Author: rogerbothwell_kiywit

Did you watch the Olympics?  I watched them with mixed emotions.  I admire those finely honed athletes.  At the same time I am jealous, not merely for their skills, but jealous of the incredible self-discipline needed to be what they are. 
 
I heard one of the divers say he started working on a new dive 18 months ago and that was a mistake because it wasn’t enough time to have it honed to perfection.  I found that overwhelming.  
 
In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul speaks of the discipline needed both by athletes and Christians.  “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.  No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
 
This is a wonderful passage but has sometimes been misread and used to harass us into doubting our salvation because we are not trying hard enough.  Jesus is very clear in John 3 and 5 regarding our salvation.  When we accept it is a done deal.   Paul calls it a gift. What Paul is talking about here in I Corinthians is the development of a Christ-like character – that is the prize of which he speaks.  I strive as hard as I can – not to be saved – but because I am saved.  Once saved we go into serious training and the prize is incredible.

Forty years ago we returned from teaching in Uganda and moved to a glorious piece of leftover Eden called Calhoun, Ga.  In the very first month of our ministry there I officiated at a funeral.  After the service on the way to the cemetery I was riding in the hearse with the local funeral director.  As we drove out onto the street on the way to the cemetery the oncoming traffic stopped. People got out of their cars and stood at attention as we passed by.  I was amazed and received a marvelous education in respect and dignity.  This was the south.  This was good people who knew the value of human decency.   To them this was basic human values.  This was treating others as we would be treated. 
 
Romans 12 is one of the most powerful treatises on how we should treat both friends and enemies.  What follows is a sample of ideas copied from the paraphrase The Message by Eugene Petersen.  Jesus would be so proud if we could be like this.
 
1. “Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
2. “Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.”
3. “Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.”
4. “Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone.”
5. “Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.”
 
To be like this in every aspect of our lives is to be like Jesus.

Yesterday my wife attended a CPR training course.  As she was getting up from the floor, after practicing CPR, the instructor, younger than our sons, rushed over to help her get up.  She saw him coming and quickly got up on her own.  When she told me about it I told her she denied him the opportunity to be a gentleman.  “Well,” she said, “if he was going to help me up because I was a lady that would have been okay.  I resisted his helping me get up because he thought I was an elderly lady.  He didn’t offer to help the younger ladies.” 
 
And there it is.  Motive is everything.  If I do something nice and kind because it is the right thing to do that is great.  If I do something nice and kind because I want to rack up points with others or with God that isn’t so cool.  I am so glad God knows our hearts.  I so often hear people being critical of other’s behavior without knowing why they did something.  Juries have sentenced people to life in jail because they have ended someone’s life.  However, sometimes ending someone’s life might have been an incredibly difficult act of love and mercy.  In the 1950s in Pennsylvania a state trooper shot and killed a truck driver who was trapped inside a burning semi.
 
We are so quick to judge.  Often quick to say, “That was stupid.”   One of the greatest things Jesus ever said was “Neither do I condemn you.  Go and sin no more.”   Until we know all the factors that went into someone’s actions it really is best for us to hold our tongues.  Silence can be so profoundly wise.

She is a Labrador Retriever.  She is a water dog.  So why does she hate rain? During our walk today we got caught in a serious downpour.  This was soak your socks rain.  This was drip off your nose and wish you had windshield wipers on your glasses rain.  So we stepped into a wooded area for some shelter.  While standing there in the shelter of the leaves we were still being drenched.  She proceeded to push between my legs and sit down.  I had become her umbrella.   Under his wings is nice but really now, I think I was being used.
 
Do we ever use God?  Or should I say try to use God.  Do we ask God to do things for us we can do ourselves?   “Lord, help me pass this exam.”   Well, maybe we wouldn’t need to ask that if we had studied.   “Lord, help me get this job.”  But, maybe we didn’t do our homework on the company and its needs.  “Lord, give us a safe journey today.”  And then drive 90 miles an hour! 
 
