Month: April 2019

All the recent rain left some serious road damage on our way home.  Today they were patched.  Patching works but it isn’t the same as new.  As I bounced across one of them I immediately thought of Matthew 9:16.  Jesus said, “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.”   I remembered being a little boy and watching my mother patch my school pants and darn the holes in my socks.  Does anyone darn any more?   While the repaired socks never really felt right I sort of liked the patches on my pants, especially if they were colorful patches.

The context of Jesus’ comments seems to indicate He wasn’t overly enthused about people trying to patch up their broken lives.  He seemed to be more in favor of starting all over with something completely new.  His comments to Nicodemus in John 3 are about a new birth.  Apparently an alteration here and there just isn’t going to do it.  We need a fresh start.  That’s what baptism is all about.  You bury the old man under the water and a new one comes to life.

That is great symbolism and easy to say.  However, I fear most of us have had the unfortunate experience of having the old man resurrect.  He’s like a zombie that refuses to stay in its tomb.  That is a yucky thought.  The old man causes us to commit yucky deeds.  The symbolism of baptism is great but unfortunately it is applied to flawed beings.  Does that mean we shouldn’t bother?  Oh, no.  It just means we need to pay attention and as Paul says we should put him down every time he pops up.  Jesus helps.  Just ask.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 10, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

I opened a drawer this afternoon and discovered it jam-packed with out-of-date computer STUFF.   There was a tangle of cables and mouses (mice).  We got our first computer in the early 1980’s.  It was a Radio Shack TRS-80 and had huge internal memory of four K.  As I looked in that drawer I realized I could or should toss it all because it will never be useful again.  But some of it still works in a primitive way like that fifty pound screen that takes up an entire desk.  I will most likely keep it in the corner for another twenty years before I finally dispose of it.

Getting rid of old things can be very difficult.  Even though we haven’t used them in years we think there is a chance we just might need them.  Old habits are hard to break.  Even when we realize they aren’t just filling up brain space but are actually harmful, we just don’t want to let them go.  There is comfort in “this is the way I have always done this.”

When I read Romans 7 I wonder what “old man” things Paul was trying to get rid of.  He said he did things he didn’t want to do and didn’t do the things he did want to do.  Paul had been Saul, the perfect Pharisee.  He lived by the letter of the law.  He did not have to give up a life of carousing.  So what was he talking about?  Could it be that sometimes the Gospel seemed just too good to be true and he fell back into law-keeping?  The Gospel is pretty amazing.  No other religion in the world is so radical. It is difficult to quit trying to do it ourselves.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 9, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helen, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

When I was a young man I learned Joel 2:28 which talks about old men dreaming.  I used to wonder what old men dreamed about.   The context of Joel referred to the Holy Spirit and prophecy.  Now that I am officially an old man (I receive Social Security) I now dream old-man dreams.  For me they aren’t prophetic and not worth telling others.  As a matter of fact I am usually put off when people want to tell me about their dreams.  So I will not put you off by telling you of mine other than they are wonderful because I often see and hear my boys when they were small.   I hear their little boy voices, not their man voices.  Sometimes my parents appear.   When night comes I am anxious to know who I will visit in my dreams before the dawn comes.

The human mind is a wonderful treasure chest of places and people.  It is sad that often when we are awake we have difficulty recalling people and events.  It is all there.  All the places, people and things we have seen and done are housed in that amazing piece of gray matter.   It is no wonder Scripture tells us to think about good things.  If we read good things, watch good things, listen to good things we fill our minds with treasures. Our minds are better than photo albums because they store action and sound.

I know people who take very good care of their bodies.  They take vitamins. They exercise.  They eat right.  But they are careless with their brains. They dump all manner of trash into them.  Somehow that doesn’t make sense. There is an old saying that we are what we eat.   I think we are what we behold.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 19, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

 

I wonder if I have found a flaw in our nation’s airline security system. Once on the east coast and once on the west coast I went through the magnetic detectors without triggering an alarm.  The reason for my concern is I have a metal knee which contains a significant amount of chrome and cobalt.  What I am hoping is the system did recognize its presence but is programmed to ignore artificial joints.

