Roger Bothwell

Storytelling is as old as man. As the ancients sat about the fire warming their hands they warmed their minds with stories of long passed heroes. In the courts of kings there would be many storytellers each in a designed location making it possible for people to move from storyteller to storyteller depending upon their interest. I thought of this the other evening when I tired of a television program and changed the channel to something I found more interesting.

Just as there were court jesters we have comedians. They had those who chronicled their heritage and we have the History Channel. The comparisons can continue on. They even had weather prophets. Not much has changed: just the medium. Perhaps one thing has changed. We have few heroes left. One by one scholars have unveiled the moral defects of past greats leaving us with halls of shame instead of fame.

Perhaps the fault is within us all. If the greats were not perfect maybe I can sooth myself concerning my faults. After all is it not easier to lower someone to my level instead my disciplining myself to rise to theirs? So the world is left with mediocrity and we are all the poorer for every generation needs heroes to inspire it’s youth to be more tomorrow than they are today.

Is it so difficult for us to bear perfect people? “Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 13, 2002
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

I thought it strange when I learned Jesus was born in the year 4 B.C. How, I thought, could Jesus have been born four years before He was born? Obviously I soon learned the calendar makers erred and it was easier to leave it as it was and redate Jesus’ birth than to change so many historical and business records.

According to the Jewish calendar this is the year 5763. The Chinese have a legend that Emperor Huangdi invented the calendar in 2637 B.C. The oldest calendar I am aware of is the Egyptian calendar that dates back to 4241 B.C.

According to our Bibles God established a seven-day cycle of time during creation week recorded in Genesis one. However, that does not give us a yearly date. Two years ago folk were concerned something major was going to happen as we transitioned into a new millennium. Similar concerns occurred a thousand years before that when we left the 900’s behind.

I wonder if God smiles at our concerns with the date. When you are eternal a few thousand years here or there really makes not much difference. When you are a fruit fly 24 hours is a big deal. So much of life is relative. What is not relative is the fact that time is ticking away and the hour of God’s judgment grows near. Jesus’ disciples asked Him when it would be. His answer is fascinating. He said in Matthew 24:36, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 12, 2002
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

In order to gain more space I put some small empty boxes into a large empty box. I now have more room. However, I am confused for I put emptiness into emptiness to gain more emptiness. Now my emptiness is more organized and compact leaving me with emptiness to fill with I hope something other than more emptiness. Now all of this is what I feel like sometimes after a class. My lectures are sometimes empty of originality and I dump them into the empty minds of my students with no fear of cluttering their thought processes since all I did was organize some academic emptiness.

However, emptiness is not nothing. Emptiness is possibilities. Emptiness is an invitation to fill with something meaningful. God saw the emptiness of space and filled it with us. Isaiah 45:18, “For this is what the LORD says– he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited– he says: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.”

God saw the emptiness of men’s lives after sin had drained the purity and goodness. Genesis 6:5, “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” He could have abandoned us to our emptiness but chose because of His great love to fill us with His Spirit and all the emptiness of the universe with His grace. (Ephesians 4:9-10) There is no emptiness when He is present.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 11, 2002
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

On a flight from Chicago to Manchester, New Hampshire this evening I passed the time by listening to the conversation between our pilot and the flight controllers. It is delightful when the pilot makes that available over the headsets at one’s seat. About 75 miles west of Manchester I heard them instruct our pilot to fly the vectors for landing on runway 24. Since we were flying from Chicago I knew we were roughly on a heading of 090. That meant we would have to fly past Manchester and then turn around so we could land facing west.

It was just like watching the lives of some of my students. I know from the direction they are going if they are going to graduate they are going to have to turn around. The analogy not only applies to students but also to most of us with bad habits. If we are going to live a long abundant life we sometimes have to make radical changes in our present course.

Sometimes airplanes miss their approach and have to come around and try again. Sometimes we have to try again and again to get it right. Jesus said in Luke 17:3-4, “If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” If Jesus instructs us to do this so will He also do it for us. No matter how many times it takes, keep on trying.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 8, 2002
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

My dog has an interesting quirky behavior. When I leave the house in the morning I give her a Milkbone. When I come home, sometimes twelve hours later, she is standing at the door with the Milkbone in her mouth. Only then will she eat it. I have no idea what this strange behavior is about but it does remind me of a statement Jesus made during the Last Supper with His disciples.

In Luke 22:15 He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

Does this mean Jesus will not eat or drink certain items until after the second coming? Perhaps a more meaningful question would be when will God’s Kingdom come or is God’s Kingdom already here in the hearts of His children?

While I certainly do not have definitive answers to this I do know we do not have to wait until some future date to begin receiving many of the benefits of being a part of God’s family. We might call them rights of citizenship in God’s Kingdom or the fruits of the Spirit. It really does not matter what we call them. What matters is that we realize they are available now and that we begin to enjoy them now.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 26, 2002
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453.

