Roger Bothwell

Humans are strange creatures.  We are thrilled when we get a raise until we find out a colleague received a larger raise.  There is an old Yiddish saying, “When does a hunchback rejoice?  When he sees one with a larger hump.”  Ambrose Bierce put it this way, “Happiness is an agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of others.”  And Gore Vidal wrote, “It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.”  Our happiness is so often a reaction based on our relationship with other’s situations.

It is interesting to compare the above quotes with Jesus’ prescriptions for happiness found in Matthew 5.  The word “blessed” in the Beatitudes can be translated “happy.”   “Happy are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.”   Note there is a relationship factor involved and it is opposite to our normal reactions.

The normal reaction to happiness is all about me.  Jesus’ formula is all about others.  If I am meek I am content with other’s success.  If I am meek I am happy when you get a raise.  Now I must confess I need to work at this and will most likely fail if I do not have divine help.  Surely it is the “old man” Paul refers to in Romans.  I must put it to death that a “new man” can live within me.

“You were taught, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness.”  Ephesians 4:22-25

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 18, 2003

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The Latin word “amator” means “to love.”   Thus comes our English word “amateur” which we define as someone who does something as a pastime and not as a paid professional.  However, sometimes we find people who love their job.  These then are paid amateurs.  I love teaching.  I get paid.  Not as much as I think teaching is worth because teaching changes the world.  At least good teaching changes the world.  Well, I guess bad teaching also changes the world; just not the way we want.  Happy is the person who loves his or her jo

Sometimes we use the word “amateur” to demean someone.  When someone does a so-so performance we say, “How amateurish!”  Recently, it struck me that just the opposite is true.  When someone does something extremely well we could say, “How amateurish” meaning it is obvious from the quality and passion interjected into their performance they love what they do.

Each night I write to you about my faith.  It is my desire you would note my amateurism.  I don’t get paid as a writer, but I do hope my passion for Jesus shows.  He is my creator.  He is my redeemer.  He saves me from myself.  He gives me hope for an eternal future of never-ending intellectual and character growth. How could I not love Him?  I desire to be an amateur Christian forever.  Join me!  Please!

“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”

Titus 3:4-5

Written by Roger Bothwell

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Ah the sweetness of a summer evening.  It’s been over 90 degrees today and the soft gentle breeze lilting its way across the oak and maple covered mountains brings refreshment akin to an icy drink.  The sound is a symphony of almost silence.  I heard my first cicada of the summer this evening.   It is still a bit early for katydids.  They should decorate our evenings in mid-August.  The bats are here gobbling up the mosquitoes, making it more pleasant to be outside. Neighbors are out and so our evening walk was a social event.  Just a tad of rain fell on us.  It wasn’t enough to blur my glasses.  But it was enough to fill the air with that wonderful smell of an approaching storm that never came.

Every state has its specialness.  We used to live in Iowa and the summertime sound of corn growing was the sound of prosperity.  While we did not have seasons in Africa there were the days when the coffee trees were in bloom.  The scent was not that of Starbucks but rather of cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C.

George Gershwin and DuBose Heyward left us with “Summertime when the living is easy.”  It has been recorded by different groups and soloists over 33,000 times.  It is part of our social fabric.

In Jeremiah 8:20 Jeremiah laments for his people, “The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.”  Let that never be written for us.  If you are not yet sure of your salvation do not let this summer pass without believing that our God is a God who keeps His promises.  In John 5:24 He promises if we will believe in Jesus we will immediately cross over from death to life.   Summertime is a sweet time!

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 26, 2016

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Ah the sweetness of a summer evening.  It’s been over 90 degrees today and the soft gentle breeze lilting its way across the oak and maple covered mountains brings refreshment akin to an icy drink.  The sound is a symphony of almost silence.  I heard my first cicada of the summer this evening.   It is still a bit early for katydids.  They should decorate our evenings in mid-August.  The bats are here gobbling up the mosquitoes, making it more pleasant to be outside. Neighbors are out and so our evening walk was a social event.  Just a tad of rain fell on us.  It wasn’t enough to blur my glasses.  But it was enough to fill the air with that wonderful smell of an approaching storm that never came.

