Author: Ian Bothwell

While we were in Philly this week the wonderful man who takes care of our dog took her to the Disneyland of the dog world.  He took her to Petco.  What an amazing place filled with so many new smells.  There were birds, reptiles, ferrets and fish. It filled her with wonder and gave her a whole new repertoire of things to dream about.    Now I have a problem.  What can I do to top that?  It is a hard act to follow.

Many years ago I was given the privilege of becoming the senior pastor where the former senior pastor was one of the world’s premier preachers.  No one in their right mind except an egotist would say yes to that offer. Fortunately for me the pastoral search process took over a year.  By the time I arrived the congregation was ready for almost anything.  It was a hard act to follow but people’s memories fade.

There is an interesting story in Matthew about a rich young man coming to Jesus and then leaving.  The story says his departure was filled with sorrow.  It is no wonder.  Once you really know Jesus, His care and His love, there is no good act to follow.  Jesus is not just a hard act to follow.  He is an impossible act to follow.  Who would sanely give up a life of grace for a life of works with all its insecurities?  Who would sanely say, “No thanks Jesus.  I’ll do it on my own.”

While it is true there are many acts in life that are hard to follow, when it comes to Jesus there is no act that can follow.  All that could possibly follow would be insanity.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 14, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

I really like the AT&T commercials with the man sitting on the floor with four children where he asks them such questions as, “Is it better to be fast or slow?” or “Is it better to do two things at once or just one?”  The children’s answers seem so spontaneous and delightful. If they are acting they should get Oscar nominations.  Acting comes fairly easy for children because they have great imaginations and not much self-consciousness.  Of course that changes as the years go by and they become adults.  As adults we are not nearly as wonderful as we were when we were small.

One of the greatest gifts God has given us is imagination.  Our minds alter things that are and invent things that are not.  Without imaginations we would still be riding horses to get from A to B. Without imaginations there would be very little interesting reading.  On Sixty Minutes this weekend they featured robot arms and hands that are controlled by the imaginations of the amputees.  It is stunning to see someone think about picking up an object and then watching the robot arm pick it up.  We are on the cusp of medical revolutions all because our Creator made us in His image.  When we look at the Universe we realize His is the greatest imagination of all.

When Jesus was a boy and passed crucified people hanging by the roadsides I am sure His imagination sent horror chills down His spine.  This was His Father’s business.  This was the plan.  Thankfully His imagination carried Him past the cross to “the joy that lay before Him.”  Hebrews 12:2.  In His imagination He sees you being with Him for eternity. Fabulous!

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 3, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I am shattered.  I have been married for over 50 years and today I witnessed my wife’s downfall.  All these years I thought she was perfect in every way. But, the bloom is off the rose for I was sitting white-knuckled with beads of anxious perspiration on my forehead as she blazed down the street at a terrifying 30 miles an hour.  This heinous crime must not go unavenged.  Justice must be served for behind her were the blue lights of a courageous patrolman doing his faithful duty to “serve and protect.”  I will rest easy tonight knowing he is there keeping scofflaws off the streets of our fair city.  Grandmas should not be permitted to turn our gentle streets into the mean streets of a mighty metropolis.

Now some of you might be thinking, “An infraction is an infraction.”  And you would be correct.  For Eve it was a bite of fruit.  For Moses it was hitting a rock with a stick.  Both of them and we, as a result, have suffered the consequences of those infractions.  Little things do matter.  A lie can be told with the arching of an eyebrow.  Things left unsaid are often more dangerous than what is actually spoken.  How many times on committees have I heard, when discussing a name for a job, “Well, I am not free to discuss this.  But if you knew what I know.”  That was it.  The job went to another without any real accusation or evidence.  Evil comes in many forms. It is most heinous when it dresses up in a robe of sanctimonious care.  Jesus said it so well, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.”  Be careful out there.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 30, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

Over the course of the past two years I have lost 50 pounds and still weigh more than I did when I got married.  I must have been a skinny kid. Yesterday I went to pick up a 50 pound bag of wild bird seed and was amazed. I can’t imagine that for a decade or so I carried that weight around everywhere I went.  My heart, blood pressure and joints should be thanking me for making life so much easier for them.

