Author: Ian Bothwell

Long I stood in the bread aisle of our supermarket.  There was multigrain bread, oat bread, flax bread, whole wheat bread, white bread, rye bread, pumpernickel bread, raisin bread and cinnamon bread.  But what I wanted was Wonder Bread.  Enough with the healthy bread, I wanted bread you could squeeze into a ball and bounce off the wall.  When I was a kid watching the Howdy Doody Show, Buffalo Bob told us Wonder Bread advertised that it built strong bodies in eight ways.  Later it became twelve ways. It has been decades since I have had a piece of Wonder Bread.  It now sits in my pantry awaiting the right moment.  I am trying to decide if it will be with PB&J or lettuce, tomato and fake bacon.

Jesus made several references to bread.  He actually called Himself “The Bread of Life.”  Jesus is “The Real Wonder Bread” He builds healthy bodies in 10,000 ways.  He also talked about yeast and how pervasive it can be. He warned His disciples about the yeast of the Pharisees.  Often I have seen congregations infected with the yeast of works.  They are fed a diet of grace and along comes a smooth talking preacher who so subtly and probably ignorantly talks about grace and then adds the poisonous word “but”.  Beware of the word “but.”  It comes like this, “We are saved by grace, but …” It works its destructive force so subtly we barely notice it.   A dear friend of mine recently said, “I am so afraid I will be lost for one little sin I don’t know about.”  Ouch!  I wanted to cry.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 1, 2012

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

Rogerbothwe.org

 

Luke 17:20 -21, “When he (Jesus) was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God comes not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”  Jesus also said in the Lord’s Prayer, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

The Hebrew nation was waiting for the establishment of a political kingdom with the overthrow of the Romans.  For them God’s Kingdom was not yet.  For many Christians today there is the expectation of a physical kingdom established in the future.  For them God’s Kingdom is not yet.  Two thousand years ago John the Baptist preached that the Kingdom of God was at hand.  Was he, the one Jesus declared to be the greatest of all the prophets, wrong?  It seems not.  God’s Kingdom is not only something in a future time and place, it is also a present experience. With the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we share with God the glories of His presence. There is security, hope becomes a present reality, guilt is taken away, eternal life begins, spiritual understanding grows, compassion for others takes root and flourishes, self is nourished as it recognizes its value by looking at the cross, creativity blooms, intellect expands, patience becomes a mainstay, and our love encompasses those who do not love us.

Contrary to what many television evangelists teach this does not necessarily include bigger bank accounts.  The real Gospel of Prosperity is the prosperity of the soul.  Are we looking for the Kingdom of God?  With a heart open to God let us look in the mirror.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 7, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I read a great story today about the poet Southey who was so proud of the fact that he never wasted a moment.  He studied Portuguese while he shaved.  He translated Spanish before and during breakfast and on and on.  One day a Quaker lady said to him, “Friend, when does thee do thy thinking?”   I love this story because I was early educated to believe that God would hold me accountable for every waking moment.  Perhaps so, but just quietly being still counts; watching the leaves move and shadows crawl across the lawn is so enriching.  Earlier this week I drove 900 miles on our concrete jungle of intertwining interstates on the East Coast.  There is not much time for thinking about anything other than how not to be involved in an 80 mph accident. How sweet it is to be quietly back home watching those leaves and shadows.

We must never miss the fact that God placed Eve and Adam in a garden.  I wanted to use the adjective quiet but He might have put jays and mockingbirds in Eden.  I am suspicious that some of you might be thinking I am now going to use, “Be still and know that I am God” so I won’t do that.  There is no point in telling you something you already know.  Instead I want to encourage you to put pen to paper or these days I should say fingers to keys, and write yourself a letter.  “But why?” you might ask.  Wouldn’t I already know everything I would write down?  The answer is, “No, you don’t.”  Writers often say when they are finished writing, “I didn’t know I knew that!”

