Author: rogerbothwell_kiywit

Today I saw a limousine waiting outside a Burger King. The two items, the limousine and Burger King, do not seem to go together. It had all the incongruity of a Picasso in a Wal-Mart. It was like the President of the United States riding around in a Ford Fiesta. It was like George Bush playing golf with Saddam Hussein. King Solomon understood life’s incongruities when he wrote in Proverbs 11:22, “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.”

There are some things that do not go together. We cannot be a Christian and be cruel and heartless. We cannot be a Christian and be a gossip. We cannot be a Christian and steal a person’s reputation by saying nasty things about him or her. These things just don’t go together. James mentions this in chapter 3. He said, “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”

Living a consistent life is a great challenge. I can start out the day with the best intentions and be irritated on my way to school in the morning and all those good goals evaporate like the morning mist. Fortunately for me Jesus understands.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 8, 2004
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

The mystery of the missing fluid for the clutch in my old truck is solved. Upon opening the bell housing we found a community of small animals. One was dead and the others went running across the garage floor. The leaking fluid was being absorbed by the nesting material they made out of insulation from other parts of the truck. I wonder how long they lived in there and how many trips they made with me back and forth to school?

It takes all kinds of homes for God’s creatures but the bell housing of a truck is not one of the better ones. Bears have dens. Birds have nests. Dogs have blankets. Cats have houses they allow humans to live in. Kings have palaces. Rich people have mansions. The rest of us have apartments or regular houses.

What actually constitutes a home? When I am returning from school I do not mentally feel like I’m home til I pull in the driveway. However, if I have been on a really long journey I feel like I’m home when I arrive at the outskirts of my town. Robert Frost once defined home as “the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” Why the expression “have to?” It is either because of obligation or because of love. Most likely it depends on the particular case. In the case of our heavenly Father I believe the “have to” is love. There was no way the father could have refused the prodigal son upon his return. There is no way our heavenly father can refuse us.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 7, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

The fluid in the master cylinder for the clutch in my old truck has disappeared. Obviously that makes shifting gears an extreme challenge. This is puzzling because there is no puddle or signs of leaking where I park it. The man at the transmission shop tells me this is usually Problem A or Problem B. However, in this case it seems to be Problem C, which means he hasn’t yet figured out where the fluid went. Therefore he will try Plan D to solve the mystery. “After all,” he said, “this stuff doesn’t evaporate.”

I did not ask him what Plan D was in case it meant blowing up the truck and I didn’t want to know if that was the case. I wonder if God has a Plan D? I think Plan A was for Adam and Eve not to sin. Plan B was the Cross for our redemption. Plan C is most likely God’s personal plan of how to woo us to accept the gift of salvation. Perhaps Plan D, E, F, G, H and on are His modifications in approaching us because we continue to resist. How grand to know that He does not give up on us but will continue His pursuit.

In Ephesians 1 Paul wrote, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will . . . In him we have . . . the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 6, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

If we have good vision we are capable of seeing about 5,000 stars on a clear night. That is hardly a good start. The latest calculation of astronomers for the total number of stars in the universe is 70 sextillion. That is a seven with twenty-two zeros. That is more than the grains of sand on planet earth. How overwhelmingly provincial to think we are the only intelligent life forms in all the vastness of space.

The Bible speaks of a huge host of intelligent beings that do not live on earth. Revelation 5:11 reads, “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne . . .” According to the next verse they are there for a special reason. Verse 12 says, “In a loud voice they sang: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’”

There is so much for us to see. Today a telemarketer tried to sell me a trip to Orlando by telling me, “You will never again see so much for so little if you buy this travel package.” I don’t think so. I have news for him. There are 70 sextillion places to go and the cost has already been covered. Revelation 7:9 reads, “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb.” Now that is a trip no one should miss.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 5, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

This evening I found myself staring into the refrigerator. I wasn’t really hungry so what was I doing? I must be a conditioned lab rat and something triggered a “Go to the fridge” response. Without thinking I was going to put unnecessary food into me. As I closed the fridge door I wondered how many times a day I eat unnecessary food. I wish I would instead automatically look for spiritual food. I wish I would find myself browsing through my Bible just to see what is there. I must confess most always I open my Bible in search of some specific text or idea. It has become a toolbox instead of a treasure chest.

We need the tools that are there for character construction just as a craftsman needs tools. But there are delightful surprises to be found there. Sometimes while reading a familiar passage a brand new idea jumps out of the text and yells, “Hey, look at me.” Now that is not something you want to happen when staring into the fridge.

Recently I was reading John 14 where Jesus said, “In my father’s house are many rooms.” Suddenly I realized in God’s Kingdom there are many families with many different family names. Often we are tempted to be exclusive and think we (our group) are God’s favorites and the only ones that will be saved. We need to jolt ourselves out of our conceit and remember God once said to Elijah, “Not only you. I have 7000 others.”

My goal is to be conditioned to browse God’s word and to keep the refrigerator door closed.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 4, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

My four-year-old granddaughter approached me today with a blank piece of paper in one hand and a handful of markers in the other. She was all excited about writing me a letter. Soon she returned with a long list of squiggly lines and she asked me to read what she had written. So I sat about the task of deciphering her code into a story. When I finished I thanked her for writing such an exciting tale. She thanked me for the complement and walked away quite pleased with herself for authoring such a fine piece of literature.

