Author: rogerbothwell_kiywit

There are about 150 varieties of fuchsias each with a special name like pinwheel, flaming pink, cardinal, red spider, pink rain, and snowcap. These plants have the reputation of being expensive and fragile—plants one buys each spring only to have them die each fall. However, in Ireland fuchsias grow like weeds. They line the roadsides with red walls for miles on end. They are beautiful, hardy and need no special care—they have found just the right environment.

People like plants will flourish if placed in the right environment. Sometimes there is the temptation to think of some students as just bad kids—those kids voted most likely to end up in jail. However, that does not need to be so. Sometimes a student is hostile and belligerent for what we are tempted to think is no reason at all. But usually there is a reason; we just do not know what it is. It is the same for many adults.

Oh, that we would pray for God’s wisdom to know how to help those around us find the right environment—to flourish.

Written July 19, 2004

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 September 27, 2004

The graying college professor was watching television—but not really. He was casually interested but not enough to give it his full attention so he pulled a volume of the 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica off the shelf and began to browse. He came across an article on Nebuchadnezzar. Knowing Nebuchadnezzar was once the king of Babylon, which is modern day Iraqi, gave the article a modern day connection. The article even gave the name of Nebuchadnezzar’s younger brother Nabo-sum-lisir. The old prof had never seen this before and thought it would be great fun to put this name on his door at school along with the promise of a ten-dollar reward to the first person to correctly identify him. Just to make sure it was not too easy he went to www.google.com and typed in Nabo-sum-lisir. In eight tenths of a second there on his computer screen was a copy of the very page in the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. Obviously, he did not offer the reward.

The lesson is obvious. If anyone with an Internet connection can now identify Nebuchadnezzar’s younger brother in the blink of an eye, the wonder and mystery of God knowing everything about us is gone. More than ever it makes us grateful for the promises of grace and forgiveness because with God there are no secrets. “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing….” Eccl. 12:14.

“It is by grace you have been saved.” Eph. 2:5 Lord, we are so grateful!

Written January 28, 2003

Words are wonderful. These audible and written symbols that enable us to transfer ideas from one person’s mind to another can be wonderful or horrific. Words can heal. Words can wound. Words can restore life. Words can bring death. These sounds that come from our mouths are awesome tools for good or evil.

Words bring us joy and sorrow. Words can be fun. Betty Bobsly bought bitter butter that made her better batter bitter. Sometimes they are incomprehensible and make us rush to our dictionaries. Other times they are from a totally different language and dictionaries don’t help.

The psalmist understood. In Psalms 19:14 we read, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.” Our words reveal who we are. Sometimes we craft them very carefully and other times they pop out surprising even us and we say, “I can’t believe I said that!”

Solomon said, “The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious…”Eccl. 10:12. Wouldn’t it be grand if our words were always gracious and healing? With God’s help we can be filled with words of life and hope to all who hear us. We can tell the story of Jesus.

Written January 26, 2003

On the campus was a small crab apple tree. Through all the New England winter storms it had held onto its crop until one late February day. On that day at least 25 robins appeared and feasted. It was beautiful. You should have heard the chatter. It was a festive occasion. They were dressed in their finest red aprons. The sun was smiling as they fluttered and talked. Some had stayed for the winter but others had just arrived from the south. Oh, they had much to tell each other about their journeys! It took all morning and early afternoon for them to clean up the table, the dishes and take out the trash.

In Matthew 6:26 Jesus said, “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?”

After several months of real New England weather, to watch these robins celebrate life was a delight. God does feed the birds and so extravagantly. And are you not much more valuable than they?

Written February 23, 2003

It is not uncommon to find in old books small pieces of paper filled with nonsense scribbling. What fun it is to find such treasures. Many of us have them tucked away in our books. What precious reminders they are– reminders of a four-year-old thrusting into your hands a tiny blue piece of paper with wondrous markings! Oh, how we value those “love notes.”

Have you ever considered that our attempts to communicate with God must be on the level of scribbling? The thought of forming any sentence either elegant or plain to present before the Creator of the universe fills one with an overwhelming sense of inadequacy. Praying almost seems an act of arrogance. Yet God invites us to do so and is pleased when we take Him up on his invitation. Psalms 91:15,16 says, “He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Perhaps the books of heaven are filled with small pieces of paper loaded with some very precious scribblings.