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 14, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

“U.S. Olympic athletes wear uniforms.  How could we not now read Romans 13:14?  “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”

Dressing properly is very important.  One does not wear a tuxedo to the beach and one would not wear a t-shirt and jeans to visit the President.  Neither should one dress like that to come to worship the Lord of the Universe.  But they do and that is something that totally amazes me. The problem is one of teaching respect and apparently the failure is ours that we have not educated our youth.  However, I notice it spills out into many areas of life.  Very few young people will hold a door open for an elderly lady or drop the adjective “elderly” and it is still true.  I realize this is an “old people’s gripe” and most likely every generation says the same thing about the generation following them.

But back to the real issue.  Dress up with Christ.  With the aid of the Holy Spirit endeavor to be as much like Him as we can.  Each day we should not only be polite onto others but do battle with the desires of our sinful nature.  And should we soil the garment, what shall we do?  Put it on again tomorrow and notice something amazing.  It is clean again.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 15, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Just recently I have discovered the joys of cryptograms.  One that I worked on this morning was a quote from Solomon.  As the letters fell into place I remembered a man who was besotted with the idea that the Bible was a book of cryptic messages from God.  He spent hours each week playing with numbers and the first letter of each verse in various chapters.   What is fascinating is Psalm 119 is a poem where the first eight verses begin with “aleph” and the second eight verses “beth” and so on through the Hebrew alphabet.  But it is not a secret code.  It is a literary device and only works if you read Hebrew.

The Bible does contain mysteries.  Many times Paul speaks of mysteries.  See Ephesians 3 as an example.  However, Paul is not speaking of secret codes. Instead Paul is overwhelmed by the wonder of God’s love and God’s selection of him to be an apostle. God’s messages to us are not hidden for the entertainment of those who enjoy puzzles.

The Bible is God doing all He can to help us understand Him and His plan of salvation.  Hebrews 1 says it so clearly, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.”  It doesn’t get any better than that.  We serve a self revealing God who is not hiding in some encrypted text.  Instead He sent us Himself in His Son that we might see He loves us and will indeed rescue us from ourselves.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 20, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Finders Keepers – Not Always

As I pulled a shopping cart out of the BJ’s bin in the parking lot what to my wondering eyes did appear but a box of Hershey bars with almonds.  Someone must have been in a hurry to leave behind such a treasure.  This was “my” day.  It was Friday and it was like getting double manna.  This was meant to be.  I purchased my very first car in Hershey, Pa.  My stepfather worked at Hershey for 40 years. Obviously this was meant to be.  I triumphantly showed it to my wife and she said, “Oh, someone will surely come back for it.  We have to take it in to the desk.”  “What?” I thought. “The person at the desk will take it home tonight.  This is mine.  Finders keepers.  That was the rule I grew up with.”  But as I looked her in the eye I knew better.  There was no use in protesting. Now I could never eat one of those wonderful treasures without feeling guilty. We took it to the lady that checks baskets by the door.

I will never know how many times in the past fifty years this agent from heaven has kept me on the straight and narrow.  When we were in high school one of the teachers told her not to date me lest she spend her life picking me up out of the gutter.  Really!  You can tell I made a good impression on him.  Even my mother maintained my wife kept me out of jail.  I do believe God in His infinite wisdom does send to us the people we need and if we are smart we will not let them go.  I was smart.  At least about this.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 29, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Suddenly our garage door would not stay closed.  Once it got to the bottom it promptly reopened. Over and over I checked to see that the light beam was properly aligned.  It was.  There wasn’t any stick or stone to cause the safety feature to reopen it.  When it was open I did see a dead horsefly dangling overhead from a spider web filament, but thought nothing of it.  After an hour or more it finally dawned on me.  When the door reached the cement floor the dead horsefly was lowered just enough to dangle in the light beam and thus reopen the door.  Duh!  So why did it take me so long to catch on?  Sometimes I am so dull.  The door wasn’t broken.  It was functioning the way it was designed.

Sometimes we have little peccadilloes that annoy other people and even if we know they are there, we think nothing of them.  Maybe we wonder why we didn’t get a promotion we wanted and we never make the connection that we are annoying.  Sometimes we have a habit of eating something we really know we shouldn’t but, “Hey, it’s nothing big.”  Perhaps we make rolling stops at stop signs but, “Hey, I’m almost stopped.”  They are little things that we know are there but we rarely make the connection regarding their impediment to a better life.