As I watched her go I wondered if we sometimes or often present God with nothing much more than a jumble of deeds, ideas, thoughts and attitudes thinking we are giving Him this grandly scripted life. I am often dismayed at my inability to live consistently. All my grand designs to be good disintegrate when students and colleagues frustrate me with what I think is incompetence. Of course they could never think I am incompetent! So often at the close of a day I wish I had held my tongue and had been more discrete.

I have come to hope that God is taking all these inconsistencies and is weaving them into a lovely tapestry. Actually a tapestry is much more interesting than a plain cloth made of consistently colored threads. How’s that for rationalization? However with God’s help we can write a great life story filled with downs and then ups. The downs are interesting but the ups are incredibly glorious.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 3, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

Our world is such a complicated place it is difficult to do really good things. We give clothes for people in Africa and while the clothes do arrive in Africa they end up being sold in the markets for prices that undercut the local tailors and drive them out of business. We send food to Africa and when free food is distributed the local farmers can no longer sell their products in the market place and we end up destroying the local economy. Our good intentions end up doing more harm than good.

Most of us have on occasion tried our best to rectify something that is wrong only to make it worse. We go to someone to apologize and end up aggravating the situation. We go away wishing we had said nothing. Sometimes we do our very best with the very best intentions only to be misunderstood and have our speech and actions interpreted as selfishness. Life becomes a minefield to be crossed instead of a meadow of flowers to be picked.

No wonder Solomon urges us to seek wisdom. He wrote, “Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, . . . for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed.” Proverbs 3:13-18

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 31, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

When one rides through the Green Mountains of Vermont on a mid-summer day the overwhelming thought runs through your mind that it should be illegal for people to be allowed to live here. Gorgeous, well-kept farms and lawns sit atop rolling hills back dropped with breathtaking mountains deep green from the winter snows. The roadsides are littered with Black-Eyed Susans, Queen Anne’s Lace, Day Lilies and Purple Astors. The ponds are layered with Water Lilies and ringed with Purple Loose Strife. The deep blue sky is decorated with cumulous clouds billowing over a scene Monet could never reproduce. Thoughts run through your mind like, “Let’s quit our jobs and move here.” It is far away from the Disney Lands, Wall Drugs and Williamsburgs of our land. It is just the world the way it is supposed to be.

Perhaps children belted into the back seats of the family SUV would say, “When are we going to get where we’re going?” Or “I’m bored.” It is that way when we are small. Paul said, “When I was a child I thought as a child. But now that I am a man I think as a man.” There are so many things in life that change for us as we develop from one stage of life to another. Each stage has its wonders and things to appreciate. No longer am I fascinated by toy trucks. Now I am overwhelmed the complexity of a Vermont ecozone. The miracle of life fills me with awe and whets my appetite for an eternity of study. The best is yet to come!

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 30, 2003 and now he sleeps awaiting that eternity of study.
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

Galileo discovered the horizontal motion of a falling object is independent of its vertical motion. If I should shoot a bullet parallel to the ground and simultaneously drop an object from a height equal to the distance of the barrel of the gun from the ground both the dropped object and the bullet will strike the earth at the same time. The only difference will be where they strike the ground. The dropped object will be at my feet and the bullet might be a mile away depending upon its horizontal velocity.

There are certain laws of nature that consistently affect our lives. As surely as gravity pulls equally upon the moving bullet and the dropped object so we cannot fly in the face of such laws as Galatians 6:7-9 which reads, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

I cannot feed my soul on the corruptive mental filth of certain music lyrics or modern entertainment and expect to produce a quality socially contributive life. I cannot pour garbage into my brain and expect quality thoughts to come out my mouth. While external censorship is wrong in a democracy so is indiscriminate consumption wrong for the individual. Guard your mind. It is the only one you have.

Written by Roger Bothwell July 29, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

Our world teems with life. Scientists have labeled over 1.8 million different species and estimate that we are about one percent finished. Obviously it is the really little ones we haven’t named yet. One could spend one’s entire life just in his or her yard and never exhaust the range of life that lives there. It is estimated just one cubic foot of dirt is all we would need to give us a lifetime of activity if we had the right equipment and patience.

We don’t cohabit well with some life forms. Just this weekend I sat down on a lawn chair only to discover with great discomfort there was a yellow jacket nest on the bottom side of my bottom. Ouch. It is amazing how fast an old man can move. Need I say the yellow jackets did not fare well in the following minutes?

There is so much we don’t know about our world. Being associated with a college is such a treat because I am surrounded by chemists, cellular biologists, genetic experts, astronomers, geologists, historians, linguists, grammarians and on and on. It humbles us when we realize how little we know and there is so little time in life to learn more. When I was a boy I thought the gift of eternal life was a “cool idea” now that I am a man I realize it is a necessity.

“Now God formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. . . . So man gave names to all the livestock, the birds and all the beasts.” Genesis 2

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 28, 2003
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453