Author: Ian Bothwell

I opened the door about five this morning to let my dog out and was smacked in the face by the most wonderful blast of cold air.  It was marvelous, refreshing and invigorating.   I know I should have been energy conscious and quickly closed the door to save household heat but I was prodigal.  I held the door open and basked in the luxury of fresh air.  Wow.  It was terrific.

So easily we grow accustomed to the norm we don’t notice the norm itself is degrading.  In this particular incident the air in the house had slowly grown stale.  But that isn’t nearly as important as the concern that we become accustomed to the values and norms of the world around us.  We all do it.          J. B. Phillips in his paraphrase of Romans 12 says, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.”

It is so easy to grow lukewarm.  All we have to do is nothing.  It happens all by itself.  Fortunately things happen to us, like a blast of cold air, and we are jarred into the reality of our state of being.  Then it’s time to take action.

We often make resolutions about doing better at certain things, like losing weight.  That’s important for most of us.  But more importantly is something else – putting on and wearing “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” Colossians 3.   That’s a blast for everyone with which we come into contact.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 28, 2016

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Years have passed since we were stunned by the horror at Columbine High in Colorado.  It will be decades before the name Dylan Klebold will not make people pause and wonder why.  His mother, Sue Klebold, has written a memoir entitled, A Mother’s Reckoning.  During a interview the last question put to her  was, “Do you still love your son?”  There was a pregnant pause and with a voice full of emotion Mrs. Klebold said, “I never stopped loving him.  I will love him until I breathe my last breath,” she said. “He’s like an invisible child that I carry in my arms everywhere I go, always.”

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”    Revelation 12

And so our history books are filled with gruesome revulsion and disgust at our inhumanity toward each other.  So often we try to paint it with nobility but it is useless because it is what it is – selfishness.  And so we ask God, who watched His very own Son perish here, “When did you stop loving Satan?”  And God says with a voice filled with emotion, “I never stopped loving him.  I will love him until I breathe my last breath. He’s like an invisible child that I carry in my arms everywhere I go, always.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 17, 2016

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After a message once about my father’s obsession with tools I received several interesting responses.  One person, a building contractor, told me he was so happy it was going to snow tomorrow morning because instead of going to his jobsite he can instead go tool shopping.  Another person, a mechanic, offered to identity the mystery tool I have inherited if I will send him a picture of whatever it is.  Perhaps the best one was from a lady, who upon her husband going to a nursing home, found 50 screwdrivers in her husband’s shed.  He kept buying new ones because he couldn’t find any.  I love it because I have in the past bought books (my tools) that I already own.  I just forgot I had them.

If we continue on with the idea that we are God’s tools I do have to say He will never forget that He has us.  When it is time to use us He knows where we are.   He doesn’t have to rummage about in His tool shed.  He will not make duplicates of us.  He loves our uniqueness. It is wonderful that we do not reproduce like cells by cloning which would result in all of us being identical.  Instead we reproduce in a way that makes each of us one of a kind.  He loves variety.  I am often puzzled when I see church groups trying to make everyone the same.  So often it is dress like us, eat like us, give like us and talk like us.  These are requirements for membership and so often they are treated like requirements for heaven.  How shocked they are going to be when in heaven they discover the vastness of God’s eclectic taste.  God loves His specialized tools.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 14, 2014

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When the sun drifted into the western sky this evening and the shadows grew long suddenly the golden leaves out my window became tiny suns.  They were beautiful on their own but when illuminated they became incredible spheres of fire.  Those leaves were just like people who are lovely on their own but become splendid illuminations when they meet Jesus.  It makes them more beautiful than anyone ever chosen as the most beautiful woman or handsome man in the world.

Letting Jesus light up one’s life adds luster to one’s natural gifts.  Saul was a bright young Jewish attorney admitted to the prestige of the Sanhedrin.   He would have been a footnote in history.  But after his Damascus Road experience he became Paul and changed the course of history.  The Gospel writers told us of Jesus’ life, death and miracles but in Romans, Galatians and Ephesians Paul told us what it all meant.

