Author: Ian Bothwell

I didn’t write a devotional last evening because of the “Blank Brain Disease.”  Long I sat with my fingers on the keyboard as I stared at the computer screen. Usually that works if I sit long enough.  Last night it just didn’t work.  The blank computer screen was a perfect match for my brain.  Nothing happened.  I finally gave up and headed for bed.

How can this be?  Life is full of interpersonal exchanges.  My Bible is filled with magnificent promises.  My classes provide a massive amount of information and yet my brain was void.   I did try prayer for inspiration and the only inspiration I received was go to bed!  So I did.   I did have a student drop by my office and ask what he could do with a psychology degree and how much would he make.   When I told him he said, “I was sort of thinking of something with six figures.”  I did have another student tell me he didn’t believe what I was telling him.  And another told me he still didn’t have a textbook because he couldn’t afford it.   It cost twenty dollars!  So I gave him the twenty dollars and told him he no longer has an excuse.

Somehow these didn’t seem worthy of your attention.  I want to write something worthy of your time.  So here goes.  Jesus loves you.  He really does.  Sometimes it is difficult to comprehend the idea of a personal God. When we almost grasp the immensity of the universe it is difficult to think that an ant such as each of us could matter.  I don’t know how you feel about ants but when I find them in the kitchen,  I squish them with little thought as to their value.  I think the difference is we are called the sons and daughters of God.  The ants are not my sons and daughters.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 9, 2009

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

There doesn’t seem to be anything on television except reruns.  The problem with reruns is most weren’t worth watching the first time.  Wouldn’t it be grand if we had the opportunity to do reruns of episodes of our lives?  I would like some do-overs.  There are the poorly worded sentences that unintentionally hurt people.  I would like to suck those back in.  Then there are the stupid behaviors that leave the wrong impression.  The problem with me is I am so very smart the next day.  The next morning I think of the perfect thing I should have said the day before.   One morning I was preaching and it was going so badly I was bored.  Finally I just stopped and said, “Folks, this isn’t going well.  Let’s sing the closing hymn and go home.”  I thought they were going to applaud they were so happy.   I asked them to come back next week and give me another chance.

There are some religions that teach that we get reruns of life itself.  We keep coming back until we do it right.  That is actually a pretty good idea. But Jesus has a better idea.  He forgives.  Upon our request He moves inside and keeps renovating.  I was going to say until we get it right but that won’t happen until this corruption puts on incorruption.  See I Corinthians 15. The joy is being legally perfect in the eyes of God because we accept Jesus’ payment for our sins and then growing more and more like Jesus as the years roll on.

With Jesus there are no reruns.  There is no coming back.  There is only going forward.  It’s a grand plan.  Be forgiven.  Learn from our mistakes and go into a grand forever.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 19, 2009.

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

Rogerbothwell.org

I have finally figured out how old Adam and Eve were when they had to leave the Garden.  They were six!  At least that’s how they acted.   I’m sure most of you heard or saw on the news this afternoon about the six-year-old little boy who somehow released his father’s experimental helium balloon.  People thought he was in it but when it came down he was no where to be found. Thank God he wasn’t in it.  Thinking he would be in big trouble he had hidden in a box in his attic.

“When they heard the sound of GOD strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from GOD.  GOD called to the Man: ‘Where are you?’ He said, ‘I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid.'”

We have been doing this ever since.  Jonah tried to run away.  God found him. The truth is we just can’t hide.  Often times we want to but it’s quite impossible.  Note Psalm 139:8-10, “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.  If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.”  I like the fact that the word “lead” is used and not “found” because we are never lost from God.   We can be silly and stupid and think we have gotten away from Him. It can’t be done. He loves us so much He ever so carefully watches for any opportunity to win us back. Love is like that.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 16, 2009

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

Rogerbothwell.org

It is apple picking time.  Bags of Cortland, Macintosh and Golden Delicious apples sit in unmanned roadside stands.  There are pails for your money.  Someone will come along in late afternoon to collect the cash that has accumulated during the day.   Hundreds of cars will drive by with everyone knowing there is money in those pails.  Perhaps the world is not as bad a place as we sometimes think.  We watch the evening news and read the front page of the local paper and get the impression the world is just one giant cesspool filled with dishonest creeps.  I like the message of unmanned roadside apple stands.  It tells us the world is still filled with good people.