Unfortunately, our physical weight isn’t the only burden we often bear.  There is the responsibility of mortgages, insurance payments, taxes, utility bills and for many there is tuition.  That would be okay if that was all there was.  But so often we also carry psychological burdens and the worst burden of all is guilt. It takes the bloom off of life. We kick ourselves each time we remember what we did wrong and wish we could go back and have a second try.  Rarely does life allow us second tries.   The good news is God is much more gracious than people.  People have long memories and often would like us to suffer for our wrongs. However, our God isn’t that way at all. He promises immediate relief from the burden of our guilt.  He is like parents who wait for Christmas to arrive so their children can open the packages.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteous.”  The only way for that verse to be better would be if John had included the word “quick.”

It’s time for us to travel light.  Lay it down and stomp on it.  Crush that guilt under foot because we have a Jesus who loves it when we do so.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 29, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

I was playing with a Newton’s Cradle.  It is difficult not to do so.  First I pulled out one of the steel balls and let it swing into the remaining four.  The middle three never moved but the fifth on the far side popped out almost as far as the one I had pulled out.  Next I pulled out two and two popped out on the opposite side.

It is so much like so many lives.  We live our lives hoping to make a difference but we never see anything happen.  I have a friend who despairs because he thinks he has never brought anyone to Jesus.  He fears he has never made an impact on anyone. Few of us are Billy Grahams.   We never preach to thousands.  We never have hundreds flock to the altar.  However, like the impact of the steel ball in a Newton’s Cradle we do impact lives that impact lives that impact lives and unbeknownst to us four or five times removed someone is radically changed. We just never were in a position to see it.  But it still happened.

Recently, I saw a horrible photograph of a tiny emaciated African child waiting to die while a vulture patiently sat behind waiting.  Did that small life matter?  Did that child make a difference?  It certainly did on me.  I can’t get the picture out of my mind and it will forever impact me.  No one, no matter how small, how seemingly unimportant, lives or dies without impacting someone somewhere somehow.  Let me assure you that your life matters.  This very small planet we call home is impacted because you are here.  God told Jeremiah, “Before you were born I knew you.”  That goes for each of us whether we see it or not.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 27, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

The same week my older son was admitted to a burn unit in Southern California my younger son’s wife was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  To say it wasn’t our best week would be an understatement.  However, the news is good and we are blessed.  Both my older son and my younger son’s wife will both be discharged in a few short hours.   My older son’s skin grafts on his hands are doing very well and he is flying home to New York.  To say that we are happy would also be an understatement.

Today in our supermarket I saw a delightful little boy being pushed about in a shopping cart designed to look like a car.  He was beaming as he spun the steering wheel in the direction his mom was pushing the cart.  His total innocence had to be reminiscent of Adam and Eve’s joy in Eden.  The little boy has no choice.  He will grow up.  Adam and Eve thought they were growing up when they chose so badly.  As I looked at him I wanted something bad.  I wanted him to stay small.  But, we know that isn’t what it is all about.

What it is all about is growing.  Had Adam and Eve obeyed they would have grown to heights one can only imagine. It is God’s goal for each of us.  It is what eternal life is all about.  We are going to grow in innocence, but definitely not in ignorance.  We know.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 21, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

A series of unprosecuted misdemeanors is occurring in our city. Lilacs are blooming. We have a neighbor with a hedge of lilacs that buffers their home from a busy street.  As far up as one can reach the unresistible blossoms are gone. Not only have I seen walkers plucking these beauties, I have seen cars stopped with people boldly taking handfuls.

In Mark 2 we read, “One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”   Note they were not accused of stealing because it was lawful that a person could take what was necessary to satisfy one’s hunger.

Different times – different laws.  In Ecclesiastes 3 Solomon says there is a time for loving and a time for hating, a time for making peace and a time for making war.  He even goes so far as to say there is a time to kill.