God is eager to help us.  But He is a good parent who at some point says get off the couch and get to work.  Remember the paralytic wasn’t healed until he made the effort to stand up.  The blind man wasn’t healed until he went and washed the mud off his eyes.  We are not talking about salvation.  That is God’s job.  We are talking about the practicalities and successes of this life.  Those are our jobs.  We are given talents to use.  The man in the parable who buried his talent didn’t make his master very happy. 

I saw something today I don’t understand.  Maybe someone can help me on this.  I saw a house with solar panels covering the entirety of a roof.  What puzzled me was the house was densely shaded on all sides by very large trees.  How effective are those panels? 
 
I thought of someone trying to be a Christian while continuing to feed on media not only projecting popular secularism but in many cases overtly teaching and promoting immorality and soul-destroying values.  He/she goes to church each weekend but then spends the other six days filling their mind with violent and sexually charged materials.  Are they not countering their one day in church?  Are they not panels seeking and needing sunlight but creating a shady barrier to the nourishment of the Light of the World?
 
I realize unless one chooses to be a social hermit one cannot block the world’s ever present presentation of secular values.  To accomplish that one would have to watch no television, listen to no radio, nor read any magazines or newspapers.  That is neither practical nor desirable if we seek to be relevant.  I am speaking more about the absence of spiritual feeding.  If we have an hour or a half an hour each day to feed on some entertainment should we not at a minimum counterbalance that with time spent in God’s word or some other up-lifting material that espouses the values we want for our children and ourselves? 
 
A solar panel shaded will (according to my limited understanding) produce little electricity.  A Christian shaded from the Light of the World will produce little character development.  The very name Christian means Christ-like.  To be like Him one has to know Him.

Our dog is amazing.  Thunderstorms boom and flash all over our neighborhood and she never lifts even an ear.  It is no big deal.  We can go out into the yard and feel the coolness of an approaching storm pushing away the heat of the day and she lifts her head into the wind and sniffs as if it were Eau de Summer.   Last night the light show overhead was intense.  At one point a bolt zapped and sizzled over the house so close one could smell the ozone.  She never flinched nor seemed startled but instead she quietly came over and laid down on my feet while uttering a deep sigh. 
 
Hearing her contented sigh I could not but think of a song I grew up with. 
 
“Under His wings I am safely abiding,
Though the night deepens and tempests are wild,
Still I can trust Him; I know He will keep me,
He has redeemed me, and I am His child.”
 
Just now as I am writing she is lying in front of a fan but I can see the whites of her eyes and I know she is watching me.  Should I make any indication I will be getting up she will immediately stand to accompany me.  “Anywhere He leads me I will safely go.”  (Another great old hymn.)  I should be as faithful to my God as she is to me.  I should trust Him as much as she trusts me.  When life gets difficult and harsh, it has and will again, I should sink into my favorite place with a deep sigh.  She knew all was well as long as I was not afraid.  I know all will be well as long as Jesus is not afraid and, of course, He never is!

It’s been a bit dry in New England.  Our city has asked us to only water our lawns and gardens every other day.  But today one of our neighboring cities has banned any lawn and garden watering.  So the question is how do you know when someone is cheating?  Someone could go out at 1:00 AM and no one would catch them.  But it wouldn’t take long before everyone would know.  By their green ye shall know them.  I am reminded of the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70.  If someone wasn’t losing weight like all their neighbors everyone knew where the missing neighbors had gone!  Children were advised to stay away from anyone who wasn’t gaunt and skinny.
 
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.”   But is that always true?  Do we sometimes prejudge people based on traditional stereotypes?  This afternoon on my way into our local mall I passed a guy well tatted with a heavy metal chain around his neck.  He had hardware hanging from his ears and was smoking a doobie. Did I make some quick assumptions?  Yeah, I did.  Could I have been wrong?  Absolutely yes.  While I doubt that he was a brain surgeon, he could have been a university professor!   Note I said, “could have been.”
 
