Author: Ian Bothwell

Someone should have warned the Chicago Cubs about the ides of October. The dream vanished with a pop fly to left field.  They were so close and yet were denied a chance to do something they have not done just shy of a century.   They went to their homes with one word in mind: “Lost.”

But this is not the most heartbreaking story of October 15, 2003.  There is a ten-year-old little boy lost in the forests of New Hampshire.  It has been two days now and hundreds of searchers have combed the mountains where he has to be.  It is getting cold out there and it has rained hard since he disappeared. It is not difficult to imagine his suffering and fear.  His plight makes the story about the Cubs seem like nothing.

Lost!  It is a horrible word.

Jesus told three stories about being lost.  One was about a lost coin.  The second about a lost sheep and the third was about a lost boy.  In Jesus’ story the lost boy knew his way home.  It had a happy ending.  He came home.

We pray for a miracle for a ten-year-old little boy to have happy ending.  The agony and despair in the face of his father is wrenching.

Then there are the masses lost for eternity because they chose not to take advantage of the offered gift of eternal life.  I wonder if God ever has a good day. Yes, there is rejoicing over the rescue of just one of us.  But what of the heartbreak over those lost!

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 15, 2003

PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

Skid marks were all that was left.  A tow truck had taken away the car and a crew had cleaned up all the shards of broken glass.  As time goes by rain and snow and traffic will wear away the black stains.   Not all skid marks are the remnants of an accident.  Sometimes they are just the opposite.  Skid marks on the end of a runway mean many flights had safe landings.

Life leaves skid marks on people.  We are marked by life’s tragic events.  Accidents, death, disappointments and failed goals mark us and like the disappearing skid marks on the highway time has a way of helping our emotional past to slowly fade.  But it does take time even for the bold who act like they are recovered.  It is one of the reasons we advise people who have lost a dearly loved spouse not to make any major decisions for at least a year.  No matter how seasoned, we are not immune.

Jesus forgives sins in an instant.  It often takes much longer for us to forgive ourselves.  We rue our mistakes and harbor wrongs that we have done.  Jesus forgives but the skid marks remain and it takes time.  Forgiveness is a two way event.  As we forgive others so must we forgive ourselves seventy times seven.  We wonder how we could have been so stupid.  Well, we are.  It’s part of being a human, a major part.  But just as surely as the black stains disappear on the highway so they will fade for us.  Living the abundant life promised to us by Jesus is acknowledging our humanity and forgiving ourselves for being so.  Hopefully, some of your skid marks are and will be the remnants of safe landings.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 5, 2015

PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

 

I just now passed a church marquee with the message, “Thank God no matter what happens.”  Really?!  I could not disagree with anything more strongly.   Thank God for 9/11?  Thank God for my neighbor’s child who died because she was struck by a bullet from a stupid drive-by shooter?  Thank God because my friend’s wife died from breast cancer?  Really?  That is just plain stupid.  It makes God out to be a monster.  Don’t preachers think about what they say?

I know that Romans 8:28 says, “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord.”   Fine.  That means our loving heavenly Father is able to pick up the tragic pieces of our disasters and help us.  But I do not have to be thankful the tragedy occurred.  He didn’t do it.  He isn’t any happier than we are that it happened.  What I am thankful for is that He is there for us when bad things happen.

Sometimes I am afraid we get so syrupy with our faith we are afraid to be angry when rotten things occur.  Loving God doesn’t mean we have to go around being thankful for all the things that happen as if He is doing them.   He is not.  Bad things happen in this world.  Okay?   We have a loving Father who knows how to give good gifts to His children and is just as miserable and broken as we when our children, grandchildren and neighbors are hurt.

Please, I beg you.  Do not be thankful no matter what happens.  Be angry that there is an enemy in the land.   Be thankful that no matter what happens, we can be more than conquers through Christ.  Romans 8.   In I Thessalonians 5:18 Paul tells us to be thankful in all circumstances.  That means be thankful in all circumstances that we have a God to help us.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 13, 2015

PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

Researchers have shown time and again when people understand the significance of their work they are way more productive than workers given a task with little or no sense of the value of their task.  When asked what they are doing one person will say, “I collect trash.”  Another will answer, “I am making my city a clean and healthy place for my children.”   A person will say, “I teach history” while another will say, “I am teaching children to be better citizens because they understand the lessons of the past.”  Jesus could have said, “I am going to earth to die.”   Instead I’m sure He said, “I am going to earth that everyone who will come to me will live forever.”

