Author: Ian Bothwell

Emily Dickenson wrote, “I’m Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! they’d advertise – you know.”  She must have thought of being somebody (at least for a few moments) because she also wrote, “Success is counted sweetest by those who ne’er succeed.  To comprehend a nectar requires sorest need.”  Being somebody is the native fruit of success unless your goal was to be nobody.

In 1954 Marlon Brando immortalized the line, “I could have been somebody” in the film On the Waterfront.  I’m sure there are some people who have never wanted to be somebody but I’m not sure that I know any.  Being that I know a lot of preachers I can safely say they are the worst.  They would never admit it because that would mar their self images as God’s messengers.  Deep within they are attracted to the pulpit because of the attention they receive from fans and foes.  I know some will say, “Speak for yourself.” So I do and I hold to my belief from decades of associations.

Now to the important stuff.  You are somebody.  You are God’s son.  You are God’s daughter.  You are a prince of the Universe.  You are a princess of the Universe.  In Romans and Galatians Paul assures us that we have been adopted into God’s family and are co-heirs with Jesus.  It is an unfathomable thought, a non-comprehensible concept.  Sometimes Paul shocks us with his ideas of God’s lavish love and God’s plans for our futures. People who are not overwhelmed by many of Paul’s concepts are so merely because they have not yet read them.  Please pour over Ephesians 1 & 2.  The ideas within are astounding.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 21, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

We all had special assignments beyond the classroom at our school in Uganda.  Mine was to daily check on and maintain the water pump that supplied our school with the best water imaginable.  Away from the campus and down into a jungleish valley was a path I could navigate with my small motorcycle.  It was a place I always approached with care.  The small shed over the pump was vine covered and often displayed some of the most amazing orchids.  My apprehension was caused by not wanting to have an “Eve at the tree” experience.  My feelings were well founded because late one afternoon as I pushed open the door I came face to face with an African Black Mamba.

Eve’s heart could not have pounded faster or harder than mine.    This one did not need to talk to me.  I understand they are really fast but so was I.  The difference between my encounter and Eve’s was only my life was in jeopardy.  Billions, perhaps a trillion since then, have perished because of her experience.  Paul wrote, “By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” When the catastrophe occurred our Creator God immediately initiated a previously well conceived plan.  This was not a head scratching “what will do” moment.  From a parent’s heart of deep love came the promise that all would someday be well. Jesus did not falter with a “should I or should I not.”  This was as definite as definite can be.  No matter the cost you and I will be saved.

Oh, and what about the mamba?  We seemed to come to an agreement that I would not bother it and it would not bother me for I saw it again and again.  Neither of us were harmed.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 16, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

How much is enough?  Are we satiable?  And if so for how long until our appetite for more slowly creeps in making us hungry again?   In cases where people make lots of money and still want more, surely it can’t be about the money.  Is it about keeping up with those in our profession?  Is it more about pride and self respect than what we can afford?  One can only wear one pair of shoes at a time.  What is it about a hospital CEO supposedly dedicated to the care and well-being of others making three million dollars a year?  No matter what excuse he or she gives about being competitive in the market place it just means you are part of a greedy marketplace.

How much is enough?  Are we satiable?  I know a man who has a loving wife and children and yet still acts as if he still needs more demonstrated by his philandering ways.  Yes, there is a difference between the performance and ride of a nice car compared to a cheapie that will need to be replaced within a hundred thousand miles.  But there isn’t a 50,000 dollar difference in the ride of 100,000 dollar car and a 50,000 dollar car.  And if we buy that $50,000 car when it is a year old we can get it for $40,000.

How much prestige is enough?  How many honors are needed for our walls?   More is the disease of mankind.  The Good News is there is a cure.  Jesus is enough!  He fills our hunger for more because He gives us everything and His everything sates us.  When we pray Bread of Heaven feed me til I want no more, He does.  If we are tired of wanting more please come to Jesus.  He will fix us.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 15, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

While browsing about in Barnes and Noble I could not miss the wide variety of mystery books.  I am going to assume that mysteries sell really well or Barnes and Noble would not use up their precious space with something that just sits and gathers dust.  This week we could not find apple butter at our supermarket.  When we asked where it was the manager did not even know what apple butter is.  Apparently it is not something often requested.  So why clutter up their space?

