Author: Ian Bothwell

In one of my  classes some of my students taught me a new word.  I had no idea this word existed.  It is “subitize.”   It is pronounced “sue baa tize.”  I felt a bit dull because it wasn’t the high school math teachers who taught me this word.  It was the kindergarten teachers.  Subitize means to perceive at a glance the number of items presented.

In Matthew 10 Jesus said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”  Our Heavenly Father is the Master Subitizer.

On a very clear night with little light pollution the average person can see about 2000 stars.  We cannot subitize them.  They were counted by astronomers with sky maps.  That is such a small sampling of what is really out there.  “He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name.”  Psalm 147:4.  He doesn’t call them Sirius and Arcturus.  Those are the names we have given them.   He calls them by the names He has given.  Each is special.  I have often wondered what is His name for our sun.

Our personal names are those our parents gave us.  I wonder what He calls us.  We shall know someday.  “I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.”  Revelation 2.  One thing we know for sure. He knows you and me.  He knows all about us because He is the Master Subitizer.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 12, 2016

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We have a hairy woodpecker in our yard that deserves to be reported to the National Audubon Society as an endangered individual.  He must think it’s Halloween because all morning he has been knocking on my back door and flying away when I answer.  No sooner do I sit down than he is back knocking knocking, knocking.  It was cute the first two or three times but really enough is enough.  I feel like I am trapped inside an Edgar Allan Poe poem.  “While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.”  We can call this one, “The Woodpecker.”

Jesus said, “Behold I stand at the door and knock.”  However, quite to the contrary He doesn’t run away when we answer.  But He is just as, or even more so, persistent as our woodpecker. He never had to chase me.  I have loved Jesus as long as I can remember, but I have known persons who were persistently chased, courted, harassed and beleaguered by the Holy Spirit, who would not let them go.

Just before His death Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives looking over Jerusalem and He mourned, “How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”  The truth is we are loved and God is just not willing for us to perish. “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”  II Peter 3:9.

And so He continually knocks, raps, taps at the front door, side door and backdoor of our hearts.  He really wants in and will never fly away.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 27, 2016

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We have a small music box containing three separate cylinders, thus it plays three different tunes.  I like it best when all three songs are playing at the same time.  I know that sounds strange but each time the music is a different delicate cacophonic dissonance of never before heard music.  Each time is an original composition created by different starting times. If you concentrate you can pick out each separate tune as you filter out the other two.  I know the definitions of cacophony and dissonance imply unpleasant jarring sounds.  But the softness of the music box produces something eerily beautiful.

There are millions of prayers simultaneously ascending to God’s ears.  Each moment He hears the beautiful sounds of His children intermingled with need, worship and love.  As a teacher I sometimes have to ask my students to politely wait their turn for I am not capable of grasping their concurrently spoken ideas.  Our Father has no such limitation.  You can speak.  I can speak.  We do not need to wait for our turn.   Neither the softness of our thanksgiving nor the pained anguish of our needs interfere with His caring cognition.

The wonder of our Heavenly Father will challenge our intellects forever as we seek to grasp the immensity of His love for us.  Paul wrote, “Open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.”  Ephesians 3.

Thusly as we all speak to Him it is music to His heart.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 11, 2016

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History provides us with moments of great importance.  Decisions, decisions, decisions weigh heavily on our hearts.  Sometimes proximity blurs the importance for us and we forget other much more important moments.  A  Thursday night 2000 years ago a decision was made not for the continuity of the Roman government but for the universe.  God had sent His Son, His only Son, to earth and the culmination of that was would He or would He not while  being human suffer one of the most horrific of deaths at the hands of those He had created.

There was silence in heaven as He fell to the earth in Gethsemane begging His Father for another way to save mankind.  There was not another way.  Satan pressed in smothering Him with the prospect of eternal loss, not only for Himself but for everyone.  Rising from the ground He made the decision.  But even yet the physical horror was yet to come.  We can now count the beatings, the humiliations, the number of thorns in His brow, the betrayal of Peter, the wooden cross on his back almost stripped of all skin by the lashes with barbs embedded in the strips of leather, the nails in His hands and the thirst-the incredible thirst.

