Author: Ian Bothwell

Last Saturday evening after the ice storm I had a whole new appreciation for the parable of the ten virgins and had developed genuine empathy for the five foolish virgins.  See Matthew 25.  When the power went off Thursday evening I was sure we had ample lamp oil.  Generously we lit six kerosene lamps with wicks all trimmed.  It was a nice light.  Forty-eight hours later we were down to one lamp.   Like the five foolish we went off to purchase more oil.  We were way too late.  Home Depot, Agway, Lowes, Sears and Wal-Mart all gave us the same, “We’re sorry.  We were sold out by Friday noon.”  We were worse off than the five foolish.  At least, according to the parable, they found oil to buy. The story was the same for six volt batteries.  You know – those big square ones.

The stories Jesus told have timeless value and repeat themselves over throughout the centuries no matter how modern we think we are.  I could at this moment break into the story of the grasshopper and the ants but I can’t seem to find that in the Gospels.  However the lesson is the same.  Use your resources wisely, prepare when you can, don’t take things for granted, think ahead and don’t be caught off guard.

I am grateful for great neighbors who offered to share their resources.  A neighbor across the street with a generator offered to let us take showers. Other neighbors stopped by just to check on “the old people down the street.”  Hey that was us!  How interesting that emergencies bring out both the worse and the best in people.  My blessing was that I saw more of the best than the other.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 16, 2008

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The sound of the wind in the trees has changed.  For the next six months the trees will display their bones against the ever-changing sky and the wind will have no leaves with which to play.  That is at least on the trees.  The fallen leaves on the road look like crabs running sideways on a moonlit beach.  But soon the wind will have to content itself by playing with frozen crystals and making mounds, again as if on a beach.  Today the wind played with me by trying to sneak in between the buttons on my shirt and down my collar.  The wind has its own sense of humor as it tries to decorate the bare trees with leftovers from the trash man’s pickups.

I love to hear the wind wrap itself around the corners of my house groaning a song saying, “Come on out and play.  Let me restyle your hair and color your cheeks.”   The wind is storing a cache of leaves in a corner by my office door.  Year’s ago there was a time when the air speed indicator on my plane told me I was going 140 mph but the cars and trucks on the road belowwere passing me.

The wind does some wondrously creative things.  It is no wonder Jesus uses the wind as a metaphor for the Holy Spirit.  It also moves unseen among usas it treats us with all manner of influence on our behavior and on others about us.   “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 19, 2008

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We are well into November and we still have not had a hard freeze.  It is saving people a lot of money that they will not have to spend on heating oil.  A tree in front yard is confused and apparently thinks it is springtime because it has put out new buds.  An oak tree that usually does not lose its leaves until spring dropped all its leaves yesterday.  In one day!  It was remarkable.  We even found a dandelion in bloom.  It was beautiful.

The dandelion reminded me of Jesus in Nazareth.  This beautiful child grew up virtually out of season.  He blossomed and shed happiness in a little town that wasn’t noted for much.  How could I not think that is exactly what God wants from you and me?  We are submersed in a secular culture that rewards the dog that eats the dog.  We laud the billionaires in our midst and have little recognition for Joe, the guy who gets up every morning and faithful cares for his family by keeping his commitments.

The truly beautiful person isn’t the one with perfect cheekbones and fashionable lips.  The truly beautiful is the one that comes to our minds when we wonder whom we could rely on in hard times.  We ought to start a dandelion society that recognizes all the faithful souls who bloom all yearround, in season and out.   And just like dandelions they will grow old and gray but how grand it was they were with us.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 9, 2008

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When I was a teenager a Christian hospital near Washington D.C. refused to admit black people.  They would treat them in the emergency room and then transport them to the nearby county hospital.  Today I had an opportunity to vote for an African American for president of the United States.  When I first began in the ministry of a Christian church I was shocked to discover the church would not pay women the same as men even if they did similar tasks like teaching.  Today I had an opportunity to vote for a woman to be the vice-president of the United States.  Today I was pleased to know in my lifetime just how much has changed.  We as a people have come a long way. Unfortunately as a church I am not sure if we made much progress because the church was forced to do the right thing by the law of the land.

Why is it that the church so often is not the moral leader but the tail that slowly comes along or worse has to be forced by the civil government to do right?  I wish I knew the answer.  But I do have to say there was a real joy in my heart today as I stood in the voting booth with pen in hand knowing I had such choices.  So often we think the world is morally deteriorating butin some arenas we aren’t doing so badly.

To stand for right, to speak for the oppressed, to want for all the rights and privileges we have, should be the heart of the moral compass of all who follow Jesus, who never hesitated to defend the poor and abused.   The reason He cleansed the temple in Jerusalem was because the establishment was abusing the weak.   Jesus is my Hero.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 4, 2008

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Reverence has returned to churches in Monterrey, Mexico.  Cell phones have been silenced.  Never again in the middle of a sermon will the congregation hear “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” or some other catchy ring.  Electronic devices have been installed that flood the sanctuary with a signal that renders the cell phones inoperative.  The jammers overwhelm the phones with electronic noise.  The phones shut down and incoming calls go immediately to voice mail.

Like these jammers, the many activities of some people’s lives overwhelm the still small voice of God.  It’s not that God isn’t there.  He’s there.  He’s everywhere.  Psalms 139 says,

“Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?

To be out of your sight?

If I climb to the sky, you’re there!

