Author: Ian Bothwell

Annie and I took our first late night walk together last Thursday evening. We didn’t get very far because the neighbor left his yard light on.  Annie soon discovered something was following her.  It was dark and no matter how fast or slow she went it stayed with her.  She pulled the leash to go home so I released her. She ran as fast as she could go, but that thing chased her right into the alcove to the door.

Shadows can be frightening and also comforting.  Consider Psalm 17:8, “Keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings.”  That’s one very comforting shadow.  Too bad they are all not that way because we must also consider Psalm 23:4, “I walk through the valley of the shadow of death . . .”    Just as shadows grow longer toward the evening of day so that shadow grows longer in the evening of life.

I cannot imagine what that must be like without having Jesus in one’s life. Though the shadow looms for me, it isn’t terrifying.  Yes, we will miss our families.  Perhaps we will miss seeing our grandchildren graduate from college or see our great grand children graduate from eighth grade, but we know it is not the end.  Paul so eloquently put it in II Timothy 1:12, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

There are no shadows dark enough or deep enough to swallow up the light of Jesus.  He is the light of the world.  He is the resurrection.  The only shadows He creates are good ones.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 12, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Occasionally a small rectangular box appears in the lower right hand corner of my computer screen with the following message, “Security Essentials has detected and isolated a threat to your computer.”   It then gives me an opportunity to “clean” my computer of the offending bug.  Needless to say I appreciate this feature.  It keeps my computer healthy.  Wouldn’t it be grand if we had such a feature built into our brains to defend our characters?  Each time we were confronted with something that would diminish us we would hear a small voice warning us.  But wait, I think we do.  It’s called our conscience.

However, our conscience is educated and honed by its environment.  Social norms and cultural expectations become the standard of behavior.  What I need is a voice that speaks to me the social and cultural norms of heaven.  But I can quickly see that would eliminate a huge amount of my intellectual input.  Most television programs would be red-flagged.  The local evening news would definitely have to be turned off. Most popular music would set off a warning once I listened to the lyrics.

Philippians 4:8 is the gold standard.  It says, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”  I must admit I would have difficulty with the Old Testament book of Judges.  There are a lot of stories there that do not meet Paul’s criteria.

I find the way to being a better person is a tricky path.  I need help.  Fortunately that help is available to us.  The Holy Spirit is able and anxious to be our guide.  We merely need but ask for help.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 11, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

It was creepy looking.  All winter it appeared in various places around the house. We often found it crawling up and down the drapes in the family room. Today was spectacularly warm for April and so tonight it used up its welcome.  Knowing that it would not have to fend against ice, snow and below zero weather I cupped it in my hand and took it outside.  I was not expecting that my hand would smell so good.  Really.  I’m not being facetious.  It was a very sweet smell quite unlike the pungent odor left behind by lightning bugs.  I cannot imagine it was a defense smell so I am going to anthropomorphize this potato bug that spent the winter with us and fantasize that it was saying, “Thanks for the winter accommodations.”

We anthropomorphize so many things.  We give human characteristics to our pets and other forms of life.  We even anthropomorphize our heavenly Father. I think He wants us to.  He knows it helps us approach Him and understand that we are loved.  Jesus told us to call Him Father.  However we make a huge mistake if we limit Him to some grandpa in the sky.  He is so much more than the figure on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel touching fingers with Adam.  His Fatherhood is only one aspect of a creator who not only knows how to convert energy into mass but established the laws that govern our vast universe.  The laws of gravity, magnetic fields, and light rays filled with color all originated from His massive intelligence.

How grand that someday we will see Him face to face.   Jesus promised, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”  Matthew 5.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 8, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Six weeks ago one of my very best friends gently went to sleep in my arms. Mandy, our black lab, had been with us for over thirteen years.  Needless to say, it was a very emotional moment, so much so that I have not been able to write about it til now.  I still am not able to say much because she was to me the perfect dog. Her devotion and love were beyond description.  We spent so much time together roaming the mountains of Massachusetts.  But the years took their toll and finally she just ran out of gas.  The last few days she needed assistance just to stand up.  The vet came to our house and Mandy closed her eyes in the comfort of home.

