Author: Ian Bothwell

Having very few items of much value my wife and I rarely think about something being taken.  However in the past few weeks our home has had a steady stream of workers doing remodeling tasks.  Not believing anyone would actually take something, we did decide not to create a temptation. Therefore we decided to hide one item that has sentimental value and is small enough to “walk away.”  Now comes the really interesting part.  We cannot remember where we hid it!  Doesn’t that take the cake?  Two old people rummaging about in their own home looking for something they hid just a couple weeks ago.   I think we have reached the stage of life when we can hide our own Easter eggs on Good Friday and be genuinely surprised on Sunday morning when we find them.

Ever since I was a very little boy I have systematically learned memory verses from Scripture.  The text “Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee” was one of the very first verses I learned.  I still know it is Psalm 119:11.  Understanding that it should be a long time until my wife or I suffer long term memory loss, as opposed to short-term memory loss, it should be quite a while before I forget that verse.  I cannot think of anything more valuable to retain than God’s Word.  However, to retain one first has to learn.  There are so many situations in life that stimulate the memory of God’s Word.  Just this very morning one of my students commented about something he owned that instantly brought to mind, “Thou shall not covet.”  I won’t mention what wonder he owned that almost made me break Exodus 20:17.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 23, 2010

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

rogerbothwell.org

 

When I was a little kid I memorized the Ten Commandments. The “jealous” word describing God was a bit disconcerting.  I thought of that characteristic in negative terms and I did not want my God to be negative.   I was told if I wanted to know what God was like I was to look at Jesus since Hebrews 1 tells us Jesus is an exact representation of the Father.   I couldn’t see Jesus having a bad attribute.   Then it was that I learned that the word “jealous” can have positive characteristics.  The dictionary uses the example, “The American people are jealous of their freedom.”   It goes on to explain that it means they are vigilant and protective.

I like that idea.  Our God is vigilant and protective of His children.  It goes along with Paul’s idea in Romans 8.  “If God be for us who can be against us? . . . For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

But there was still an idea in Exodus 20 that bothered me.  It is about God visiting the iniquities of fathers unto their children.  Thankfully I came to understand that inheritance is not only eye color, etc., but the mental dispositions of our ancestors.  This is not only a Biblical concept but an idea shared with the likes of Freud, Jung and the sociobiologist Edward Wilson.   Our God isn’t kicking around children because their fathers were wicked.  It’s talking about natural inheritance.

I have come to like the idea of my God jealousy taking care of us.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 11, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

If we have been hurt, but don’t know we were hurt, have we really been hurt?

Many years ago I was the pastor in a small southern town.  Pastors were paid according to some sophisticated cost of living scale that pertained to where the pastor lived.  While I was there the conference office with all its officialdom left the big city and came to my small town.  To help the officials absorb moving costs the living scale for my small town was raised. When asked if the higher pay rate would pertain to the Bothwells who already lived there, the decision was made that while those who were moving would be on the higher scale the Bothwells would “stay on the lower scale because they wouldn’t know about it.”  (Did they really think we wouldn’t find out?)

If you asked me if I was hurt I would most likely say, “No. It was no big deal.”  However, it certainly did not make a favorable impression because decades later I can still remember the event.  Does that mean because I remember I haven’t forgiven?  I hope not.  A lack of forgiveness on my part will never harm anyone except me.  Perhaps that is one of life’s more difficult lessons.  When we withhold forgiveness from someone we rarely hurt that someone.  It is we who are poisoned by feelings that “we” were not treated right.  We are the ones whose sleep is made restless.

When Jesus told us to forgive as we seek forgiveness for our transgressions He struck upon a fundamental psychological law.  The quality of our lives is the fruit of decisions we make regarding what has happened to us.  Over the span of our lives we most likely have received the same amount of good and bad.  The difference at the end that determines whether life has been good or bad is what we choose to forget.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 1, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

With very little speech occurring I sat at the kitchen counter this evening and watched my wife prepare our light supper.  One of life’s great pleasures is watching someone you love.  If being apart from a loved one and not being able to see them is one of life’s trials then being with a loved one and seeing them is one of life’s greatest blessings.  I do so enjoy being with my grandchildren.  While the noise they make could be cacophony to someone else, it is to me finer than the fruit of any composer.  Some of the best weekends I have ever experienced are not ones filled with activity, but instead ones filled with loved ones’ presence.