Unfortunately, it would take just one rotten person to spoil it.  It is so often that way.  One drunk driver kills a carload of innocent people.  One terrorist destroys a hundred lives.  Adam and Eve ruined a perfect creation.

Isn’t it grand that it can also work the other way?  One man’s righteousness can make up for all our sins.  Paul wrote the following to the Romans, “For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.”  5:15

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 7, 2009

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 24, St. Helena, CA 94574

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

Yesterday was one of our hottest days yet this year.  I wouldn’t bother to mention it except a young man stopped by and asked if he could please plow the snow out of my driveway this coming winter.  Now how could I say no to such an enterprising forward-looking young man?  But what about the young man who plowed us out last winter?   That is not a problem.  They were both at my door.  It seems my last year’s plower is going to college in Boston this fall and he is transferring his business to his friend.  I have to tell you I was impressed.  We hear so much about the lazy irresponsibility of today’s youth and all they want to do is eat pizza and play video games.   Obviously that isn’t true.  There before me stood two healthy looking young men preparing for the future.  How very refreshing.

Looking forward, planning for the future and being responsibly concerned about tomorrow is an admirable attribute.  One of the first stories I ever read all by myself was of the ants and the grasshopper.   The ants toiled all summer while the grasshopper played his fiddle.  When the winter came the ants were snug and well fed while the grasshopper was cold and hungry.  Looking at the larger picture of our lives we need to think long-term.  While three score and ten might seem like forever when we are twenty, it is nothing when we are three score plus or when three score and ten is in the rearview mirror.

Jesus and His gift to us is the ultimate plan for the future.  God in His incredible love has already cared for our future.  All He needs from us is cooperation.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 11, 2009

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

The following is bad news for us multitaskers.  Some of us pride ourselves on the ability to do several things at once.  The bad news is the latest psychological studies have concluded that we really can’t walk and chew gum at the same time–at least do it well.  What is it that enables multitaskers to be good at doing several things at once.  I’m afraid the answer is nothing.  Sorry.  I realize this is a blow to our pride and we might want to argue with the researchers.  But for now if we want to get more done we need to try doing less.  Ouch!

This brings me to all my friends who have their morning devotions while driving to work.  If we really want to get the maximum benefit from our time with God we have to close out the rest of the world.  That must be why we were taught as children to close our eyes when we pray; obviously not a great idea while driving.  Praying in the shower still might work since we don’t have to do anything except stand there and let the water run on us.

The Psalmist must have had this figured out. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.”  And Psalm 4:4 reads, “Commune with your heart upon your bed and be still.”  That must be written for young people.  When I am in any prone position I immediately fall asleep.

I know if I want to really help a student I have to give him or her my undivided attention.  Grading papers while they are pouring out their heart just doesn’t work. So why should it be any different when I am talking with God?  Surely the King of the Universe deserves my undivided attention.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 9, 2009

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

Patriot’s Day is celebrated every April in Massachusetts.  It is a day to remember those courageous men and women who defied the world’s most powerful colonial empire.  The result of that defiance is, of course, The United States of America.  Massachusetts is rich in heritage.  Every town square has its monuments dedicated  to the memory of those who sacrificed blood and often life that we might live in freedom.  The little college where my wife and I teach is the site of a brutal massacre conducted during King Phillip’s War.  We have our monument.

It is important to remember events and people.  Monuments give us a sense of who we are.  Each of us is the product of past heroes and good-for-nothings. Hopefully there were more of heroes than the other kind.   Not only do we have monuments of stone but we have monuments in time.   Patriot’s Day is a monument in time.   July the 4th is a monument in time.  Easter is a monument in time.  Good Friday is a monument in time.