The reason I can now speak of it is that this afternoon Annie has come to live with us.  She too is a black lab.  So here we go again.  The next few weeks we will be soaking up puddles and trying to keep the house from being chewed to pieces.  For the past few hours she has bounded about the house sniffing everything.  She climbed the stairs to the second floor but getting back down was very scary.  It’s much easier going up.  We are wondering if we will get much sleep tonight.

While I do not believe Jesus died to save dogs I do believe Jesus will do everything possible to make heaven great for us.  Therefore, I anticipate opening the door of my heavenly home to see Mandy waiting for me.  Some of my friends tell me I should anticipate about a dozen other dogs I have loved through the years.   If I add thirteen or fourteen years to my present age this will be my last dog.  Surely God smiled the day He made dogs and even though Genesis doesn’t mention it, I am sure He said, “That is very, very good.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 9, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Now that all the snow is gone we can evaluate the extent of the devastation left from last December’s incredible ice storm.  From the thirty trees destroyed in my yard I will have firewood for years to come.  I am intrigued by differences between the hardwoods and the soft pines.  While a few pines were destroyed, the overwhelming loss was maple, oak, birch and cherry.   It was the rigid hard woods that snapped while the soft woods bent under the load.   It is obvious it was to the trees advantage to bend.  Most of those that did survived.

Now comes the analogy.  Some people, like trees, are rigid and unbending while others are open to change.  I wanted to use the word compromise but it has negative connotations.  Somehow the word compromise smacks of not holding one’s moral ground.  That is not always necessarily so.  Most of the time we are rigid is because we just don’t like change.  If it isn’t something we have always done then there must be something wrong with it.  In an attempt to justify not changing, we invent so called moral positions so we can hold to the faith of our fathers.  In reality those occasions are few.

How often have we seen parents unwilling to bend a bit to accommodate their children only to lose them.  The children move out as soon as they can and reject the rigidity of their folks.  Please do not misunderstand.  I am not talking about abandoning principles.  As a matter of fact I am talking about living by principles instead of hard fast rules.  Once we do that we often can step back from a situation and see that there are choices and options where we can yield a bit and still be true to ourselves and God.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 8, 2009

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

Rogerbothwell.org

It was a beautiful moment.  This morning I was walking down the hallway of a large elementary school when the principal announced over the loudspeaker that it was time to pledge allegiance to the flag.   I was where I could see into four classrooms as everything came to a halt and the children in all four rooms rose to simultaneously pledge to our flag.  But that was not the really great moment.  I had been following two little boys down the hall. This was the great moment.  They stopped, stood at attention and facing a flag that we could see in one of the rooms they put their hands over their hearts and loudly said, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”  As they turned to continue on their way I noted one of them was wearing a yarmulke.

It was a proud and revealing moment for me.  When I was a little boy we always recited the Lord’s Prayer after the Pledge.  Sometimes I get all sweaty because we no longer have prayer in school.  But I have to tell you. This morning I was glad we did not.  I was glad we did not shove Christianity in the face of a proud little Jewish American, who most obviously loves his country as much as the rest of us.  If both or either boy wanted to pray there was no one stopping them from each having his own moment. Sometimes we get overly egocentric and think this world and especially our country is all about us.

It is about “us” as long as “us” includes everyone else who is here with us.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 7, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

This evening I saw Romans 1:16 on a church sign.  “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.”  In modernity we could wonder why Paul would say such a thing.  There are hundreds of millions of Christians in the world.  Why would anyone be ashamed?   However, it hasn’t always been this way.  When Paul wrote there were but handfuls of Christians in the Roman world.  It sounded bizarre to speak of a God who died on a cross.  The cross in the Roman world was used for the vilest of criminals.  The scum of society were crucified.  Today we have sentimentalized the cross by singing such songs as “On a Hill Far Away.”   For Paul’s listeners the cross was far from beautiful.  It was an instrument of torture designed to humiliate and break the will and composure of the strongest of men.  The cross turned most men into crying, groaning, screaming pieces of human refuse.  To have a son crucified would be a family scandal never spoken of at family reunions.