In Luke 10 we read, “An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’

‘What is written in the Law?’ Jesus  replied. ‘How do you read it?’

He answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself.’

‘You have answered correctly,’ Jesus replied. ‘Do this and you will live.’ ”

One of the most difficult but liberating moments in our lives is when we are able to understand and move from merely being law keepers to living by these two great principles.  Please carefully and prayfully read Galatians 4 and 5.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 22, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

On moonless nights my black lab disappears the moment we step into the yard.  She becomes instantly invisible as she melts into the darkness.  Care is essential as I move about lest I trip over her.  She reminds me of someone who told me he is the only Christian in his workplace.  I asked him how he is treated and he responded, “No one knows.  I am an undercover agent for Jesus.”  Really?  And what does that mean and how does that work?   I have no idea.  He is the invisible Christian.

Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.”  Does this mean he is just like everyone else with no distinguishing characteristics?  There is another side to this.  Some Christians are so advert they are annoying. Everyone knows they are a Christian because they are obnoxiously proselytizing all the time.

The challenge can be a very fine line to walk.  How to be a good neighbor, a good colleague, a good friend, and a good person that attracts others to want to know more is often not easy.  In James 3 we read, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”  He also adds, “The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.”  The old maxim “cream rises to the top” works.  If one is as described by James it is impossible to be invisible. Such a person shines – quite unlike my dog on a dark night.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 20, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

“Suspected tornadoes ripped through North Texas on Wednesday night, killing at least six people and injuring more than 100 others.”   This is the beginning of a CNN news story.  Obviously I am not a meteorologist because I am puzzled by the word “suspected.”  Is there some dispute over the definition of “tornado”?  Six people are dead!  Towns are destroyed and we are using the word “suspected.”  This is akin to someone in heaven looking at Earth and saying, “People are dying.  Wars are happening.  Genocides are occurring.  Prisons are full of criminals.  I suspect there is “sin” on planet Earth.

Let’s try the other side of the coin.  I see a home where the children are well cared for, there is respect for other’s feelings and people are nurturing each other.  I suspect there is love in that home.

In Matthew 7 Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.”  It was very difficult for my father to tell me he loved me.  I think it was a generational thing.  Men just didn’t do that in the 40’s.  But I knew he did love me.  He worked two jobs to see to it that we were well cared for.  On Sunday afternoons he took me somewhere special.  We would go for walks in the mountains with our dog or if the weather was bad he took me to the movies.  Even after I was married when I would visit he would take me into a back room in the house and give me forty dollars.  Today it seems so little but it was big to me.

We do not have to ever write or read the following sentence.  “Suspected love from heaven.  John 3:16.”  By its fruit you will know it.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 16, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

There is a song in the musical Camelot entitled “I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight.”   After watching a 60 Minutes feature on Bill Gates, whose net worth is over 67 billion dollars, I find myself wondering what he is thinking tonight.  Perhaps tonight he is concentrating on one of his many goals.  One of his goals is to eradicate polio from our planet in the next five years.  It would only be the second time in history that we have eradicated an infectious disease.  Smallpox is the first.  Following polio his dream is to eradicate malaria.   Some men use their power merely for self-indulgence and to rule over others.  How grand to have someone who will leave this world a better place.

I wonder what our God is doing tonight.  (Tonight – a relative condition for half our planet.  The sun is always rising and always setting on our little world.)  God’s universe is infected with something so much more horrible than the physical diseases that ravage our bodies.  Our souls are ravaged by the malignancy of selfishness.  The eradication of sin has been, since Eden, God’s primary focus.  This is the purpose of the cross.  This is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

It is very difficult for us to understand why it is taking so long.  What possible issues have yet to be resolved?  Earth has been a disgusting display to the universe for thousands of years.  An endless stream of famines, genocides and vicious cruelty fill the pages of our history books.  Surely He cannot be waiting for things to get worse.  They have been worse – over and over.  Whatever it is I know this.  He will not wait one second longer than necessary.  He too is sickened by this.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 13, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org