Author: Ian Bothwell

Our California children arrived late last night.  Hooray.  This afternoon in the midst of a real New England snowstorm we cut down our Christmas tree.  It was perfect.  The weather was perfect.  The tree was perfect and the company was perfect.  We put the tree in the garage to let the snow melt off before bringing it into the house.  On the way out the door to go to the grocery store my wife asked me to make a fresh cut on the bottom of the tree.  Now I must admit I was puzzled by this because we had just cut down the tree.  I made a feeble objection but I knew better.  While she was gone I made another fresh cut.  My son started to clean up the sawdust.  “No,” I explained. “Leave the evidence.”  I was feeling smug. When she came home she pulled the car into the garage over top of the sawdust. Can you believe it?  There was now no visible evidence to prove my compliance. So much for being a good guy.

Sometimes I obey God because I want His approval.   That is really silly.  If we have made Jesus our Lord we already have His approval.   God doesn’t want our obedience so He can declare us “Good Guys.”   He wants our obedience because obedience leads to the abundant life He desires for us.  Being good brings its own rewards just as being bad ultimately brings grief.   We actually leave evidence all over the place.  In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them.”   It’s very hard to hide the evidence when there are piles of it all around.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 23, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

In 1971 William Hall of Shrewsbury, England killed himself by drilling eight holes in his head with a power drill.  I know that’s a pretty gruesome way to begin this devotional.  However, the significant fact to note is that he drilled seven holes in his head and was still alive.  I could not help but think of a conversation I had with a college student.  He was convinced that some of God’s commands were really quite unreasonable.  He boasted that he had broken nine of them and was doing fine.  He hadn’t killed anyone.  He totally rejected my argument that God’s laws were made to protect us from ourselves and others.  I wish I had known about William Hall when I talked with my student.  Mr. Hall is a great illustration of the truth that you cannot continue to do something really stupid before it kills you.  One might get lucky for a few times but not for always.

The truth is God’s commands do make good sense.  God isn’t trying to deprive us of anything good.  Notice I said “good.”   God is trying to deprive us of heartbreak, pain, jail, ruined relationships, etc.   If it’s good for us God wants us to enjoy it in moderation.  No going off the deep end on good things.  Too much of anything is ultimately bad.  You can even go to church too much.

I figure this is a good time of the year to talk about Mr. Hall considering the fact that many of you have eggnog in your refrigerator, sugar cookies on the table, and boxes of See’s Candy given to you as presents.  Just because you over ate last year and got away with it doesn’t mean you can do it this year!

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 22, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

It’s below ten degrees outside.  It is going to snow ten inches tomorrow.  I am cold.  I just put on a hat and a sweater on top of a sweater.  I am sitting here eating ice cream.  Now how stupid is that?  But it’s blueberry ice cream and it is so good!  So how many other stupid things do I do “just because.” “Just because” is a great reason for doing or not doing things. Do you remember using it when you were a teen?  Whenever a teacher or our parents asked us why we did something “just because” was the reason.  Either we did not want to articulate why or so often we really didn’t know why.

I know people who smoke but intellectually they know it is stupid.  When I ask them why, I get a “just because.”  While I do not believe everything Sigmund Freud wrote I certainly do agree with him that we live on several different mental levels and not everything we do is rational nor do we even attempt to be rational about those things. We tell ourselves “just because.” We are born with a collective unconsciousness that instinctively drives us often to self-destructive behavior.   God certainly agrees, that’s why in Exodus 20:5 He speaks of the fruit of our sins extending to the third and fourth generation.

It is no wonder David prayed in Psalm 51, “Oh Lord, create in me a clean heart.”   He was tired of the “just because.”  If we are looking for the abundant life Jesus promises, it is essential that we allow Him access to our inner being.  Jesus and Jesus alone can give us the power to move beyond the mere human.  See II Peter 1 for a promise of sharing in divinity now.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 28, 2009

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

We have a new neighbor.  Recently he purchased a home close by that had been on the market for several years. I was working in the front yard this afternoon and he stopped and introduced himself.  When I went to tell him my name he said, “Oh, you’re Roger and I know lots about you.”  He went on to say he had as a boy been best of friends with the boy who grew up in our house before we moved here.  He said, “I have probably been in your house as much as you have.  I know everything about it.”  Then he went on to describe things in the house that were not here when he was a boy.  He described things on the walls and furniture.  That was super strange.  He explained.  His now best friend is a man who replaced our windows.  That man spent a lot of time inside.