Satan was sure he could break Him.  No one would so endure when with the flick of an eye bring it instantly to an end.  All heaven and all hell waited to see what the end would be.  Any other decisive moment in time pales in comparison to this.

On Sunday morning the angels sang because WE won.  We won not just four years.  We won eternity for everyone and anyone who will decide to accept the gift.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 9, 2016

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While walking my dog this afternoon we met a lady with a snarly little dog.  My dog which was for sure five times the size of the offender was a model of decorum.  I was so proud of her.  The lady said to me, “You will have to excuse her.  She’s pregnant.”  I’m tempted to say, “That’s not the first time I have heard those two sentences.” But I won’t say it because I don’t want to get into trouble.  Being that I have never been pregnant makes it appropriate for me to say nothing.

So very often saying nothing is the correct response to a majority of comments.  I have often thought the Quakers were really on to something significant. “Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.”  Proverbs 21:23   How often have I returned from being at a gathering or a committee meeting and wished I had refrained from opining.  Usually what I had to offer was not constructive and was only spoken because I wanted to appear bright.  I wasn’t.

Jesus, the smartest man who ever lived, could have silenced His accusers in so many ways, but instead He chose to be quiet.  “And the high priest arose and said to Him, ‘Do you answer nothing? What is it these men testify against you?’  But Jesus kept silent.”  Matthew 26   So many love the sound of their voice while not realizing what they hear is not what others hear.  It’s usually a bit shocking to hear one’s recorded voice for the first time.  We barely recognize the person speaking.  And yet even though I think this to be a wise course of action, we should not miss the opportunity to say something encouraging and uplifting to a discouraged soul.  A few wise words are a treasure.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 8, 2016

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It only lasted one day.  A heavy rain stripped bright yellow and red leaves from their summer branches and blanketed our lawn.  For twenty-four hours we had the most magnificent carpet anyone one could imagine.  The leaves had not yet begun to dry.  They were lush and pliable.  Walking on them was like being in an enchanted land of colors that dazzled with each step.  Jackson Pollock would have sacrificed a year of his life to have produced something so unworldly.  Van Gogh would have cut off his other ear to have added such beauty to his portfolio.  Could I have preserved it I could have become a rich man by charging people to see it.  But the next day it was diminished.  Its prime was past.

I was tempted to write that it was like people.  We have a prime and then it is gone.  Rarely are we aware when that prime is.  We just wake up one morning and look in the mirror and be it ever so subtle we are not the same. Every day that follows steals a bit more.  We are pilfered by time. But unlike my gorgeous carpet which will never be again, we have a “primer” prime awaiting us.  We will never reach our “primest” because each day will bring yet more vitality and beauty.

Paul wrote, “Just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.”  I Corinthians 15:49.   A sperm and an egg are not much to look at but put them together and the splendor of a baby is.  A wrinkled old man is not much to look at but unite him with Jesus and the grandeur that will forever grow “primer” and “primer” is beyond words.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 26, 2016

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I dropped an M&M on the floor – a red one.  I had 2 seconds to retrieve it.  But I was slow on the draw.  Locating it and bending over took at least twice that amount of time.  But wait, I was still within the 5 second rule.   Should I or should I not?  If it had been a Brussel Sprout would I have even pondered?  Dropping it would have been a boon.  I would not have to eat it.  But this was an M&M.  It had that crispy coating over that amazing drop of chocolate.  This was not a Brussel Sprout this was a tragedy, unless the 5 second rule applied.

Ah, the intrigue and power of rationalization.  Now, I know that bacteria are transferred instantly onto a fallen object, that is if it lands on the bacteria.  But what if this was a clean place on the floor?   And research does show that a full minute on the floor will contaminate the fallen object ten times as much over that of an object retrieved within 5 seconds.