This week someone told me there would only be 144,000 souls saved.  He quoted Revelation 14.  He failed to note Revelation 7:9 which speaks of a saved multitude so large no one could number them.   Heaven is big.  There is lots of room for everyone.  God does not have to conserve space.  There is room for you and me and all our children and grandchildren and ancestors.  If need be God could make it bigger like old farmhouses that have extra rooms built on the back to accommodate more children.

This whole idea of being special to other’s disadvantage is so human and so unchristian.  We want to be honored no matter who else isn’t.  This is the mystery of iniquity in us.  In Ephesians 3 Paul speaks of a different mystery.  It was an idea so new that past generations did not know.  But now via God’s revelation to Paul we know grace is available to everyone.  Disregard your genealogies.  Your blood line or church membership has nothing to do with salvation.  It is all about Jesus and God’s grace.  So if you were counting on getting a special seat in heaven you can forget it.  Egalitarianism is a gem from the “unsearchable riches of Christ.” Eph. 3:6

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 14, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

“Everyone has a passion.  A new idea to share.  What will your verse be?”  This is Apple iPad Air’s latest advertising challenging us by appealing to our core.   Everyone has a passion.  We might never have stopped long enough to probe our inner being and put it into words.  Maybe for the first time we are asked to articulate just why we think we are here and what will be our legacy.  Others form ideas of who we are.  Unfortunately, they are not always positive.  But we are the owners of ourselves.  We are the ones who should define ourselves.  We have the right to reject other’s flawed projections. We have the right to say who and what we are.

There has never been another like you.  There will never be another like you.  You are unique in eternity.  What is your verse?  What do you want to say that no one else can ever say?  What passion fills your life?  How will the world be different because you were here?

You are not a cipher. You are not an accidental combination of DNA resulting in your consciousness.  God is not a God who plays favorites and He said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; . .”  In Ephesians 2 Paul wrote, “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”   In God’s great plan you have an appointed task no one else can do.  It is your God given passion. One of life’s great tasks is to discover it, identify it, give it flesh with your words and do it with all your might.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 13, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

When we arise in the morning we begin a marketing campaign.  We shower so we will not offend other’s olfactory nerves.  We shave or trim.  We brush our teeth. (Please do.) We put on makeup to add some color.  (“If the barn needs painting, paint it.”  H.M.S. Richards, Sr.) We comb our hair and hopefully put on clothes that match.  We are marketers and the product is us.  This is not a modern phenomenon.  For thousands of years humans have been decorating themselves.  Tribes deep in the rain forests put on their best.

Off to the workplace we go, often pretending that we know what we are doing.  One of life’s basic rules is fake it until you can do it because perception is important. What is sometimes disconcerting is when we are given awards for excellence and we think we are still acting.  I often feel like this in regards to my role as a Christian.  If people knew what I really think about things, I would be put out of any congregation.  But I pretend to be nice and I pretend to know things even though I am not sure of many things.  I owe it to my Savior.   I am not only marketing myself but more importantly I am marketing Jesus.  I want people to see Him and desire to be like Him and that most likely will not happen if I, who profess His name, am offensive.

Just as the CEO of a major corporation has a lot at stake for the sake of his shareholders, we have an eternity at stake for those who know us.  What is fascinating about all of this is little by little reality replaces the pretending and we really are what we are marketing.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 12, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Here I stand staring into the refrigerator.  It is full but there is nothing to eat.  There is a carton of milk and one of O.J.  But I am not thirsty.  I’m hungry.  There are bottles of salad dressing but no salad.  There are bags of frozen peas and corn but I don’t want to cook.  I just want something now.  There are weekend leftovers but they really don’t look that good.  There are Pillsbury cinnamon rolls but I have to bake them for twenty minutes.  This is pathetic because there are people in the world who would think they just died and went to heaven if they could have the contents of our fridge.

