Author: Ian Bothwell

There are certain things so good they are beyond adjectives.  On this very warm August evening I have just consumed an Orange Creamsicle. Our family used to call them Dreamsicles. Not only was it delicious on my tongue it was even more so in my mind.  I was five-years-old again sitting with my father on the front steps of our house.  I remember slowly licking away the orange outer layer trying to make it last as long as I could.  My dad was eating a Fudgsicle. We were in heaven.

Heaven is not so much a place as it is a state of mind.  We drove past a church today that had a sign over its front door that said, “Gateway to heaven.”  My first thought was there must be a lot of really nice people who worship there.   Making a place heaven doesn’t really have to be very difficult.  It is merely treating people the way you want to be treated.

This afternoon at a church picnic I saw one of our smaller members wearing a Minnesota Vikings t-shirt.  “Hey,” I said, “You are in Patriot’s country.”  Even though he is a little guy I know him well enough to know he would not be intimidated by me.  “My mom likes the Vikings,” he said.  So I responded. “The next time I see you I am going to give you a Patriot’s shirt.”  “Really,” he beamed as he hurried over for me to check his shirt size.   You can be sure I have a big note on my desk.  That is a promise I will make sure to keep.

Heaven isn’t about winning the lottery.  Heaven is about being with people who care about you.  Heaven starts now not sometime in the future.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 22, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Recently I sat through a thirty minute sermon admonishing us to be ready for Jesus to come.  I kept waiting for the speaker to tell us what we had to do to be ready.  If I am going to be told to do something I want to be told how to do it.  However, he never did.  He inferred it had something to do with our diets, both physical and mental.  While I do not want to put down on the importance of both of those arenas, they are extremely important for physical and mental health, which are of essential importance for living the abundant life, they are not the key ingredient to being ready for Jesus to come.

The key to being ready is to recognize our total need for grace and to accept His gift.  Paul is very clear about this in Ephesians 2.  He wrote, God “hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Paul presses the issue even harder in Galatians 5. There he says we actually fall from grace the moment we alter God’s plan by adding any other requirement other than grace.  It is difficult for us.  Our pride wants so badly to contribute something other than a receptive heart.  However, that is all we can do.  It is the key to being ready.  The speaker was correct.  We do need to be ready.  Just tell us the simple truth regarding how wonderful is His grace.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 8, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

It has been a few years now since my mother passed away, so I figured it was time to shred her business papers.  There was a box of old check registers, annuity papers, receipts for things long gone.  There were documents scribed with my father’s name and the names of her other two husbands.  She buried three.  She would be upset with me telling you this.  Actually I thought it was kind of grand that she got three.  One of our friends who never married always complained how unfair it was that my mom got three and she never got one.  I might add the three she did get were all really fine men.

Life isn’t fair.  That’s a difficult lesson for most people.  I think we are born with a sense of rightness and when it doesn’t pan out we think we got cheated.  Whenever I am tempted to complain about some injustice I remind myself of the millions of people in the world who haven’t had it nearly as splendid as I.

Some people think fair means we all get treated equally.  However, if that were the situation, in most cases it would be very unfair.  Each of us has different needs.  Fairness is receiving what we need, not what someone else got that we do not need.  School teachers see this all the time.  They have some children who need more time and attention than others who are quick to learn.  Giving each child the same amount of time and attention would be most unfair.  Each should receive according to their need.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 19, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

This past month one could almost have confused New England with the tropics.Each afternoon the sky filled with giant cumulus clouds; lightning flashed, thunder rumbled and torrential downpours filled our reservoirs to overflowing.  That is amazing.  All the moisture has awakened a rich array of mushrooms and other fungi.  The forest floor is decorated with red,yellow, orange, gray and purple caps. I found myself wishing I knew the names of all these strange wonders.  Then it occurred to me that if I knew the names I still would not know anything about them.  Names are just what some other person decided to call them.That would tell me more about the namer than the named.  I too can name them; anything I want!    It would be great fun to name one after my wife and two others after my sons and another after my dog.    The difficulty would be communicating to others about the mushrooms that I had named.  But then I cannot think of any time I have ever had a mushroom based conversation with anyone. Most likely somewhere in the world there is an official mushroom naming society just as somewhere in the universe there is someone who has a special name for you and me.