In Genesis 2 God established a monument in time.  Moses wrote, “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”   Being that the Jesus who died on the cross is the very same being that created our world (see Hebrews 1) each seventh day is a memorial in time to celebrate God’s creative power, His responsibility and His amazing love.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 20, 2009

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

My wife and I spent a marvelous morning at Kykuit, the Hudson River home of the Rockefeller family.   While the house is magnificent, it is the gardens that take one’s breath away.  It is the way everyone should live.  But everybody can’t because somebody has to care for all those gardens.  If we all lived like that who would we hire to care for our places?  The Rose Garden, the fountains, the private nine-hole golf course, the topiaries, the ancient elms and beeches, and the carriage house are all beautiful.  The carriage house contains the carriages the family owned prior to the automobile and finally a dozen or so cars from the first Tin-Lizzy to the cars used by Nelson Rockefeller when he was governor of New York.

One of the early cars was electric.  Not a favorite of someone who amassed a fortune selling gasoline.  As I looked at it I wondered what our world would be like today if all the innovation that was poured into the development of the internal combustion engine had been focused on electric cars.  Would we have global warming?  Would the Middle East play such a pivotal role in world politics?  Would the Rockefellers ever own such a home?

It would be so easy with our hindsight to shake our fingers.  But that is unfair.  People in different times, with different information, with different insights have little right to condemn those of another era.  According to Jesus we really should not judge people that live in our era let alone those of times past.  Recently I heard a sermon really condemning the leadership of Israel for crucifying Jesus and I wondered what it must have been like for the High Priest to watch an uneducated carpenter tear away the very reasons for the existence of a priesthood.   When Jesus told them to go into their closets and pray to “Our Father” the priests became superfluous.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 27, 2009

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Yesterday along with friends we stopped for a picnic.  As we walked to the outdoor table we noticed a very pretty Irish Setter kind of dog lying by a car.  At first I thought he was chained but soon a man came and asked how long the dog had been there.  We didn’t know.  The man then said, “I was so scared.  I thought he was lost.”  They had gone for a walk and when the dog lost sight of his master he went back to the car to wait.  Smart dog.

I think sometimes we humans underestimate the intelligence of the rest of God’s creatures.  They most likely know much more than we think they know.  The dog by the car didn’t seem distressed.  It calmly watched us set out our picnic.  It knew where it was and knew his master would be back.  It was merely a matter of time.

It should be like that with us.  The world is falling apart and we are waiting for our Master’s return.  I hope we are doing it calmly.  Worry and stress truly eat away at the quality of our lives.  Jesus gave us so many promises of His care and that He would return.   He said, “I go to prepare a place for you and if I do that I will come again so you can be with me.”  He will not disappoint.  He will do as He says.  So let’s calmly wait and watch what unfolds around us.

There are so many things we can learn from our animals. They love us but sometimes I must confess my dog wants so much to be the alpha female in the house she can be a pest.  I love it.

Written by Roger Bothwell on June 29, 2009

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I am trying to write this but my dog keeps pestering me.  Last evening we took her swimming and another Black Lab named Cyrus gave her a tennis ball.  You would have thought he had given her the moon.  She was ecstatic.  We couldn’t get her to come home until he went home.  That tennis ball has become the object of much attention.  Because I will not throw it for her, I am trying to write this, she is throwing it for herself and then running to retrieve it before it rolls under the couch.  When it does I have to get up and lift the couch so she can retrieve it.  If I don’t I am barked at until I catch on.  She wonders about my intelligence and why I can’t learn faster.

My dog and God have that same characteristic in common.  He cannot understand why I don’t learn faster.  For decades He has been trying to teach me all kinds of useful habits.  And for decades I have been resisting.  I eat things I shouldn’t.  I don’t get enough rest.  I read and watch things that rot my brain.  I don’t spend enough time in His Word.  It really isn’t that I don’t know better.  It’s that I just do the things I want to do regardless of the resulting effects.

I know I can’t be the only one in this sorry state.  I see people smoking. Now how can anyone in this age not know what that does?  My newspaper runs stories about alcohol related fatal auto accidents.  Really now, does anyone not know drinking and driving is a recipe for disaster?

The more I think about it the more I understand God and my dog are not alike.  He knows I know.  She wonders.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 1, 2009

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

Rogerbothwell.org