Roger Bothwell

This week cell phone numbers were released making it possible for us to receive a host of unwanted junk calls that will be charged to our minute allotments.  Fortunately we can be enrolled on a no-call list.  At first I thought I would write about God not having a no-call list, but that seemed too obvious, so I decided not to mention it.  However, there are some wonderful verses of Scripture that do relate to this.  How about Romans 10:12 and 13?  “For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

This is a devastating passage to those who think they belong to an exclusive God club.  It is so human to think we are special.  Well we are.  Everyone is special.  Really?   Remember the classic line from Gilbert and Sullivan,                “If everyone is somebody than nobody’s anybody.”?  That is great human logic.  When we are as limited as we are that has to be true.  However, God is limitless.  If He knows how many hairs are on our heads, and He does, check out Matthew 10:30, then each of us is somebody special.

Now we would like to think those verses only apply to our group.  Sorry. Paul said “whosoever shall call.”   So if you are a card carrying somebody on earth you are a non-card carrying somebody in heaven.  Better yet, if you are a nobody on earth, you really are a somebody in heaven.  As a matter of fact, God not only doesn’t have you on His no-call list, He doesn’t have one, He has been calling you.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 3, 2009

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I saw a guy standing in front of the magazine wall at Barnes and Noble stealing sniffs of aftershave. You know those cologne advertisement pages in magazines that you peel back and release wonderful scents.  He was sniffing and then putting the magazines back on the shelf. I figured he was stealing because the person who bought the magazine wouldn’t get 100% of the intended dazzle. I wondered if they should add a sniffing device to the exit door along with the magnetic machines designed to catch thieves.  A sales assistant could come running over and say, “Hey pal, you smell like Armani Code.”  Of course that would mean the machine would have to sniff you on the way in and remember you if you were wearing it upon entry.  They could call the machine Rover or Lassie. I understand they now have machines at airports that take your thermal picture to see if you have the flu.

There are few secrets left in this world.  There is an electronic trail of almost everything we write or do.  Those secret love emails you wrote to your sweetie are residing in some federal computer just waiting for publication.  Your super market has a record of your last box of Oreos.  So just in case you thought you were getting away with something, you’re not. One of my memory verses when I was little was Ecclesiastics 12:14, “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”   That was frightening.   You can be sure I was deliriously happy when I discovered I John 1:9.  It promises God will forgive EVERYTHING.   Phew!

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 7, 2009

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While waiting for our pizza this evening at Chucky Cheese I enjoyed watching a four-year-old little boy beat the system.  He was playing Skee-ball. Actually the word “playing” isn’t quite the right word.  He was picking up the ball, running up the lane and depositing it in the 100,000 point hole. It didn’t take him long to rack up a million points and lots of tickets to spend at the redemption counter.  He totally maxed out his full potential. He had a sure thing.

I meet a lot of people filled with anxiety about their eternal future. Mentally healthy people want to live.  Eighty or ninety years really aren’t enough.  We don’t hit our full mental stride until seventy. If I charged a hundred thousand dollars for a ticket that guaranteed heaven, people would line up from my front door to San Francisco.  We long for surety.  We want a sure thing.

Well I can guarantee you heaven.   I really can.  I found a sure thing. It’s not based on money or deeds.  It is based completely on trust.  The following is better than a four-year-old dropping a wooden ball in a Skee-ball hole.  Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”  John 5:24

It’s the surest thing you will ever find on planet earth.   Please stop saying, “I hope I will be saved.”   We don’t honor God with that kind of talk any more than I would have honored my dad by saying, “I hope you do” after he promised me he would bring me something special.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 25, 2009

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A seven layer burrito at Taco Bell is a good value.  It’s fairly healthy, but a bit heavy on the calories because of the avocado, the sour cream and the flour tortilla.  What I enjoy about it is each bite tastes different. If you don’t like a bite, quickly swallow it and go for another.  It will be unlike the previous.   One time you might get mostly beans and the next might be lettuce and tomatoes, which brings me to my analogy for the day.  I am mused by the varied experiences I get with multiple readings of Scripture.  The words on the pages do not change, but the power and meaning change.  Yesterday the healing of the leper in Mark 1 impacted me with Jesus’ compassion.  Today I am in admiration of the persistence of the leper.

Paul’s writings seem especially varied.   I Corinthians 13 is different every time I read it.  Today I was overwhelmed by the thought that one could be martyred and have it be for nothing.  Everything depends on one’s motives.  If I allow myself to be burned at the stake thinking I am earning heaven I will be sadly disappointed.  Heaven is a gift.  I cannot earn it no matter how rigidly I live my life and no matter how much of my goods I give to the poor.  The last time I read it I was taken by the idea that love keeps no record of wrongs.  Once forgiven – it’s gone.   I wish organizations were that way.

Of course the reason for the variety is the Holy Spirit’s awareness of our daily need.  Like any good physician the prescription varies by the patient and by the exigency.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 31, 2009

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I had a few moments yesterday to talk with a Fed-Ex delivery driver. Naturally our conversation turned to the economy and he told me his average day’s deliveries are 50% of what they were six months ago, indicating a major economic slowdown.   Afterward I wondered if we could develop a national economic index by monitoring Fed-Ex and UPS package deliveries. Perhaps there already is one.