The process of life-long development is often paying attention to little things; stepping outside ourselves and looking at ourselves from an exterior perspective. I often wonder how God sees us since He sees and knows everything.  I must confess that sometimes I wish He did not know what I was thinking.  But the alternative isn’t that great.  I’m glad He’s there.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 21, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org

My wife and I stopped at a 50’s Diner this afternoon.  It is great fun to listen to Chubby Checker, Little Richard and the Beach Boys, while looking at pictures of Mickey Mantle and Joe Dimaggio decorating the walls.   A few booths away there were two small children being children.  They were no problem.  The problem was the mother.  She was yelling at them and honestly making far more noise and a greater hubbub than the children combined. She was way over the top.

Over the top parenting is not new.  Many groups unwittingly make God an over the top parent.  They say a person can be lost for the smallest of sins and they have God, Our Father, burn them in hell forever and forever.  Talk about being over the top. If this were the case there should be some way of arresting God for child abuse since we are all children.

But are they not merely teaching Scripture?  The close of the Book of Revelation speaks about the never ending torment of the lost.  Once again it is unfortunate that we have to rely on translations such as the King James Version, etc.  The Greek expression means with everlasting results.   Once they are burned it is forever.  They will be no more.  Jude helps us in verse 7 regarding Sodom and Gomorrah.  “They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.”  We know Sodom and Gomorrah were located at the north end of the Dead Sea.  They are not still burning.  If so, more people would visit than go to Disney Land.   No, they are not still burning, but the results (death) will last forever.

God is not an over the top parent.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 28, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

My dog and I were walking down our hill when I heard the lyrical sounds of the neighborhood ice cream truck.  Turkey in the Straw is one of the finest pieces of music ever composed. Much to my delight it was also coming down the hill.  I easily could have been one of the five unprepared young ladies in Jesus’ story but this evening I was fortunate.  I had my wallet with me.  Pulling it from my pocket I was ready for a goodie.  And then tragedy struck.  As I was raising my hand he swept past me, totally disregarding me as if I were just some balding old man who no longer cared for ice cream.  He never even looked in his rear view mirror.  I must have been taller than his usual customer.

 

I wonder how often we stereo-typically profile people, sometimes granting them more status than they merit or just the reverse.  Last week at a graduation in an affluent neighborhood I saw a tall elderly man standing as straight as an arrow.  He wore a very expensive looking suit with a white handkerchief protruding from the upper suit coat pocket.  His black French-toed shoes shone like glass.  His subdued red tie gave him an appearance of one who had wielded power.  Perhaps he still does.  Even though he appeared to be in his eighties he was still very much intimidating.  Wouldn’t I have been shocked to find out he was a retired college teacher?  College profs cultivate a frumpy look.

I wonder how many times I have written people off when it comes to sharing Jesus with them.  Underneath all the trappings of culture and class there often reside hungry souls just waiting for the Good News.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 27, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

Truth is not just a what but a who. Paul wrote, “I know in whom I have believed and He is able.”   In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am . . . the truth.”  Jesus did not say, “I know the truth.”  Nor did He say, “I speak about or of the truth.” It is a struggle to grasp the sheer enormity of this.  He also said, “I have meat to eat that you know not of.”  John 4:32.  In John 14:10 Jesus said, “The Father dwells in me.”   Truth in Jesus is not some abstract philosophical idea for super intellects.  It is personal.  Where did the galaxies come from?  Hebrews 1 says, “. . . by whom He made all things.”  How is it that we are so beautifully complex?   Genesis 2 says, “. . . let us make man in our image.”   This is personal.  This is about a being and not something out of nothing.

When Jesus was with Pilate that terrible night, Pilate asked, “What is truth?”  He was looking at Him.  The things I think are true are so often different from the things you think are true.  Note I used the word “things.”  Jesus isn’t a thing.  He is personal.  Peter says in his second letter, “We didn’t follow cunningly devised fables. We saw with our eyes.”  John wrote, “We touched Him with our hands. We touched Glory.”   It doesn’t get much more personal than that.

Some of the best New Testament scholars in the world treat the story as if it were a historic tale.  They talk about Jesus.  When you listen you soon realize they know about Jesus.  But, they don’t know Jesus.  For them it isn’t personal.  For them it is not a “how grand.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 25, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org