As he drove down the hill I thought about God knowing all the trivia of our being.  He knows the secret parts of our hearts.  He knows stuff we don’t want Him to know.  He knows stuff that’s in there that we don’t know is in there.  It is amazing to think about God knowing everything.  Does that mean He is never surprised?  Is His foreknowledge based on knowing actual events or is it wisdom based on an eternity of experience?  After one has been around the barn a few times one knows what’s on the other side of the barn.   Could that be how He knows and our free choice could surprise Him by our doing the unexpected?  There is so much we don’t know and the only way to find the answers is to meet with Him face to face, which might not be as far away as we imagine!

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 20, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Almost each weekday-noon my wife and I have a fine dining experience at Taco Bell.  It’s close to our school.  It’s cheap.  It’s fast.  And if you select wisely it is fairly nutritious.   Yesterday I said to the girl who takes our order, “Isn’t it amazing that I give you a small piece of paper and in return you feed us?”

“What,” she said.  “What are you talking about?”

Apparently she had never stopped to ponder our monetary system.  When I explained to her the five dollar bill I had given her was nothing but a piece of paper she seemed a bit dazed.  The only difference between a five and a twenty are the printed symbols.  The entire system works on faith.

Recently I had a student who claimed he didn’t live by faith.  He wasn’t a faith person.  He was a realist who only dealt in tangibles and things he could qualify and quantify.   I think you can guess what I next asked him.

“Did you buy lunch today?  What did you use to pay for it?”   His answer was even more intangible than faith in money.  He used a credit card.  He got his lunch with the sweep of piece of plastic.   Talk about faith!

All of us live by faith in so many things.  Just driving is an act of faith. Cars rush by us with the force of a hundred miles an hour.   We are going fifty one way and they are doing fifty coming toward us.  The only thing that separates us from instant death is a small yellow line of paint. Talk about faith!

So why not experience the ultimate act of faith?   Let Jesus save you. Let Him give you eternal life.  Let Him forgive your sins.  You are already living by faith.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 18, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Dawn was magical this morning.  There was not a cloud in the sky.  With majesty a gigantic red-yellow globe rose from the edge of the crisp, fifteen degree cold, landscape.  Steam ascended from a few factories in the valley below decorating the morning with ever-changing white fluffy plumes against a deep blue backdrop. The ground crunched underfoot as we left footprints across the lawn.  A few nuthatches, chickadees and juncos were already having breakfast at the feeder.

But something had spoiled this winter Eden.  My dog was super alert with hair rising from her back and tail straight out.  The next forty-five minutes were filled with sniffing the air, alertly responding to every sound, and checking behind all bushes.  It has been ten years since we have seen a bear in the yard and neighbors say it has been twice that long since a moose has wandered up Old Farm Road.   However, I often see our resident coyote and last week a deer spent the day sleeping in the backyard.  I checked the trees for porcupines, sometime visitors.   For all my peering I could not find anything.  My nose wasn’t telling me what the dog’s nose told her.  Something had been with us overnight.

Fear is a very healthy thing.  It keeps us from being hurt; but it can also spoil a perfectly fine morning or an entire life.  One of the Bible’s strongest messages is for us to fear not.  The psalmist wrote, “He shall give His angels charge over us.”  And in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus assures us we are so much more valuable than a small bird and yet His Father cares for them.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 17, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I’m in the doghouse along with our dog.  She decided to unwrap a just wrapped present.  No.  I was just informed it had been extra nicely wrapped at a department store. The dog did it about two feet from me but I was totally oblivious.  I was sitting here staring at the computer screen trying to decide what to write about this evening. The sounds of paper shredding never registered on my feeble mind. When the caretaker of the presents came back into the room and discovered the deed, well, it would be better if I did not mention this again.  The present is presently being rewrapped.

Was this a sin of omission?  I claim it was for me.  However, concerning the dog, that was definitely a sin of commission.  She can’t claim insanity, but she could claim ignorance.  However ignorance is not a legal excuse.  She could deny doing it but unfortunately for her there was ribbon hanging out her mouth and she has present breath.  CSI would definitely get her convicted.