Was I about to risk my health anymore than if I ate a bowl of ice cream?  I have no idea who sneezed at the ice cream factory or the health of the scooper/server at Friendly’s. Is anything we eat really clean?  And furthermore just this morning I received a huge dose of antibodies.  I mean huge.  It took four hours to run it through a tiny needle into my arm.  (I have to do this once a month – aftermath of many kinds of chemo.)  Right now at this very moment I am as safe from disease as I will ever be.

More importantly – this relates to so many other aspects of right and wrong.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 28, 2016

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My parents, who were born in 1911, never saw the Chicago Cubs win a World Series.  Last night we did.  It took 108 years!  Can you imagine what the world was like in 1908?   World War I had not yet occurred.  Henry Ford’s assembly line, the first ever, was not built until 1913.   The Model T came in your choice of colors as long as you chose black.   Cities were concerned about pollution.  What to do with all the horse manure that daily filled their streets was a major political issue.

Last night, in the tenth inning of the seventh game, the miracle happened.  After a short rain delay the Cubs put up two runs in the top of the tenth and Cleveland could only get one run in the bottom of the inning.  The game was over.  For almost eleven decades hope never died.

There is an interesting verse in II Peter.  We read, “They will say, ‘What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.’”  The answer follows in verse 9.   “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”   Well, you say, “Everyone will not repent so that must mean He will never come.”  Peter goes on to assure us the day will come.  It is a matter of patience on our part.  Jesus will come again the very moment when the time is right.  He hates the suffering on earth and will never let it linger one extra second.

Never give up hope.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 3, 2016

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I have this wonderful wooden box filled with cards.  It is great fun to open it and shuffle through old driver’s licenses, (I actually liked my picture on one of them). There are ID cards from the Massachusetts Teacher’s Association, the Audubon Society, Atlantic Union College, Fitchburg State University, Quinnsigamund College and many more.  One of my favorites is a complementary pass for me and a guest to Boston Red Sox games.  I can go in and sit anywhere until the rightful ticket holder shows up.  Then I have to move to another empty seat.  Sometimes I used to sit right behind home plate and no one would come and bump me out.  It is difficult to understand why someone would let a seat like that go empty.  But then again there are seats in heaven’s throne room for everyone and thousands will let it go empty.  What a waste!

It’s a waste of life and opportunity.  It’s a waste of intellect and creativity.  It’s a waste of happiness and fulfillment. God is in the business of saving people He will make every effort and use every tactic available to woo people into the Kingdom.  But there are some hardnosed folk who will resist and resist until they no longer hear the pleading voice beckoning them to come.

Revelation 3:21 says, “To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.”   Now that is a seat no one in their right mind would ever want to miss.  Please come with me.  I promise I will cheer and shout your name the day I see you sitting with Jesus.  How very grand!

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 31, 2016

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I just discovered my dog eats tomatoes.  Dogs don’t eat tomatoes!  This is truly weird.  What other strange appetites and behaviors are housed inside my beautiful friend?  I thought I knew her well.  Could it be that my wife of 54 years also has secrets?  Probably so; and probably for good reasons.  It’s not always wise to know everything about somebody. Has Ecclesiastics 12:14 ever bothered you?  Or maybe even more so, frightened you?  It says, “For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”

That seems like a short trip straight to hell.  But hang on.  Don’t despair.  Don’t go to the fridge and pig out on a half gallon of Breyers.   Isaiah 43:25 is a verse for you.  “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”   Now we are talking Good News.   Our heavenly Father knows everything about us.  Jesus said He even knows how many hairs we have or don’t have.  And yet He still loves us.  He still wants to live with us forever.  He must like us.  And He blots out our sins so others can’t snoop and pry.

There is a huge difference between loving and liking.  Loving is wanting the best for us.  Liking is wanting to be with someone.  How grand it is that our heavenly Father who knows all about us not only loves us but likes us.  Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you…that where I am you may be also.”

I wonder what other things my dog likes to eat?

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 1, 2016

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