Peter and John were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee and would not have been footnotes in history.  Because they met Jesus there are great cathedrals named after them.  Zacchaeus was a small town tax collector hated by his neighbors.  He met Jesus and now our children sing a song about him.

What about us?  What are we and what will we become after letting Jesus shine from our lives?  John says it so well in I John 3, “Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

You better go look in the mirror so you can remember the old you because the new you will be splendid, marvelous, beautiful, intelligent and eternal!

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 7, 2014

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It is great fun to ask a little kid how old he or she is.  Usually the answers come with fractions.  “I am 3 and a half.”   Two months later you get, “I’m three and three fourths.” They like to hurry it along.  Birthdays are milestones working our way to thirteen when we are no longer a child, or sixteen when we can get a driver’s license, a passage to freedom.

Milestones are important to us and come in many forms.  This devotional is a milestone for me.  It represents hundreds of hours of starting at a blank computer screen.  Sometimes my wife will walk by and ask what I am writing about and my answer is “I don’t know.  I haven’t written it yet.  Once I read it I’ll tell you.”

Goals are also important to us.  Without a goal we just drift in life.  Therefore I have a new goal.  10,000.  I’ll be sure to let you know when I get there.  It should be about 2025.   In the meantime there will be birthdays, baptisms, anniversaries, graduations and most likely a wedding or two.   Also it will be a time to grow and seek new ways to tell you how much Jesus loves you and how He will be extraordinarily happy when you accept His gift.  And oh what a gift it is.  In John 5 He told us that when we accept we cross over to eternity.  Now that’s a milestone worth remembering.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 30, 2013

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On America’s Got Talent six very talented people got sent home.  Twelve people competed for a place in next week’s final and only half of them will get to perform. It is a highly flawed system of honing it down to one winner.  There are singers (opera and country), a magician, a stand-up comedian, dancers and acrobat dancers.  This is like putting a pile of fruit on a table and saying the apple is better than the pear or the plum is better than the banana.  First prize is a million dollars; however, that is paid out over forty years.  So it isn’t quite as exciting as they make it sound.

How thankful we must be to know heaven is not a prize.  It is a gift.  Number two – there is room for everyone.  I have on occasion spoken with people who believe only 144,000 will be in heaven.  How sad to think that our heavenly Father would so discriminate among His children.  The Book of Revelation does speak of 144,000 but it also speaks of a multitude of redeemed that is so big it is uncountable.  I like that so much. Number three – We are not compared to anyone. We are all in the same category.  We are all sinners saved by God’s grace.  If we are not all saints then there are no saints.  It is just that simple.

Heaven will be filled with apples, pears, plums and bananas and all of us will be just as wonderful as watermelons. The gift will not be paid out over forty years.  All of it will be given at once and then repeated annually (whatever that means) forever.  There is plenty of room in God’s fruit basket.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 12, 2013

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One of my friends wished me a Happy New Year today.  For a second I hesitated and then I remembered.  Rosh Hashanah has come.  The ten most sacred days of the year begin at sundown and end with Yom Kipper, the Day of Atonement. It is a high holy time for repentance and reflection on being a better person.  I guessed that it was 5400 and something.  I missed it by almost 400 years.  It is 5774.   He was very kind and said 400 was close.  But not really.  If we subtract 400 from 2013 that takes us to 1613.  The King James Version of the Bible was two years old.  Pocahontas was captured by the English, held for ransom, converted to Christianity and took the name Rebecca.   A lot can happen in one year and especially 400 years.

In the midst of the last 400 years we have managed to fill them with lots of wars and quite a few technological advances.  How sad that most of them have not only advanced our standard of living but in addition have proven very effective in killing other people. People used to live behind great walls of rock and granite.  Today we live behind an electronic wall designed to protect us from those who would destroy us.  We don’t see it but it is as real as what we do see.