It reminded me of Jesus’ comment in the Sermon on the Mount about wolves in sheep’s clothing.  The exterior hides the interior.  The interior is something other than what we think is there.   This of course depends on what we think we see.   After a family visited in our home they went away telling others I was not what they thought I was.  After viewing the books in my library they were concerned that my reading diet was not as conservative as they had expected.  They thought I was a wolf in sheep garb. Alas.  The truth is people are able to disguise their persona.  I have seen both men and woman awaken to the fact the person they married was not what they thought they were getting.

Evil often comes to us in robes of light.  When in the wilderness after His baptism Jesus did not recognize Lucifer by his appearance but by what he was saying. What concerns me is the reality that often we deceive ourselves. Rarely do we understand the real motives behind our behaviors.  We rationalize and justify all manner of wrong thinking by dressing it up in what we think are plausible reasons.  Perhaps the most dangerous wolf of all is the one that resides within.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 11, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

 

The only times I can remember not being owned by a dog were my years at school living in a dormitory.  Dogs have been essential to my wholeness.  One of my friends told me it was indicative of a need to be worshiped.  I hope he was wrong.  But if one has to be honest, it is marvelous coming home and finding a dog on the other side of the door seeming to say, “Now I can start living again.  You are home.”   I have this picture of my grandson throwing sticks in the water for my black lab.  It’s one of my favorites.  Perhaps it reminds me of coming home from school and heading for the woods with my dearest friend running circles in the fields that led up to the forest.

When God told Adam it was not good for him to be alone I believe God was speaking of more than Eve.  While she was the main object of that sentence we must note it comes in the midst of an Eden where Adam was surrounded by a plethora of tame life.  I wanted to say “wildlife” but they weren’t.  The wild came later.

We were made in God’s image.  Most likely more intellectually and spiritually than physically; therefore, neither does God want to be alone.  He has this amazing universe filled with so many stars only He can count them.  Surely there must be an inhabited world for every sun (star).   Why turn on the lights and the heat unless there is someone to light up and warm?  To think the stars were made for our benefit is beyond egocentrism.  There isn’t a word for that kind of conceit.  To get a glimpse of an idea of the creatures He has made read Revelation 4.  It’s a feast.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 19, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

 

With great joy this afternoon I looked out my office window and watched a father helping his five (?) year-old little boy learn to ride a bicycle.  With his helmet securely in place he mounted up ready to go.  Sitting up straight the little guy started across the parking lot with dad right behind holding on to the back of the seat.  Not once in the fifteen minutes or so, before the little guy was on his own, did I see the father knock him down. The father never yelled at him.   He never aimed him at the curb.  Quite to the contrary, dad was ever so close behind to grab him as he was falling.

Jesus once said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”   Matthew 7:11.

If I had seen the father deliberately tip over the bicycle I’m sure I would have immediately called social services.   This child did not need to be in the care of such a father.  So why is it so often we attribute horrible things to our heavenly Father?  Probably not a week goes by that I do not hear someone in a back-handed kind of way blame God for some tragic event.  We live in a world where bad things happen to everyone.   We have a twenty-year-old student who just discovered she has leukemia.  Do we really think this is God’s will?  Surely a billion things a day happen on earth that are not God’s will.   This world can be a rough place.  What we do have is a Father who cares and hurts with us when we crash and fall.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 27, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

 

I have a nice small notepad filled with passwords to a multitude of websites.  We have been counseled not to use the same password for all places because if someone discovers it, then they have access to everything. The problem here is old age.  If I do not open a site for six months or more I don’t have a clue which password will work.  So I have a notepad.  Now if someone gets the notepad then they have access to everything.  This is crazy.  We live in an encoded world.  I even have a security device that every sixty seconds changes the password for one particular site.

I am so grateful I don’t need an ever-changing password to have access to God.  However, I do know there are people out there who want us to believe there is one and only password nd they have it.  If we will join their club or group they will share it with us.  God only hears their prayers and the rest of us are praying in vain.   Two of them knocked on my door and I invited them in. When I offered to pray with them they literally fled the room.  They could not pray with such a sinner as me.  Wow.