Sunday afternoon we sat near a mom and dad with four well groomed, nicely dressed teens.  In the dictionary under the word “wholesome” they should have this family’s picture.  I assumed they just came from church.  Could dad have been a yegg?  Yeah, he could.  But I truly doubt it.  Jesus knew what He was saying.  We send all manner of messages to people without opening our mouths.

There is a tiny (really tiny) ant on my white kitchen countertop. What should I do? Should I leave it alone?  If I don’t call it an it but instead call it a he or a she I am beginning to personalize her which colors what I will do.  Should I get her to walk onto a piece of paper and then carry her outside?  Should I give her a name?  Naming will begin to anthropomorphize her and I will begin a relationship with Sally.  Sally is very tiny.  She will not harm anything in my kitchen.  I don’t know of any diseases transferred to people from ants.  But the issue is Sally, if left alone, will not stay alone.  Soon there will be Albert and then Trina and Tommy.

My kitchen counter is a nice place for Sally.  There is an occasional bread crumb, piece of cereal, or drop of jam to provide a feast for a family of ants.  But I am god.  I can determine Sally’s fate.  I know she has some kind of thoughts because she shows fear.  She flees when I place my finger in her path.  How much does she think and feel? How precious is Sally’s life in the grand scheme of the universe?
 
How precious are our lives in the grand scheme of eternity?  We are not its.  We have names and there is a plan for us.  Or are we victims of my self-aggrandizement?  Paul did write, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”   So we are more than ants!  We are His sons and daughters – princes and princesses of the universe.

The drug commercials on television are amazing the way they treat our intelligence.  They go something like this.  If your legs are restless then you might have Restless Leg Syndrome.  If you have dry eyes then you might have Dry Eye Syndrome.  If you have diarrhea then you might have diarrhea.  Really! Then comes the pitch for their product.  Talk to your doctor about Xiayaflex.  Xiayaflex might cause dry eyes, restless legs and in some cases it may be fatal.  Really!   Oh, don’t take if you are allergic to Xiayaflex.
 
So, I needed to say, “If you find yourself sinning then you might be a sinner.”  But what follows now is not an insult to your intelligence but one of the wisest things I could ever tell you.  Talk to your God about His Son Jesus.   Jesus Christ will bring relief from stress, bring calm into your life, relieve you from guilt, grant you peace, forgive all your sins, make you morally stronger, give you resistance to temptation, and extend your life (infinitely).  The side effects might be you are no longer comfortable with your old friends, family members might think you have changed into someone they don’t know and in very rare cases might cause a divorce from your spouse.  Jesus did say, “For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.”  Matthew 10.
 
I do need to add here just because your new faith experience is alienating your old friends does not necessarily mean you are being a good witness for Jesus.  You actually might be obnoxious.  The important thing is to pray to learn to be like Jesus, kind, gentle and non-judgmental.  That never causes people not to like you.

We didn’t have any water when we got up this morning.  I’m guessing there was an abundant use of cologne in our neighborhood this morning as people headed out to work.  When I went out to pick up the morning paper I looked up the street and noticed a city employee opening a fire hydrant.  I first heard a rush of air followed by a sputtering of water and then a gush.  To get a flow of water he first had to vent all the air out of the line.  “Wow,” I thought, “just like church.  Once all the hot air is vented we get to the Water of Life.”  Actually, I wish that were true.  Sometimes the Water of Life never appears.  It is all air.
 
I worry about preaching.  Paul very politely calls it foolishness.  “God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.”  I Corinthians 1:21.  I am often amazed at the patience of the saints.  I have seen them sit for over an hour at times listening to a series of platitudes strung together with little or no Water of Life.  I hear the saints saying “amen” to ideas they have heard a thousand times.  Perhaps if they hear a new idea they have to process it before they can say “amen” and that takes time. 
 
And yet, as Paul says, people are saved despite our muddled efforts.  I have come to believe the gift of tongues spoken of in Acts does not have to be foreign languages.  I think it is often the gift of ears as the Holy Spirit intervenes and whispers to each what each needs to hear.  I’m almost sure of it because sometimes people thank me for saying something I know I did not say!  Lord, forgive my hot air.