Revelation 2:17 speaks of God giving each of us a new name.  I am sure it will be a perfect match for our personality.  When we,if we, tell it to others who know us, they will nod and say, “Yes, that’s perfect.  That’s you.”   I’m glad God is the one giving us our new name because I think none of us would dare to give ourselves as grand a name as we are going to receive.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 18, 2008

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Sometimes it is so dark when I walk my black lab I cannot see her even though we are on opposite ends of her leash.  I walk carefully as to not trip on anything as she tugs me down the hill. She loves to walk no matter how dark it is. But a few evenings ago we had just begun when she turned and wanted to go home.  I paused so I could listen carefully but I could not hear anything let alone see anything.  Being that our bear is still roaming the neighborhood I decided to take her cue and let her pull me back up the hill.  I know she can see better in the dark than I and she can smell many more things than I.

One of the things I have learned in life is to follow the lead of those with superior abilities. When I was a teen I was so arrogant I didn’t think there was anyone else who knew more than I.  Wow, was that ever stupid.  With years hopefully come wisdom.  It is that way now with God’s instructions and commands.  There are times when I cannot possibly see any possible harm from certain behaviors, but I know that God, who has lived much longer than I, (How about forever?) and has more information than I, (How about His being all knowing?) will only lead me to safe places.  It is me that gets me into trouble.

The Shepherd’s Psalm says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of death I will fear no evil.”  That’s not just some childhood memory verse.  That is good counsel no matter how old we are.  I let my dog take me home that dark, dark night.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 18, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I have through the years developed a target on my back.  Actually it’s on the back of my head.  When I walk through the forest, mosquitoes and other heinous flying creatures see this large hairless circle and seem to think it’s some kind of supermarket.  While I myself have never seen it, it must be very appetizing because it never fails to attract hungry bloodsucking flying vampires.  I have tried bug repellent to no avail.  I think I shall have to break down and start wearing a cap when venturing onto the mountain.

Protecting ourselves from attackers is quite prudent.  It seems stupid not to protect ourselves from any manner of anything that lessens us.  Yet, it appears that unless we are able to see the consequences of something or some behavior, we are not very good at caring for ourselves.   We overeat.  We know better but because we don’t immediately see the bulge swell up around our middle we just keep on eating.  We fill our minds with degrading content and because we don’t immediately become felons we keep on watching, reading and listening.  We know we should spend time each day feeding on God’s word and yet because we don’t immediately sense our level of care and concern for others erode, we neglect the very thing that will make us better people.

It’s not just the bald spot on the back of my head that’s a target.   We are walking targets for attacks from one who has thousands of years of experience debasing humans.  Peter puts it this way, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 15, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Long I stood in the pet store trying to find the chameleon.  I felt pretty stupid considering it was in a glass enclosure that wasn’t overly large.  Finally I saw it, but only after it moved.   As I examined how well it blended in I remembered the first time I ever saw one.  When I was a little boy someone brought one to church.  I remember being told how evil it would be if we blended into our culture and people couldn’t tell we were Christians.  They quoted Romans 12:2 and made a real impression on me.

Years later when I was a teen all I wanted to do was to blend in.  It is a common characteristic of early teens.  They have so many changes happening to them physically and mentally they don’t want to look or act weird.  Even as we age, to be reasonably fashionable is not something to shun.  To be modestly dressed in the manner of the day is not wrong.  One of the best advertisements for a product is to be appealing and we would not make Christianity very appealing if we were a gazing stock noted for our bizarre clothing. The Amish people are a wonderful people noted for their honesty, but we certainly don’t see people flocking to join them.