I have always loved Samuel Coleridge’s line, “”He prayeth best who loveth best all things both great and small; for the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all.”  He hears the faintest prayer of the weakest soul.  He longs to hear from us and how grand–there is no secret code.  There is no password.  Just call out.  He’s listening.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 30, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

 

It looked like an ordinary white, letter envelope, you know, the junk mail type that is so abundant in our mail boxes.  However, when I opened it I realized that it was like no other letter I’ve ever received.  Inside was a paper prayer rug and it promised power!  Not only power, but blessings-spiritual, physical and financial blessings of all types.  There were the personal testimonials from those that had followed the formula. Most were about getting money, new cars and houses.  There were a couple that mentioned healing and one said a loved one had been saved.  Of course there was a catch.  I had to follow the formula or I would break the flow of power.  It outlined a very detailed set of instructions to follow.  If I was unable to follow the instructions I had to return the enclosed prayer rug within twenty-four hours of receiving it.

While it is good to ask God for blessings or healing or power, we don’t need a formula or special prayer rug to gain His attention.  Jesus said, “The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need.” (Matthew 6 – The Message Paraphrase)

The best thing we can do is to lay out our petitions before God.  Ask Him for what He knows is best for us.  Whatever He gives us will be more than enough and exactly what we need.   No formula needed.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 3, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

First of all let me make it very clear.  I do not believe in something being jinxed.  There is no such thing.  But sometimes something occurs that makes one blink.  During the New England vs. Baltimore football game the commentators said something about the Patriots not fumbling the football for hundreds of plays and how outstanding this was.  The very next instant the Patriot’s quarterback had the ball stripped and a Raven fell on it for a Baltimore touchdown.

We live in a world filled with coincidences, which sometimes cause us to jump to unprovable conclusions.  People will tell us something is true because they saw it happen.  Their truth is based on a single happening.  For science to establish a truth something has to be consistently repeatable.  If it does not happen just one time when all the variables are consistent, it is not true.

Speaking of coincidences, it was no coincidence that Jesus’ birth and place of birth coincided with the Seventy Week Prophecy of Daniel and Micah 5.  It was no coincidence that Jesus’ sacrifice matches Isaiah 53.  It was no coincidence that Jesus’ life and ministry fulfilled over forty very specific Old Testament prophecies.

Peter and John both wrote that they were eyewitnesses to H’sis divinity and power.  They touched Him with their hands.  This is not based on a one person’s testimony.  In I Corinthians 15 we are told over 500 people witnessed Jesus after His resurrection.  It is true. We still have to base our experience with Christ on faith.  While God could remove all bases for doubt He has chosen to invite us to walk with Him by faith; a faith that will be rewarded beyond our dreams.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 3, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

 

About noon I woke up with a new left hip.  The last thing the doctor said was this will be easy.  It was.  What he did not tell me was that I was going to wake up hungry.  When I asked for something to eat all I could get was a cup of cherry Jell-O.  I knew my wife had a bagel in her pocket since we stopped on the way to the hospital at 5 AM and got some.  Would you believe she would not give me one?  I begged for just one bite. She told me if she gave me one I would beg for another. I told her to give me one bite and then go home.  That way I couldn’t beg for another. She wouldn’t give in.  I told her if she loved me she would give me a piece of a bagel.  She said she loved me and, therefore, would not give me any.

The entire exchange reminded me of some past experiences I have had with God.  I have begged Him for things He never gave me.  I remembered Jesus’ parable of the widow who begged the judge who finally gave in just to get her to be quiet.  I never was able to wear God down.  He has way too much patience.  I was the one who resigned from the battle.  Fortunately, when Jesus says, “Ask and you shall receive” He means we will receive what is best for us and not exactly what we asked for.  It really boils down to love.  Real love does what is best and not what is wanted.  Our wants are not always the best.

One thing I did get this week that I did not ask for was I am taller. The doctor measured my legs and decided I would be better off if he made my left leg a centimeter longer.  I hope you can recognize me.  I have to say the weather is different up here.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 18, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org