God obviously has no real age preferences. He will take us when He can get us.

Lest this information be a cause of putting off committing your life to Christ please don’t delay thinking you can enjoy the world now and become a Christian later. Being a Christian is the abundant life. Why wallow about in a second-class life when you can start a first-class life right now?

Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10   That’s because the moment we make Jesus the Lord of our lives we cross over from death to life.  We have been handed a brand new passport with a new birth date.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 28, 2010

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He had an interesting barn-like home nestled in the woods.  He was an artist who somehow got along with very little income.  He was the stereotypic starving artist.  I always loved to visit him because we would sit on the porch and rock in his chair to the sounds of the woods.  One afternoon he said to me, “I have never been much of a success but I have to admit I love living here just sculpting.”

I need someone to define success for it seemed to me he was amazingly successful.   He got up each morning and lived his passion.  He made beautiful art.  He had little or no stress.  It seemed to me he was the most successful man I knew as opposed to many of my friends who were trapped in the rat race trying to live up to our culture’s definition of success.  His income was simple but his needs were simple.  While my friends were trapped in rush hour traffic on an eight-lane highway he was sitting on his porch with a good book.  How ironic that financially he wasn’t worth anything but was so rich.

We need to stop letting the world define “the good life” for us.   In Romans 12:2 Paul tells us not to be conformed to the world.  When we are thirteen years old peer pressure is everything.   As adults let’s be ourselves and forget what others think we should do.  God made each of an original and being unique we should have our own unique definition of success. “That means we will not compare ourselves with each other. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.”  Galatians 5:26  The Message

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 3, 2008

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I took the long way to school this morning.  I left a few minutes early so I could poke along and savor the autumn colors.  Opening the car window,  I filled my lungs with the scent of fallen leaves mixed with fallen apples as I passed an already harvested orchard.  Remembering Jesus and His disciples harvesting a handful of grain while passing a field,  I pulled over and kicked around in the grass under the fruitless trees until I found a really nice apple the harvesters had left behind.  Rubbing it until it was nice and shiny,  I took a big juicy bite.  It was grand.  Actually it was a Cortland.

I enjoy doing things Jesus did.  I allowed my mind to run a bit wild and imagined Jesus standing among the trees polishing up an apple.  Truly there are many ways we can do what He did and He is anxious to help us.  We can perform miracles of love that can transform lives by our being attentive to the needs of those about us.  If we are having difficulty with that, upon our request,  the Holy Spirit will heighten our sensitivities and actually give us the resources to come to the aid of others.

When Paul wrote, “Let this mind be in you that was in Jesus” he was calling us to a higher plain of daily living.  He was telling us that we could think better thoughts than our norm and act in ways far beyond our usual level of giving.  Tomorrow you and I can be something so much better than what we are today.  And should we be so, the entire world will be a better place.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 30, 2008.

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It’s fantastic to live in a community with people who care.  This evening we were unaware that the thunderstorm heading our way housed a tornado. That is we were unaware until friends south of us who were watching television saw the threat to us.  Our phone rang and Paul Ravina’s caring voice said, “Turn on your television you are in a tornado warning zone.” Thank you,Paul.

The next few minutes were filled with getting birds into the basement and in general preparing for the worst.  Thankfully after much thunderous noise and lots of water the storm moved east.  Hopefully those people also have someone to call them.

In I Peter 5:7 we read that God cares for us.  If we are to be imitators of Christ, as we are urged to do in Philippians, we must indeed be watchful to see need and to be quick to offer and supply what is needed.  Thankfully, I not only have people who call me I also have people who enable us to quickly reach out when we perceive problems.   Just last week I overheard one of my grad students say quietly to another student, “I don’t know how I am going to feed my four children lunch.  I don’t have any food or money.”   Needless to say because so many of you on occasion send offerings to our Spring of Life ministry her problem was cared for immediately.   It is very rewarding to be a part of something much bigger than ourselves.  God gives to us that we might be streams of blessings.  And when we are a stream we are the ones with the biggest smile.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 28, 2010

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My father was a school teacher.   His brother was a school teacher.  His brother’s wife was a school teacher.  My step-mother was a school teacher.  I married a school teacher.  As a school teacher I stand in the midst of a family tradition.  This evening I stood in a graduate class of thirty-two students and was amazed that almost half of them were leaving other careers and reeducating themselves so they could enter elementary classrooms.  The other half are already elementary teachers getting their masters’ degrees.

Teaching is a profession whose value is not defined by its remuneration.  Only in eternity will we begin to realize the value of what teachers do day after day.  The opportunity to reach into the mind of a child and to challenge and inspire them to greatness is without a doubt one of the most exciting things that can happen to anyone.  Yesterday our President used his bully pulpit to address the children of our land and he said, “Take responsibility for your education. Go to class and listen. Don’t let failures define you. . . .That is the promise of education in America, that no matter what we look like or where we come from or who our parents are, each of us should have the opportunity to fulfill our God-given potential.”

God gave our children pliable minds.  What they become, who they will be, very much depends not only upon what we say to them but what we are in front of them.  Each of us is a teacher no matter what we do for our paycheck.

One of my favorite authors wrote, “He who co-operates with the divine purpose in imparting to the youth a knowledge of God, and molding the character into harmony with His, does a high and noble work.” White E.G., Education, p. 19.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 10, 2009

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