Later I wondered if we could develop a spiritual index indicating the health of one’s relationship with God.  We have a tendency to use numbers for all manner of measurements.  Perhaps we could keep a running tally on the number of minutes we spend each day watching television verses the number of minutes we spend in prayer or Bible study.   How many minutes a day do we talk to others about National Inquirer or Entertainment Today material verses the number of minutes we speak of a new spiritual insight obtained from our time spent in Bible study?

Actually that kind of activity would most likely ruin a real spiritual walk by turning it into a numbers game and perhaps a competition with others for bigger numbers which would most likely foster some sort of perverted pride like the Pharisee who prayed aloud on the corner.   Perhaps the best spiritual index would our joy at being able to participate in divine nature and our eagerness to share that joy with others.  Do you remember the restored leper at the close of Mark 1?   Jesus told him not to tell until he had been officially declared well by the local priest.   He couldn’t wait. Immediately he told everyone who would listen.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 1, 2008

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Several years ago one of my church members confessed to me, his pastor, that he had committed a crime that was currently being investigated in the small town where we lived.  He told me he had a hard time sleeping because he imagined every sound he heard was the police coming to shackle him.  When he would pass a police car on the highway his hands would instantly grow wet on the steering wheel and his knees would go weak.  He was a paranoid psychological wreck.  The only way he was going to find peace was to make things right.

His predicament reminded me of Proverbs 28:1, “The wicked flee when no one pursues.”  There are amazing benefits to be had by living an honest life. Not only will God bless such a life but you don’t have to worry about being caught.  If you cheat on your income tax you hold your breath every time you open the mailbox thinking today is the day you get the letter from Uncle Sam informing you of an impending audit.   If you are speeding down the highway you cannot enjoy the scenery.  You have to have one eye on the rear view mirror and be tensed to hit the brake whenever any government-looking car appears.

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD.  He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, . . . and whatever he does shall prosper.”  Psalm 1:1

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 6, 2008

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Daytime television is full of small claims court programs and having never been to a real one I decided this morning to observe a real life small claims court in our little city.  I was sitting toward the front trying to hear every word when I heard the door open behind me.  Almost instantly in a very clear, loud and authoritative voice the judge commanded, “Take off your hat in the presence of the United States flag!”   I turned just in time to see a young man quickly strip his hat from his head.

“Wow,” I thought.  “I wish we could have such respect for coming into God’s presence.”  I realize it is a sign of old age to be distressed over the apparel of some who come to church.  Yes, I have heard the arguments about God wanting us and taking us as we are.  We sing songs like, “Just As I Am.” I understand.  But somewhere along the way as people get to know our heavenly Father as the Almighty Supreme Ruler of the Universe it seems there would be a growth in respect.  If I were invited to the White House to meet the President of the United States I would not appear in shorts and flip-flops. (They wouldn’t let me in!)

One of the most powerful moments in the great film “To Kill a Mockingbird” Reverend Sykes says to the little girl protagonist, “Stand up Jean Louise, your father is passing by.”

This is not an issue of God not wanting us or God not accepting us.  It is a matter of respect.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 7, 2008.

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While waiting at a traffic signal this morning,  I was suddenly struck in the eye by a sparkling beam of light .  At first I wondered if someone was playing with a laser, but the mystery was easily solved when I looked in the rearview mirror.  There was a lady driving the car that was waiting behind me.  She had her left hand raised to shield her eyes from the morning sun.  The angled sun was shining in her windshield and her diamond ring was dazzling in the morning light.  A shaft of sunlight had bounced into and out of her ring and through my back window into my rearview mirror and into my eye. I can assuredly say that has never happened to me before this.

As the signal changed and I drove away I knew that she had no idea that light from her struck me.  “Ah,” I wondered, “how often, if ever, does the light of God’s presence shine from us unto another without our ever knowing? Just how many people will be saved or have been influenced for good and we will never know?”   Most likely it has happened to all of us and we will only know when in the Kingdom those we have affected will approach us and share with us what had occurred and oh how happy we will be.

Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”  I have always loved the fact that our good works are not to glorify us but our Father in heaven.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 18, 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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I am trying to write to you this evening but my dog keeps pestering me.  Last evening we took her swimming and another Black Lab named Cyrus gave her a tennis ball.  You would have thought he had given her the moon.  She was ecstatic.  We couldn’t get her to come home until he went home.  That tennis ball has become the object of much attention.  Because I will not throw it for her, I am trying to write to you, she is throwing it for herself and then running to retrieve it before it rolls under the couch.  When it does I have to get up and lift the couch so she can retrieve it.  If I don’t I am barked at until I catch on.  She wonders about my intelligence and why I can’t learn faster.

My dog and God have that same characteristic in common.  He cannot understand why I don’t learn faster.  For decades He was been trying to teach me all kinds of useful habits.  And for decades I have been resisting.  I eat things I shouldn’t.  I don’t get enough rest.  I read and watch things that rot my brain.  I don’t spend enough time in His Word.  It really isn’t that I don’t know better.  It’s that I just do the things I want to do regardless of the resulting effects.

I know I can’t be the only one in this sorry state.  I see people smoking.

Now how can anyone in this age not know what that does?  My newspaper runs stories about alcohol related fatal auto accidents.  Really now, does anyone not know drinking and driving is a recipe for disaster?

The more I think about it the more I understand God and my dog are not alike.  He knows I know.  She wonders.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 1, 2009

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