Matthew 9:36 is an enjoyable verse, “When he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.”  Jesus enjoyed watching people.  In Matthew 25 we read, “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  Verse after verse we hear Jesus say, “Come.” When we do that not only can He watch us but we can watch him.

Robert Frost once wrote,

“I’m going out to clean the pasture spring; I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away (And wait to watch the water clear, I may): I sha’n’t be gone long.-You come too. I’m going out to fetch the little calf that’s standing by the mother. It’s so young, it totters when she licks it with her tongue. I sha’n’t be gone long.-You come too.”

It is quite grand to watch people we love.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 3. 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

It was time for a new tube of toothpaste.  Being a skinflint I had squeezed every possible bit of white stuff out of the old tube.  After taking the cap off the new tube there was yet a foil seal to be removed.  I pulled up on the tab and puff, the tube belched and promptly flattened.  It had been 90% filled with air.  It is needless to say anything about my disappointment.

At first I was tempted to write about the bags of hot air I have known.  I even worked for a few, but that would not be very Christian of me.  Instead I have elected to be reminded of other disappointments I have had.  Again I am tempted to personalize that topic, but I shall resist and think of the times I have disappointed myself.  That is the hardest topic.  One of life’s most important needs is self-esteem.  I wonder how, without God’s forgiveness, any of us can have much after decades of life.  I sometimes talk about the great human tragedies of a life well spent and then having one disappointing event.  When the person’s name is mentioned instead of remembering decades of good we instantly remember that one day when things didn’t go well.  Not only do we do it about others we do it for ourselves.

We try to be good parents and put eighteen years of dedicated effort into trying our best but we remember the few times we were lousy parents.  I have come to believe it is much easier to forgive others than it is the person we see in the mirror.  It is on such thoughtful moments that we need to remind ourselves that our heavenly Father not only forgives the times we disappointed Him but He actually chooses to forget them.  That is amazing.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 10, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

This evening I heard a very interesting advertisement for an upcoming show. Tune in next Monday night for a surprise visit from (blank).  They mentioned the name of someone famous.  You can fill in the blank with any name you want.  The name wasn’t important.  It was the concept that next week we will be surprised to see this person.  Really?  Didn’t they just tell us who it is?  They must have figured the only people who will be watching will be us old guys who will have forgotten who it is but tune in because we want to be surprised.

It reminded me of people who will be surprised by the sudden second coming of Jesus.  While we have not been told when He is coming, like the TV announcement, we are assured by so many people He is returning.  It should not be a surprise.  He tells us in Matthew 24 He is coming again.    He tells us in  John 14  He is coming to take us home to be with Him.  In Revelation He tells us that He comes quickly.  Paul tells us in I Corinthians 15 and I Thessalonians 4 that He is coming again.  It is not a secret nor is it a surprise.  We are encouraged, like in the TV ad, to watch.  Jesus tells us in the parable of the ten young ladies to be ready.  For the young ladies in the parable being ready meant having enough oil and for us being ready means being filled with the Holy Spirit after accepting His gift of eternal life.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is not that He is coming but that He hasn’t yet come.  And yet we shouldn’t be surprised because He does tell us why He is waiting.  Please see II Peter 3 for the answer.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 6, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I had the wonderful privilege of being the recipient of a major trove of marvelous old books from a pastor’s library.  His widow saw to it that I received the gems.  I am most grateful. The few I already had have gone to the eager young theology students on our campus.  They cannot believe their good fortune and rightly so.  Many of them are long out of print and will enhance their future ministries.  Right now I am sitting here with one published in 1915.   My parents were both four years old when this book was printed.   It’s called Personality – How to Build it.    It’s a really good read.  While culturally dated the basic ideas have not changed.

Some people seem to think the personality we have is basically who we are and nothing much can be done about that.  Nothing could be more wrong.  Cranky people don’t have to be cranky.  It’s a choice.  Oh, I understand that the older we get the more aches and pains we have and that makes us want to be cranky.  But crankiness is still a choice.  Sometimes because we are old we think we can be rude and get away with it because what can people do about our rudeness.  They can’t fire us if we are retired.  In my case I have tenure.  That makes it very tough to get rid of me.  In order to do that they would have to push me in front of a moving truck.