Written April 29, 2002

She was walking down the grocery story aisle talking to no one in particular. “I just hate spending my hard-earned money on food,” she muttered. Now what do you suppose she wanted to spend her hard-earned money on? Eating is rather important. However, it is disconcerting to open the refrigerator door only to find the vegetables looking like hairy alien life forms about to attack if one opens the crisper drawer. That once magnificent head of lettuce you spent your hard-earned money on now looks like something from a horror movie.

Jesus once said, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” John 6:27.

While Jesus did not have a refrigerator in which to keep vegetables, He was most likely familiar with much of our fare. The coastline along eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea is credited with a large number of vegetables now grown in America—vegetables like asparagus, beets, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, kale, lettuce, parsley, and rhubarb.

When Jesus tells us to seek food that does not spoil He could easily have had some of these veggies in mind. But Jesus really wanted to emphasize the great importance of feeding our souls with nourishing invigorating food that stimulates intellectual and moral development. These things never spoil. We can lose our house, our car, or our bank accounts, but no one can ever take from us our education. Jesus told us He came to give us an abundant life and the abundant life begins in one’s personhood.

Written February 14, 2003

Don’t you just love a good mystery? Most people do. How about one titled “The Secret of the Missing Suet?” It sounds like a good Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew book.

Well, in our story it all started when the wire basket suet feeder was empty every morning. True, it had been very cold so it was very logical to assume that lots of birds were filling up their fuel tanks. But empty every morning?? Morning after morning? What could possibly be eating all this suet? Surely it wasn’t the little bunch of chickadees and a downy woodpecker or two. Surely, something else was feasting on the suet. A couple of mornings later—mystery solved. At the suet was a beautiful, gigantic pileated woodpecker.

Another important mystery—what keeps you going?

Surely, you don’t run only on food and beverage. You are a multidimensional being. In addition to your physical dimension you have an emotional dimension, an intellectual dimension, a social dimension, and a spiritual dimension. Each component needs fuel. Breakfast and supper keep the physical side going. Perhaps someone you love keeps your emotional needs satisfied. Maybe your job or school keeps you intellectually challenged and your church provides for your social needs. But, what about your spiritual nature? Just like your other dimensions it also needs daily bread. What do you do to satisfy that need?

Written April 18, 2003

Have you every considered cosmetology as a career? The root of the word cosmetology is the Greek word cosmos meaning “an orderly harmonious whole.” You may remember when the astronomer and physicist Carl Sagan hosted a wonderful television series entitled, “The Cosmos.” The series was about our world and its relation to our universe.

When someone goes to a beauty shop they are hoping to bring harmony out of their natural disorder. They want to be well groomed and have their blemishes covered. The cosmetologist is paid to make them look their best.

Bringing order out of chaos is remarkable feat. Jesus is coming back to earth to bring an end to war, suffering, death and sin. He will bring harmony. He is “The Great Cosmetologist.” Paul wrote, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’” I Corinthians 15:52-55.

Written March 30, 2003

Have you ever looked at an 8 ½ x 11 inch piece of plain white paper? A piece of paper like that should be good for lots of things. But what if it had had a tiny red dot near one of the corners? When you looked at the paper, was that tiny red dot all you could see? Did you have to force yourself to be conscious of the 99.9999% of the paper that was still plain white?

We often do the same thing with people. Someone can be a good person who has done much to help others. The person can be generous, kind, unselfish and giving. But let us detect one small flaw and suddenly that is all we can see.

Why do we do this? Is it because we are aware of the multitude of flaws in ourselves and subconsciously we don’t want others to be perfect? Do we feel better about ourselves by pointing out the flaws of others? Have you ever said, “Well, I’m not so bad. So and so does such and such.”

They did this to Jesus. They wanted so badly to pull Him down to their scummy level that they finally found a flaw. He associated with bad people. Therefore, they reasoned, He must be bad, too. After all, don’t “birds of a feather flock together?”

Shame on them. Shame on us. Let us rejoice when we have a good person in our midst. Lord, give us generous hearts for others. Aid us in treating them as we want to be treated.

Written August 28, 2002