Having a vision and a clear sense of mission enhances our lives.  When I sit down at my computer each evening I can say, “I have to write 300 words before I go to bed.”  That is very laborious.   However, if I say, “Before I go to bed I have the opportunity to change someone’s life.” Then writing ceases to be a labor and becomes a challenging joy.

When we exchange “I have to” with “I get to” our health scores go up.  Because we are mentally fulfilled, our physical health responses with less stress, lower blood pressure and healing endorphins that flood our system.  I get to go to the dentist today so I’ll have better health is so much better than I have to go to the dentist.

How many things in our lives can we redefine?  Life is a matter of choices and attitudes.  Yes, rotten things do happen.  But they don’t last forever.  Christians should be the happiest, healthiest people in the world because we have a “get to” from out of this world.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 11, 2016

PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

Long yellowish pine needles have softened the forest floor.  As the afternoon sun splayed its angled rays through the deciduous trees that are still holding onto their precious leaves, the path glows yellow adding a golden tint to the air itself.  My prized lab and I moved quietly over the needle-cushioned trail ascending to our favorite overlook.  To my amazement there was a padded folding chair awaiting me.  Perched on the ridge I could sit and look down on a pair of red-tailed hawks floating about looking for an evening meal.  Whoever it was who carried the chair to the top I send an anonymous thank you.  It was very much appreciated.  The 62 degree breeze with the warming rays of the sun on my arms was an elixir beyond description.

Returning to the bottom we crossed a dried creek that usually provided a place for my dog to quench her thirst.  I grew up watching westerns and remembered scenes of cowboys finding water after digging a hole in a wadi.  It was time to experiment.  So I dug and much to my delight about six inches down water began to seep from the edges of my excavation and soon I had a small drink for my lab. 

So it is true.  Sometimes there is value in looking below the surface.  I have discovered this to be true with people.  Often I find students that are brighter than they look.  It’s also true with Bible study.  There are memory verses I learned in Kindergarten.  Because of familiarity I rarely gave them much scholarly thought because I thought I knew all that mattered.  Might I suggest there are potential serendipities to be had by looking twice, three times or four times at a familiar verse.  We just might find meaning we didn’t know was there.  That’s a treat.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 12, 2016

PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

 

Sometimes after we have discovered the sheer joy of salvation by grace we have a tendency to think the law, since it is not good for salvation, has become an unnecessary artifact of our past life.  But, not so fast.  The law is a glorious fence built on the edge of a cliff.  To violate God’s law is a very quick, very fatal (Can there be something not so fatal?) fall to the rocks below.

Jeremiah 21:8 says, “This is what the LORD says: ‘See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.’”  Just as a nation cannot exist without laws neither can individuals.  God’s laws are designed to safely guide us through menacing traps.  It we live by the sword we die by the sword.  (David was an exception.)  There are reasons why God, like every good parent, tells us not to do some things.  When a child is very young and asks, “Why?”,  it is proper to say, “Because I said so.”  But once a child begins to understand logical thought, “Because I said so” is a bad answer.  Just as God said to Isaiah, “Come now let us reason together.” We should take the “Why” opportunities to help both the child and ourselves to understand.  In most everything except the Ten Commandments if our child has good reasons for doing so, we should be open to change, giving them the lesson that talking about things is beneficial and works both ways.

Secular laws are made for the benefit of citizens of our secular government and God’s laws are for the benefit of citizens of God’s government.  Good laws are the way to life.  Just because we are saved by grace is no reason to start doing stupid things and go down the road to death.  The law is a glorious fence.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 10, 2016

PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

 

 

Sometimes after we have discovered the sheer joy of salvation by grace we have a tendency to think the law, since it is not good for salvation, has become an unnecessary artifact of our past life.  But, not so fast.  The law is a glorious fence built on the edge of a cliff.  To violate God’s law is a very quick, very fatal fall to the rocks below.

Jeremiah 21:8 says, “This is what the Lord says: ‘See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.’”  Just as a nation cannot exist without laws neither can individuals.  God’s laws are designed to safely guide us through menacing traps.  It we live by the sword we die by the sword.  (David was an exception.)  There are reasons why God, like every good parent, tells us not to do some things.  When a child is very young and asks, “Why?”,  it is proper to say, “Because I said so.”  But once a child begins to understand logical thought, “Because I said so” is a bad answer.  Just as God said to Isaiah, “Come now let us reason together” so should we take the “Why” opportunities to help both the child and ourselves to understand.  If our child has good reasons for doing so, we should be open to change, giving them the lesson that talking about things is beneficial and actually works both ways.  Does this mean that we can reason with God to disregard one of the commandments?