However, personality is not something we are born with.   Personality is the face that we wear for loved ones, not so loved ones and strangers.  If we want to really be Christians and really want to be like our hero Jesus, rudeness and crankiness should be left in the outhouse.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 8, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

On occasion it is good to reflect upon the good things God gives us.  It is even good to repeat something if it was very special.  About fifteen years ago I told the following story which occurred about thirty years ago.  It is time for a repeat.

I was the pastor in Des Moines.  My wife and sons had gone to her parents’ farm in central Wisconsin.  I remained behind to conduct Wednesday night prayer meeting and I was to meet them the next day.  As I was locking the church one of my elders who knew I was going to drive that night caught me at the door and prayed for me to have a safe journey.  Thanks Dennis.

Several hours later I was driving east across Minnesota and had not seen another car for a long time.  As my eyes started to droop, my brain, which must have already been asleep, started to connive. I told myself I could safely take a nap if I would center the car over the white line that divided the two lanes heading east.  That would give me plenty of zig zag space.  I could drift back and forth and when I arrived at a bridge about a mile ahead I could wake up and recenter the car.  Ever so carefully I lined up the car and then put my head back on the seat as I began my insane plan.  But wait a minute.  A red light on the dash started to flash at me.  I was irritated as I reached up and pounded on the dash so it would go out.  It did.  I leaned back again.  The light flashed again.

“Seat belt.”  “Seat belt.”  As I reached up to once again pound on the dash, reality dawned on me and the light went out.  I stopped the car and got out and walked awhile.

The seat belt light never again randomly came on.  Never.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 8, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

For about two or three weeks we had workmen doing home repairs and some remodeling in the kitchen.  We have been in this home now for sixteen years and it was time to give it some tender loving care.  Three of the workmen were a father, the boss, and his two grown sons.  Those two young men were amazing.  If my wife or sister arrived home and started to take things from the car they dropped everything and rushed to help.  They even had a fit when they saw me carrying something fairly heavy.  I received a lecture about my age!  These fellows remind me of Romans 15:1 in the Message paraphrase, “Strength is for service, not status.”    While it is true Paul is talking about our strength in the Lord, the idea does transfer over to physical strength.

God gives us blessings so we can be a blessing.  We are to be conduits through which God can funnel His strength, His riches, His health and His happiness to the world.  While it is true He could send angels to distribute good things He knows how much joy can come to us if we allow Him to use us.

This is one of the really nice things about being a citizen of God’s Kingdom.   We don’t have to wait to be recipients of the privileges that accompany citizenship.  The more we share the more He will give to us, so the sharing can continue and spread.  It’s hoarders who don’t receive much. They get just enough to get by.  Why should they receive much if all they are going to do is to see if they need to build bigger barns?

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 13, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

If you are looking a bit haggard in the morning, if the bags under your eyes seem just a bit droopier and darker, if those once wonderful smile lines have become deep crevices, I have a verse for you.   It is 2 Corinthians 4:16.  “. . . though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”  We ought to put that on our mirrors.  It gives us reason for thanksgiving. Hooray for the inner man.  Hooray for the God who renews that inner guy.  It’s hard to read that and not smile and behold when we smile that old haggard face in the mirror doesn’t look half bad.

This passage in 2 Corinthians is really good.  Look at what comes next. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; . .”  Sunrises and sunsets have glory.  Morning Glories have glory.  But nothing is going to top the “far more exceeding” glory waiting for us.  I tell you.  I promise you.  You are going to be looking good. God is going to lavish you with a glory that has “eternal weight.”  It will never fade.  It will never go away.  You got it.  You get to keep it.

So there, you old haggard face filled with scars, cracks and crevices.  You are having your day now but the best is yet to come.  In    1 Corinthians 15 God promises us a spectacular resurrection body.   I put this “old acorn” in the ground and up comes a “magnificent oak.”  I told my students today I feel sorry for them because I am just a few years away from consciously realizing this glory and they have to wait decades.   Don’t tell me getting old isn’t great.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 5, 2010

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box124, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org