If I flew on morning’s wings, you’re there!

To the far western horizon,

You’d find me in a minute.

You’re already there waiting!”

There isn’t any place one can run or go that He is not there.  He is chasing you.  But He will not force you to listen.  You can push Him away with the noise of a hectic life.  So please slow down.  Turn off the television.  Put down the magazine and listen.  You’ll hear Him wooing you.  It’s a sweet sound of love offering you the best gift of all time.  He’s offering a gift that transcends all time.  He is offering you eternal life.

Written by Roger Bothwell on Sept. 27, 2004

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This is the best time of summer. Roadside farm stands are filled with mountains of sweet corn, cucumbers and big, dark, red, juicy, vine-ripened tomatoes.  The best meal ever is the simplicity of thick slices of tomato on a plate with boiled or roasted sweet corn.  While some people salt their tomatoes and corn, other insist that tomatoes should be sugared.  The tomato salters are horrified at the idea—sugar on tomatoes??  Who would ever eat a tomato like that?  Most will not even try sugaring a tomato.  Ah, human nature! If we are not used to or haven’t done something before often we are not about to change.

But change is such an important part of living.  Change is what being a Christian is all about.  Real Christians are always looking for ways to improve.  It is our goal.  Tomorrow I will be less selfish than I was today.  Tomorrow I will be more concerned about others than I was today.  Tomorrow I will speak more kindly than I did today.  Tomorrow I will be more sensitive to the needs of others than I was today.  Being a real Christian is all about change.  It is all about growing—daily growing more and more like Jesus.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 24, 2004

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This is the best time of summer. Roadside farm stands are filled with mountains of sweet corn, cucumbers and big, dark, red, juicy, vine-ripened tomatoes.  The best meal ever is the simplicity of thick slices of tomato on a plate with boiled or roasted sweet corn.  While some people salt their tomatoes and corn, other insist that tomatoes should be sugared.  The tomato salters are horrified at the idea—sugar on tomatoes??  Who would ever eat a tomato like that?  Most will not even try sugaring a tomato.  Ah, human nature! If we are not used to or haven’t done something before often we are not about to change.

But change is such an important part of living.  Change is what being a Christian is all about.  Real Christians are always looking for ways to improve.  It is our goal.  Tomorrow I will be less selfish than I was today.  Tomorrow I will be more concerned about others than I was today.  Tomorrow I will speak more kindly than I did today.  Tomorrow I will be more sensitive to the needs of others than I was today.  Being a real Christian is all about change.  It is all about growing—daily growing more and more like Jesus.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 24, 2004

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It is raggedy.  It smells.  Sometimes it is slimy and unpleasant to touch.  It is a dirty green.  It has been chewed and mangled.  It is old and worn.  The squeaky box inside stopped working a long time ago.  It has been buried and dug up.  It has been washed several times.  It is loved.  You guessed it!  It is the loved toy of a dog.

The more we think about this toy, the more it sounds like us.  Sometimes we are raggedy, slimy and smelly.  We have been washed several times and buried and dug up.  Before we met Jesus we were dead in our sins, but He restored us and gave us a new life that will never end.  Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.  John 5:24.

The loyalty of a dog to her treasured stuffed frog is matched and exceeded by God’s love for you and me.  We look in the mirror and realize we are not part of the world’s beautiful people and further, life can take its toll.  But maybe that is confusing pretty and handsome with beautiful.  Pretty and handsome are what is on the outside.  Beauty is what comes from within.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 27, 2004

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It went “buzz-z-z,” followed by three tones that counted– one, two, three.  Over and over it was clearly imprinted on the hiker’s brain.  Coming out of the forest he went directly to the computer.  It took only a few moments to identify the call as that of the golden-winged warbler.  He had never seen a golden winged warbler, but he knew without a doubt where one lived.  He went back to the forest the next day and the call came again from the very same place.  “Aha, if I am patient, maybe I will see this elusive bird,” the hiker thought.

We have never seen the Holy Spirit, but we do know without a doubt where He lives.  In Ephesians 5:18 Paul writes of his desire that his readers be filled with the Spirit.  It is through the Spirit that Christ dwells within us.  In John 3 Jesus speaks of the reality of the Spirit, not by seeing it, but by seeing what it does.

It produces major changes in our lives and fruit is produced—the fruit of affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity, a willingness to stick with things, and a sense of compassion in the heart…” Galatians  5:22

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 27, 2004

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One of the joys of a computer is the ability to take old photographs and revitalize them.  Time fades prints and with a few careful keystrokes and movements of the mouse they look new again.  We can remove wrinkles on loved one’s necks and bags from under their eyes.  We can put a sparkle in their eyes and ever so lightly whiten teeth.  It is great fun!  We can even create events by putting people in the same picture with another person they never met.  Photography is an art.  It is no longer always a representation of reality.

It is little different from what God longs to do for us.  He is an artist.  He longs to paint a portrait of Himself in each of us.  We will look so great with Him as part of our being.  After all He has no wrinkles, no blotches, no blemishes.  He longs to take the wrinkles out of our personalities.  He wants to remove the blotches and blemishes.  It must be great fun for Him to see His loved one becoming what they want to be—like Him.

Isaiah 1:18 is one of the most famous of all verses in Scripture.  It reads, “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord.  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be as wool.”  We must never forget—we were first made in His likeness and it is to that end that we are destined.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 23, 2004

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