Here I sit with my Bible in hand.  I’m hungry.  I’m not in the mood for poetry so that eliminates 150 psalms.  I know about David and his mighty men and King Saul’s rants and raves. Genealogies don’t do it for me.  The Sermon on the Mount overwhelms me with its really high standards.  I’m not into the monsters of Daniel and Revelation. Paul seems too heavy for me tonight.  Ah, but wait there is the Gospel of John.   John is like the Goldilocks book.  It is not too heavy and not too light. It’s just right. I will save Paul for another night and the Psalms for another day.

John – “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”  Actually that is pretty heavy material.  But he whets my appetite for more.  John 3 – This Nicodemus guy seems interesting.  And the resurrection of Lazarus in 11, well that is really exciting.  For tonight John is just right.  Tomorrow I will probably be hungry for Isaiah.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 29, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Lesson #1 -We had a large maple tree removed from our back yard today.  It was young, strong and promising of many years of summer shade.  That was the problem.  When in full leaf it turned our back yard into a green cavern where grass would not grow from lack of sunlight.  I have seen that tree survive strong summer and winter storms.  It bent in the wind and let the blasts of air move on by.   I have seen other trees that refused to bend, snap and topple to the earth.  We could learn much from trees.  Some of us pridefully take a stand on some particular issue only to be taken down not to serve another day.  While others have the ability to discern principles from pride, while they would stand firmly to maintain a principle they will bend when they realize the issue is merely a matter of taste or preference. These are the survivors who stay around to pass on their wisdom.

Lesson #2 – The tree men did not cut down the tree with one cut from their chain saw.  They climbed to the top and took it down branch by branch finally leaving only the trunk to fell.   How like our characters.  There are times we compromise our principles – not big – small compromises.  It is easier the next time and then the next.  Branch by branch we lose the majesty of being God’s children.  We forget and eventually have little left.  How much better it is to stand for principles and “be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.”  Isaiah 61:3

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 30, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I am so depressed.  I just watched the 6:30 evening network news.  It wasn’t just the news about Ukraine or the terrorists in Nigeria trying to turn the clock back to 1500 AD.  That was bad enough.  But there was the addition of an endless amount of commercials for drugs for disorders I have never even heard of.  Drug companies must sit around inventing new afflictions so they can sell medications not only for real ills but for fantasy ills.  Knowing how suggestible people can be they know there is always a percentage of the population that will say, “Hey, that’s me. I need to tell my doctor I need that pill.”

I have figured out why we like to talk about the good old days, which were not.  We were just uniformed.  We didn’t know about all the horror around the world.  But now we have network news on TV.  Night after night there are reports from some part of the world with the day’s worst stories.  Maybe I need one of those advertised pills for depression. I didn’t need one until I watched our planet’s worst.  That must be the drug company’s marketing strategy.

Whatever happened to the good news? Unemployment continues to drop.  Then there is the really good news.  I mean Good News.  We have a great report.  Jesus is alive and well.  He loves us.  He is preparing a place for us.  While we by ourselves can never be worthy, He is worthy.   He is anxious to have as many as possible take advantage of what He did for us.  Just accept the Gift and it is ours.  There, now I am not so depressed.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 9, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I have a new definition of futility.  This morning I watched a hummingbird trying to get nectar from fake flowers my wife has on the porch.  If it isn’t real there isn’t anything worthwhile.  Many years ago I heard an entire sermon telling us not to worship idols because it makes God mad.  He never addressed the issue as to why it made God mad.

God is our father. Like any good parent He wants the best for His children.  He is frustrated when He sees us wasting our time and other resources on foolishness.  Jeremiah said it so well in chapter 10.  “Someone cuts down a tree from the forest; it is worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.  He decorates it with silver and gold.  It is fastened with hammer and nails, so it won’t totter.  Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them for they can do no harm and they cannot do any good.”

Don’t go to an empty well for water.  Don’t go to a harvested field for a crop. It is all worthless.  If the Bible tells us something makes God angry we must always ask why.  Otherwise we make Him out to be a selfish being whose feelings have been hurt.  There is no self in God.  We cannot hurt His feelings.  But we can fill Him with frustration when He offers us the best and instead we settle for some pretty trinket or fake and end up without anything of value.

My poor hummingbird was wasting its time and energy.  Those fake flowers were pretty but that’s all they had to offer.

Written by Roger Bothwell on May 8, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org