Her trying to claim not being guilty would be as ludicrous as our trying to tell God we are innocent.  He most likely has video tape of our whole lives and would merely say to the recording angel, “Roll the tape.”  We have been had.  There is no place to run to.  There is no place to hide.  If we wait to say we are sorry until we are confronted with the evidence, our begging for forgiveness will be too late.  It would be obvious we were not sorry we did the deeds but were only trying to get off the hook.

It’s always best to follow John’s counsel in 1 John 1:9 and confess now.  If we do He will freely forgive us of all unrighteousness.   It’s the only hope we have.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 16, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

One of life’s greatest ironies is that really good people don’t think they are so good.   It is the semi-good people who think they are good.  They really aren’t nearly as good as they think they are.  People who think they are good are blind to the reality of their own foibles and deficient character.   Really good people know their weaknesses.  They understand that most of the good things they do are tainted by selfishness and a desire to atone for not being what they want to be.  Often I find myself being most comfortable with people who make little or no pretense of being good as opposed to being with people who just don’t get it.

Less I sound too harsh let me back off a bit and say that most semi-good people are on their way to being good.  They just need to recognize their real limitations.  They are on their way to the discovery that only Jesus was good.   The rest of us are bench warmers.

Paul got it.  In Romans he pours out his despair at his inability to be the man he longed to be.  See Chapter 7.    I read II Peter 1 where we are promised with exceedingly great and precious promises that we, right now, can participate in the divine nature of God.   What does that mean?   I know what it doesn’t mean, at least for now.   It doesn’t mean I can go about healing the blind, restoring health to broken limbs and enabling heart broken families to once again have a child restored to life.  Perhaps that is in the offing for some.  For me it would be the ruination of my character as my inflated idea of my importance took me to hell.

There is so much to learn!

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 2, 2010

Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94575

Rogerbothwell.org

In our town square (actually a triangle) there is a light bulb snowman.  If you tune your FM dial to 107.1 static-filled Christmas music fills your car.   When you drive about 500 feet you are out of range.  While passing by this evening I thought about the coverage of our personal influence and how wide or how narrow it might be.  Some people are like giant broadcasting towers with gigantic coverage like WLS from Chicago that transmits with 50,000 watts of power.  Late at night you can hear it all over the country.   Then there are those like our light bulb snowman with very limited range.

Some people are bothered because they think they are like the light bulb snowman.  However, the truth of one’s influence is rarely known by the influencer.  We might think we have never made an impact on anyone but we might have been that tiny pebble thrown in a pond that sends a ripple over the water’s entire surface.  One of the great rewards of heaven will be an opportunity to read the records of our influence.  It will not be for any personal glory but for the satisfaction of knowing we did make a difference.

Everyone one wants to make a difference.  I just wish everyone wanted to make a positive difference.  We can.  In Ephesians 2 Paul refers to the work God has for each of us.  There is something special for each of us.  If we allow, He will work it out in and through us.  It will make a difference for all eternity.  How exciting it will be to discover just what it was.  The important thing to remember is our influence is very wide and very important.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 15, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I have discovered where the Grinch (or Grinches) live.   He lives in my little city.   My neighbor at the bottom of my hill has for years been putting up a beautiful display of artistic elves carrying presents.  He must have been working on it most of the year because this year it was splendid and bigger than ever.   This year he must have had over twenty elves and the labor involved had to be huge.  Notice I wrote in the past tense.  They are no more.  Last night some ignorant oaf, most likely inebriated, trashed them.  We were anxious for our grandchildren to arrive to enjoy them.  Now they are gone for no one to enjoy.  It is difficult for me to imagine the feeling of my neighbor artist when he went outside this morning.

Why is it that some people want to destroy things?  Could it be that they don’t know how to make anything so instead they destroy out of jealousy?   Can you imagine what the world would be like if it were populated with mostly that kind of people?  There do seem to be groups of people in the world bent on destruction instead building something positive.  How very sad.

Fortunately there are more good people than bad, more builders than destroyers, more lovers than haters.  It just seems like there are more bad because what they do is so blatantly in our faces.  Unfortunately Time and other news magazines put pictures of the really bad guys on their covers.  How disgusting is that?!  It only inspires other bad guys to follow suit.  Billy the Kid was a jerk.  Why does our folk lore include him and others like him?   Maybe we are the sick ones.

The Bible tells us to think on good things.  Ouch, I just didn’t do that!

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 14, 2010.

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

Rogerbothwell.org