Each night our black lab follows me up the stairs and goes directly into her warm blanketed nest. Often she does not stir again until the morning sun peeks in the window. However, last night she would not come upstairs. Last night she slept by the door to the garage. My wife was gone for the night. My wife tells me the dog does the same thing when I am gone. She will only tuck herself in for the night when the rest of us are tucked in. Otherwise she waits by the door.

In Mark 13 Jesus counseled us regarding His second coming. He said, “Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back–whether in the evening, or at midnight or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!'”

Two thousand years have passed since Jesus warned us. While that is a long time for us it is nothing in the great scheme of eternity. It is but a day for the one who is eager to retrieve us from this world and have His whole family tucked in not just for the night but forever. Jesus promised us He would return. Jesus always keeps His promises.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 26, 2002
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

I had a great time this afternoon. While my wife went grocery shopping for our family I got to take my four-year-old granddaughter grocery shopping just for her. I carried the basket and she picked out the things we needed. The following is what was in our basket when she declared we were finished.

1. A bag of Doritos
2. A small helium filled balloon
3. Two Pez dispensers (one for her and one for her sister)
4. A box of animal crackers
5. A card filled with hair clips with happy faces
6. A card filled with heart stickers
7. A big sticker of a soccer ball
8. 5 super balls
9. A pair of star shaped sunglasses
10.A bag of popcorn
11.Silly shaped drinking straws

Now I understand why the Bible refers to God as our Father and not our Grandfather. God does not give us everything we pray for because like human fathers He knows better than to give a child carte blanche. Just as a human father fills the grocery basket with nutritious food God responds to our prayers by supplying real needs. A human father puts things in the basket a child would never dream of and our heavenly Father in His infinite wisdom puts marvelous things in our basket. He gives us things we need before we know we need them.

Ephesians 3:20, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, . . .”

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 24, 2002
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

We call her the busy lady. She lives across the hall from my mom. She is always active folding clothes, making her bed, doing her nails or visiting with people in the hallway. She always is dressed very nicely and has a lovely smile for everyone passing her way. This evening as I greeted her she asked me to help her find her room. She was standing in her doorway.

I have never learned to swear but tonight I wanted to. I wanted to curse whoever or whatever had stolen this lovely lady’s mind. She looked at me and asked me to pray for her. She knew she was confused. How ironic the very moment I felt like cursing she asked me to pray.

Annie sang, “The sun will come out tomorrow.” Thank God there is always a tomorrow. There is a never ending supply of tomorrows for all those who will accept the gift of His grace which promises an eternity of never forgetting anything accept the things we want to forget. There are many things we should forget. We should forget the slights, the insults and the disappointments of life. I used to say the “good old days” were really not that good. But why not make them so? It makes for a much better present and a wonderful future. Even God forgets. He does so because He chooses to never remember our sins. Once forgiven we are cleansed and looked at as if we had never sinned. How very grand! I John 1:9

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 21, 2002
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

Sometimes the difference between a so-so photograph and a really good one is two tiny points of light. You take a nice picture of someone but the angle is wrong and his or her eyes are a solid dark color. If you add a tiny white spot on each pupil the picture comes alive. The light appears to come from within and light that comes from within is vivacious and beautiful.

Because of the Holy Spirit given to us as a gift from God we can have Jesus living in us and Jesus declared in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” And in 1 John 4:13 we read, “We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” Talk about having a light inside to shine out our eyes! How grand. We can really be vivacious for this light is life eternal. Oh, how we can sparkle! With Jesus inside we can light up every room we enter for Jesus is the omniscient one and when He lives inside we get smarter and smarter. Knowledge is power and power is light.

Don’t you love it when you see someone whose lights are turned on? It is so exciting to talk to someone who has something to say other than, “How’s the weather?” Talking about ideas and goals is so much more rewarding than talking about people and Jesus truly gives us something worth talking about.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 20, 2002
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453

If one is to live a successful life one must have positive self-regard. This must not be confused with thinking one is superior to others. It is recognizing the gifts God has given. It is recognizing one’s gifts as well as the gifts God has given to others. Each of us has a special intelligence and when we utilize it we can have a sense of accomplishment and pride in a job well done. Pride is only detrimental when one basks in it to the point of denigrating others. Sometimes I hear people refuse to take credit for a job well done thinking it would be wrong. However, God is glorified when His children do well. We should acknowledge a job well done with a “Thank you very much.” Not only is it good for self it also recognizes another’s kindness to compliment us.

In Matthew 5:16 Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Our light could not shine if we did not excel. Who would be attracted to Christianity if God’s children were all a bunch of bumbling dolts? People are drawn to excellence. People want to emulate those who stand tall and achieve great things. It is nigh impossible to achieve anything great if we fail to recognize the gifts and talents God has given us.

Let us take a good look at ourselves. Let us take inventory of the good things we can do. Let us take pride in our work and when others know of our love for Jesus He will then be glorified.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 19, 2002
Spring of Life, 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453