Every state has its specialness.  We used to live in Iowa and the summertime sound of corn growing was the sound of prosperity.  While we did not have seasons in Africa there were the days when the coffee trees were in bloom.  The scent was not that of Starbucks but rather of cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C.

George Gershwin and DuBose Heyward left us with “Summertime when the living is easy.”  It has been recorded by different groups and soloists over 33,000 times.  It is part of our social fabric.

In Jeremiah 8:20 Jeremiah laments for his people, “The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.”  Let that never be written for us.  If you are not yet sure of your salvation do not let this summer pass without believing that our God is a God who keeps His promises.  In John 5:24 He promises if we will believe in Jesus we will immediately cross over from death to life.   Summertime is a sweet time!

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 26. 2016

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One of the great things about summer is melons.  It is true; melons are shipped to our grocery stores all winter.  However, those just don’t taste good probably because are picked while they are green in order to ship them to market.  Homegrown melons just taste so much better.  Maybe it’s the time of the year.  Who wants to eat watermelon for Christmas?  But on a hot summer day it is marvelous.

Some people like to put salt on their melons.  Others like their cantaloupe with a scoop of ice cream filling the hole in the middle.  Do you remember when stores would plug a watermelon for you, and if you did not like the taste they just threw away that melon and let you plug another?  Wow, just try that today!  Others pick out cantaloupes by smelling the stem end.

According to the book of Numbers one of the foods the children of Israel missed after they left Egypt was melons.  The wilderness where they wandered about forty years was a pretty hot place and melons would have been great.  However, they did get manna every morning.  But even the best food in the world gets a bit boring when you have it every single day.  God has been so good to us.  He has filled the earth with a huge variety of good things.  What a gracious wonderful God!

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 27, 2000

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On a previous trip to the forest I spotted a freshly fallen tree.  It was perfect for firewood.  I could not allow it to lie there and decay.  Therefore, this afternoon I set off into the forest with my trusty chainsaw to cut it in lengths that I could carry.   Alas when I got to the tree and got the saw running I laid the chain to the log and my chain was dull.  It labored and groaned and smoked as it chewed its way through.   I had to do it not once but six times to make the log carriable.

My wife’s father always told me that a dull knife or saw is a dangerous tool.  The sharper the better for then it will do its job quickly and without undue pressure. What should have been six easy cuts turned into sweat producing labor.  Finally it was done.  Next time before going off to do battle with a tree I will make sure my chain is sharp.

In Ephesians 6:17 Paul  says, “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”  If we are to be effective warriors for Christ we need to be sharp when it comes to the Word.  We need to know what our Bible says.  We need to know what we teach and believe is not merely our opinion or the opinion of our pastor.  The only way to be effective is to be sharp when it comes to the Word.

Written by Roger Bothwell

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Usually we groan inside when we get stuck behind a school bus.  Often it seems like it stops at every driveway. But the past few mornings have been kind of fun.  School is just beginning and there are a lot of very excited little people waiting for the big yellow bus.  There are lots of parents with cameras recording these first few days.  For decades to come children turned adults will see themselves beaming (hopefully) as they make that first big step up into the bus.

First times are so special.  We try to record the first steps, first words, first birthdays and first time riding a two-wheeler.  Most of us can remember the first time we kissed that someone special.  There is also something sad about first times.  Each one represents a passage to a new chapter in life and we close a section of our life that can only be visited in our memories.  Life is an interesting series of bittersweet events.