Secular laws are made for the benefit of citizens of our secular government and God’s laws are for the benefit of citizens of God’s government.  Good laws are the way to life.  Just because we are saved by grace is no reason to start doing stupid things and go down the road to death.  The law is a glorious fence.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 9, 2016

PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

 

I stopped at a Burger King yesterday (They have a great vegeburger.) and couldn’t miss a really big mural on the wall of five young, very handsome, beautiful and multiracial people all laughing and smiling as they were enjoying their fries and burgers.   Does something like that ever happen?   I looked around the room to notice a few ordinary looking people like me. (I’m being generous with myself.)

It’s the same with commercials on television.  They are always populated with happy beautiful people. The casino ads are the worst.  They picture gorgeous people laughing as they rake in their imaginary jackpots.  Shampoo ads have women with silky, radiant hair being tossed about in the wind.  Where do they find these people?  I guess there really are Jennifer Anistons in the world but they don’t eat at my Burger King.

Isn’t it great that the first four books in the New Testament are called The Gospels – The Good News?  Here it is in a nutshell.  It is such good news.  God loves ordinary looking people. Heaven is going to be populated with ordinary looking people.  Of course we will all be beautiful there but that will be the norm.  Hooray. He even loves people who don’t quite measure up to ordinary and they too will be part of heaven’s norm.

Statistically the norm is two standard deviations on either side of the mean which means about 95 % of the population looks okay.  2.5% looks terrific and the other 2.5% we hope have beautiful personalities.   So the next time you look in the mirror remind yourself that God loves you with your big nose, crooked ears, baggy eyes and balding head.  So how in heaven will we ever get a distribution when everyone is part of the upper 2.5%?

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 7, 2016

PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

In my child development class tonight we were discussing that blank memoryless time in our lives between birth and approximately 36 months.  We went around the room and each person shared their very first memory.  Most of the 28 students’ first memory was somehow connected to trauma.  They remembered the deaths of grandparents, falling down and seriously being injured or moving to a different home, a father going off to Viet Nam.  Two of them remembered a baby brother or sister joining the family.  Those last two were the only pleasant memories.

While listening to them I thought of God’s first memory of us and remembered Him saying to Jeremiah in chapter one, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”   That must have been a pretty heady experience for Jeremiah to hear that from God.  But he shouldn’t have been to taken with his own importance because what God said about Jeremiah to Jeremiah, He can say the same for you and me.

We were not a surprise to God.  We are not the product of accidental collisions between sperms and eggs.  Each of us is a part of a huge cosmic plan.  We are designed to fit, like a piece of a puzzle into a massive panoramic universal mural depicting the final conquest of righteousness over evil.  Romans 11:29 is so exciting.  Paul wrote, “God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.”  So just in case you think you have drifted away and God can no longer use you, think again.  He is like a relentless puzzle-putter-togetherer.  I love that last word because your space in the puzzle is so unique no one else can fit in.   If you aren’t in yet you will be.  He’s waiting.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 6, 2016

PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

Just now we had a hair-raising experience.  I mean one of those Yikes moments.  We were just finishing an evening walk in the forest when a siren went off down in our little city.  Almost instantly to our immediate right, a pack of coyotes, which we had not seen, responded to the siren with one of the loudest eeriest choruses I have ever heard.  Don’t ask me how many there were.  We did not stop to count.  Arriving at the car our lab did not have to be coaxed inside.

If it had not been for the siren from the city we never would have known they were there.  So how many other times have they followed us?  Is that why sometimes our dog stops and stares into the trees?  There is so much that goes on around us without our knowledge.  We are conceited creatures and we think highly of our own intelligence, but really, we don’t know what we don’t know.

I Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  Daily an unseen drama unfolds about us.  A war is waged over our souls.  Each victory for Satan is an eternal loss for our heavenly Father who has made each of us a one of a kind child.  Satan doesn’t care about us other than the fact that he can use us to rip out God’s heart.  Once done we will be discarded on his trash heap.  Just compare that with what we are offered in Ephesians 2.  He saves us “in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 5, 2016

PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org