This electronic wall proves itself every day to be quite effective.  However, I would like to advocate to you an even more effective wall.  “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, my stronghold.”  Psalm 18.   We don’t see Him but He is as real as what we do see.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 5, 2013

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I want to thank all who quickly addressed my stale bread problem.  I received wonderful suggestions such as making French Toast, croutons covered with olive oil, bruchetta with basil or freeze the fresh bread until the old is gone.  Humans are marvelously creative creatures.  I came up with one of my own.  I take the semi-stale bread outside and feed it to the birds.  I feel very holy when I come back inside for not hogging it all for myself.

We feed wild birds all year round.  It’s delightful.  Our yard list has 84 kinds of birds which I doubt would be here if it were not for the supplemental feeding. Feeding the birds reminds me of Jesus’ remarks in the Sermon on the Mount.  “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

One of the great doctrines of Christianity is the value of a single life.  There are places in the world where human life is very cheap and is tossed aside like garbage.  Humans are used until they have nothing left and then they are discarded. Millions die in genocides merely because they have the wrong nose, wrong cheeks, wrong family name, wrong accent or wrong faith.  It must make our heavenly Father weep as He sees how cheaply we regard others when He regarded us so much as to send Jesus to redeem us for His very own.  It is true that God can use us, but He will never USE us.  We are much too valuable for that.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 1, 2013

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The problem of suffering has been a philosophical issue since men began to think.  If God doesn’t cause suffering it is obvious that He allows it; otherwise, an omnipotent God would stop it.  If I had a definitive answer to this dilemma I would be ranked with the intellectuals of history.   However, I do believe the issue should be addressed in the context of God and Lucifer contending for the moral high ground in this great struggle between good and evil that began when Lucifer declared war in heaven.  See Revelation 12:7

God in His loving infinite wisdom had established a utopian existence for His created.  It was the best ever imagined existence.  Anything else would be something lesser.  Lucifer’s contention that he had a superior system had to play itself out for all to see the natural fruit of his rebellion.  Here is (for me – with my greatly limited knowledge) the key to the suffering issue.  Should God intervene to the extent of stopping all suffering, the universe would never fully see the natural results of sin and sin could never be ended.  Lucifer would take credit for the suffering-free world and nothing would be resolved.  God, much to His personal pain, suffers with us as this horrible drama unfolds.

The continuing issue is how much is enough?  Surely after the cross, after the holocaust, after a host of wars and genocides intelligent beings should get the message.  Lucifer runs an evil empire.  Jesus promised He will come again and will bring this to an end. So what is He waiting for?  Enough is enough!  We don’t know.  We are not privy to all the universal issues at stake.  One thing we do know is when everything has been made perfectly clear God will stop this mess.  He will not wait one extra second.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 10, 2013

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While sitting in a pizza shop this afternoon I picked up a newspaper that contained the local police blotter.  I soon became aware of my naiveté.  It took me a while to figure out what A&B and B&E meant.  It was (for me) like reading something from a different planet.  Maybe I ought to watch an episode of Law and Order and educate myself.  I wonder if people are embarrassed to appear on this list of infamy.  It would be very difficult to claim it was some other John or Jane Doe because birthdays and addresses were also published for all to see.

This is like the Book of Remembrance mentioned in Revelation 20.  And “I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.”  Talk about a police blotter!  This book even has motives listed.  I don’t know about you but I have to be saved not just to live forever but to keep you from looking up my heavenly obit.  If we are saved all the bad stuff is blotted out.  “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”  Acts 3.

Can you imagine how juicily entertaining it would be to read all the records of the lost?  This is better than gossip.  This is true.  Somehow I don’t think we will be passing our days by filling our idle curiosities with this material.  There will be so much better ways to grow.  I believe we would find it quite distasteful – even painful.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 5, 2013

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