The sacrifice of Jesus was a bittersweet event.  Heaven had to be in horrendous anguish as they watched the brutal, violent behavior of those who nailed Jesus to the cross.  Yet there had to be feelings of pride in the courage of Jesus who was voluntarily submitted to this atrocity.  It was a passage.  No longer would the universe ever be the same.  Sinners, for whom He died, murdered the Creator and the door of eternity was opened for anyone who would receive the gift.

“For the joy that was set before him, Jesus, endured the cross, despising the shame, . .”  Hebrews 12:2

Written by Roger Bothwell

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Hot summer nights are for lying on a grassy hill watching the stars (suns) from far away places parade across the sky.  The stars come in all manner of sizes.  Some are so big were they positioned where our sun is we would be immersed in the hydrogen furnace.  Some are so small they are called dwarfs and are about the size of our earth.  This sounds like the story of the three bears, one is too big, one is too small and our sun is just right.

If our sun’s future is like other suns (and there is no reason think it would be different) its supply of hydrogen will ultimately become helium, which will fuse to ultimately form carbon 12.  This will occur after it becomes a red giant expanding beyond the orbit of Venus.  It will then shrink to become one of those dwarfs.   During its red giant phase its heat output will incinerate everything on dear old planet Earth.  But not to worry.  This horrific event is a few billion years away, a few years beyond our expected life span.  That is unless we take Jesus’ promise of eternal life seriously.  Pondering that wonder means we will have a ringside seat somewhere in God’s universe to witness this marvel of nature.

No wonder Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”   There is just too much to see and learn to be lax about accepting the promise.  I want to see it all.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 6, 2003

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On my way to class this morning I quickly picked a Bible from my shelf to read Hebrews 1:2.  When I opened it to read, it did not say what I had expected.  I was reminded how mentally dependent I had become on the King James Version.

I wanted to talk about Jesus being the creator of “worlds,” plural.  However, the translation I had in class didn’t say “worlds.”  During a break I double-checked the King James and it did say “worlds” so I checked the Greek and to my amazement the word the King James translated “worlds” is more like “ages.”   Jesus is charge of the ages.

I really liked that idea.  Jesus is God incarnate.  Before anything that was He is.  I wanted to say “He was.”  But in John 8:58,  “Jesus said, Before Abraham was, I am.”   He wants us to understand tenses are for us.  In our past He is.  In our present He is.  In our future He is.   He is the eternal commander of the ages.  There never was a time when He was not and there will never be a time when He will not be.

Time is such a relative item.  It takes 176 Earth days for Mercury to rotate on its axis (a Mercurian day) but it only takes 88 Earth days for it to orbit the sun (a Mercurian year).  Thus if we lived on Mercury our years would be shorter than our days.  We might find it confusing and difficult to note our birthdays but for our creator it is no problem.  He is the master of time.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 8, 2003

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There is an historical event so overwhelming with sorrow, weeping, confession, forgiveness, mercy and love we are not given any information regarding its details.  It happened when Jesus met with Peter the first time after the resurrection.   The last time they were together Peter renounced any relationship with Jesus.  He did this within earshot of Jesus who looked down from the porch into the court and the cock crowed.  Peter knew Jesus heard him.  Talk about getting caught!

Peter and Jesus were best friends.  They fished together.  They traveled together. Peter was with Jesus on the Mountain of Transfiguration.  He saw Moses and Elijah come from heaven to meet with Jesus.  He declared his willingness to die for Jesus and indeed proved his loyalty that very night in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He pulled out a sword and started to fight.  He would have fought to the death had not Jesus called to him to stop.  That was the problem.  He did all he knew how to do and it was the wrong thing.  Peter is so much like us.

When he saw the empty tomb on Sunday morning and knew Jesus was alive the conflict must have been horrendous.  He wanted desperately to see Jesus but had to be afraid because of the three denials.   What unfolded when Jesus came to him needed no background violins or soft piano music to build emotion.  This was a scene of two men embraced in reconciliation.

If Jesus could do that for Peter just think of what he can do for you and me.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 1, 2003

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