Try to imagine Paul beginning an evangelistic sermon to people of his day as he said, “Let me tell you about my crucified savior.”  Sounds of disgust would have erupted from his hearers as they turned away.   His preaching of such a Jesus got Paul beaten, stoned, arrested, and finally executed.  Such experiences would have shut up a common man.  Most of us would have fled and never said another word about Jesus.  Not Paul.  He was not ashamed of Jesus.  He knew who Jesus really was.  Read Colossians one and Ephesians one.

His description of Jesus is shear poetry. He wrote, “I know in whom I have believed. He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him.” II Timothy 1:12

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 6, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

When my wife and I fly somewhere she always gets me a window seat and herself the aisle seat, which means there is a stranger sitting between us. I think I remember the pastor who married us saying something about let no man come between.  Anyway it is quite fun to note when the person in the middle discovers we are together.  That person always, I mean always, lights up and ever so generously offers to trade places with one of us so we can sit together.   At that point the light goes out of their eyes as they realize they are doomed to the center seat with no place to put their drowsing head.

There is no question but that it is easy to be generous when we get something good out of it.  I once had a guy pay me twenty dollars to trade seats so he could sit beside a young lady he was wooing.  I was happy to accommodate.  Now you are wondering why I took the money and didn’t just trade seats out the goodness of my heart.  I figured he would get lots of mileage with her when she saw how much it was worth to him to sit beside her.  Isn’t it great how we can spin things?

Life works best when winning or gain is reciprocal. When both people walk away feeling satisfied because they have gotten something good makes for happiness all around.  When Jesus died on the cross He gave so much it is difficult for us to understand what He got out of it.   However, according to Scripture He gained the right to give you and me eternal life.  I find it difficult to understand why He thinks that is a good trade.  But I am not going to argue.  I love what we got.  And He loves what He got.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 5, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Prince William of England and Catherine Middleton are to be wed April 29th at Westminster Cathedral.  The engagement ring is an oval blue sapphire surrounded by 14 diamonds set in 18ct white gold. It was Lady Diana’s engagement ring. According to authorities (whoever they are) the ring is one of the most desired pieces of jewelry in the world.  Being that I love to be the bearer of good tidings I am most happy to pass on to you the very good news that you also may own such a ring.  It seems preposterous but I saw it myself on television.  Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity you may own a limited edition copy of this coveted item for $19.95.   According to those offering this fine opportunity, if you purchase one, you will be the envy of your social set.  You will be part of history. Don’t let me forget to tell you that it comes in a hinged velveteen covered box.

If I cannot tempt you with that let me try with this, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” Revelation 3

God’s throne with you and God together, and yet as splendid as that sounds the real prize is something far better.  The real prize is victory over self, sin and death.  All the rest are but tokens.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 4, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

With the world’s population growing and our awareness that resources are finite, we think about how much we consume; at least we should think about it if we don’t.  Today I asked my students how much actual space each one occupies.  One of the students volunteered that that would be a very difficult math problem considering all the roundness of our head, limbs and body.  However, there is an easier way than trying to measure all those parts.  The baptistery in the college church is a rectangle with a Plexiglas front. If we marked the water level without someone in it and then put a new mark when someone got in, it becomes a very easy problem of height times width times length.  I think they want to do it.  At least they said so.

So, how much space do we occupy in God’s mind?  He’s a busy guy.  He doesn’t just have the whole world in His hands, how about the whole universe, of which, no matter how large our telescopes get, we can’t see the end.   Love, real love, His love, has no bounds.  Just listen to Paul in Ephesians 3, “. . . that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, . . .”

Now that is totally awesome.  His love for us passes knowledge.  How much space does that much love require?  How big are you in His heart?  How much space do you require in His love?  I don’t think we will ever know.  We just wouldn’t get it. It’s that big.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 1, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org