The best way to not blend in and to be different from others is to be the kindest, most caring, and most unselfish person in our circle.  How grand it would be if we were noted for never being a gossip and being the one person in the crowd who always had something nice to say about others.  That is a nice kind of weird.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 16, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

One of the assignments in my Philosophy 101 course is for each student to write a reflective personal philosophy.  One of the things I have learned from these essays is how well known is Robert Frost’s poem about two roads dividing in a wood.   Often it is quoted, especially the last lines, “and I took the road less traveled by and that has made all the difference.”  If all the people, who think they have taken the road less traveled, have really taken the road less traveled, then it is not the one less traveled.

While it is true each of us is unique and there is not, nor has there ever been another like us, it is also true that we are very much like most people.   A simple freshman course psychology textbook pretty much sums up the makeup of a normal person.  It’s the persons described in the DSM-IV that are on the road less traveled.  The variations between an Englishman and a Frenchman are cosmetic.  The variations between an African and a member of the KKK are not nearly as vast as both groups might wish.

There seems to exist in most of us an egocentrism that tells us we are not like others.  We are special.  We belong to a superior race.  We are part of the best culture.  We are members of God’s church.  We are more sincere than those who fill the pews around us.  We.  We.  We.   How deflating it can be to wake up one morning realizing that none of the above is true.  God loves the common man.  Just look at how many of us He has made.  Enjoy your trip down the road most traveled.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 13, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

In a world of instant communication and worldwide coverage of almost everything,  it amazes me to realize there is starvation occurring in Somalia and Northern Kenya while we have an obesity problem.  When one sees the pictures of these families coming out of such a barren land one wonders if       Romans 1:20 is applicable for these people.  Paul says we are without excuse because we can see the wonders of God’s power and grace by the things he has created.  Living in New England – yes – no question about it.  Living in southern Somalia – surely not.  I believe God treats each person uniquely as each situation is unique. These people are already in hell.  For them there isn’t much wonder at the beauty of His creation.

I am amused when I hear people in this land of plenty speaking about how unfair things are when they don’t get everything they think they deserve. I recently heard someone complaining that the school bus stopped two houses down the street causing their poor child to walk 100 feet.  Shall I mention the Somalian mother who had to leave her starving baby by the side of the trail to perish because she needed to make sure her other children made it to the refugee camp?

Only in some fantasy land does fairness exist.  The challenge of being like Jesus is for us to recognize where and when we can intervene to make life fairer for those who need help.  Jesus’ very own brother, James, wrote, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 11. 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

For over fifteen years now we have lived less than twenty minutes away from Walden Pond.  Surely every American high school graduate knows (at least a smidgeon) about Walden Pond, Thoreau and Concord.  Thinking that it was time to round out my education a bit I embarked upon reading Walden.  Not bad. Pretty good read.  Now comes the embarrassing part.  On page 177 Thoreau wrote, “White Pond and Walden are great crystals on the surface of theearth, Lakes of Light.”  The paragraph that continues is lovely.    The embarrassment is I cannot recall ever hearing of White Pond, let alone knowing where it is; so much for being informed.

This brings me to my incredible ignorance of life about me.  While I will not make judgments about you, I am suspicious I am not that unusual.  Most of us think we are knowledgeable and aware.  We think we are fairly aware and yet there are worlds of things right on our doorstep that warrant our attention.  I know my wife will not like me mentioning that there is another complete world for creatures just in the walls of our home. While we sleep they scurry about making sure to stay out of our way.  Our yard has a host of wild flowers that I never see.  They come and go in the lower woods that have become almost impassable because of an old ice storm.

In our own mind there are levels of consciousness that rarely rise to the surface and yet billions of bits of data are constantly being processed.  We rarely think about driving while driving, yet we arrive safely home.

And so it is that all around us is a world of God and angels.  They are there just as White Pond is only twenty minutes from my house.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 11, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org