Author: Ian Bothwell

If we were required to produce a top ten list of life’s greatest mysteries phone bills ought to be near the top.  Have you ever really looked at one of those things or do you just give up and pay what it says?  Not only is there the basic charge and the long distance fees for each call, there is also the FCC Line Charge and the Federal USF Surcharge and the Local Number Portability charge.  Whatever that is!  And then there is the 49-cent charge for Touch-Tone Service.  Whatever happened to just “Reach out and touch someone?”

Jesus once reached out and touched someone for free.  It is such an exciting story that Mark put it in his very first chapter.  While Matthew and Luke are talking about the nativity and John is writing about Jesus being the incarnate Word of God, Mark wants us to know right from the beginning that this Jesus he is going to tell us about touched a leper.  By the end of the chapter he has Jesus being pursued by such large crowds He can no longer enter the towns because the streets were too narrow.

There is no doubt about it—Jesus is wonderful.  And best of all He will touch each of us and there is no 49-cent charge.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 27, 2003

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

rogerbothwell.org

At least one player on the Canadian Olympic ice hockey team of 2002 received a gold medal for sitting on the bench the entire game.  He never played.  He sat and watched the entire game.  Furthermore, not one of his teammates was heard objecting to the benchwarmer getting a medal.

In Matthew 20 Jesus tells a parable about a man who paid the same wages to all those who worked in his fields.  Some worked all day and some worked only an hour, but they all received identical amounts of money.  Unlike the Canadian hockey players, some of those who worked all day did object claiming the employer was unfair.  The employer silenced them by pointing out they got what they contracted for and since the money was his he could do with it as he pleased.

This is a wonderful story.  Knowing this story keeps us from feeling bad in heaven when we meet one of the martyrs.  Knowing that salvation was a gift even to those who gave their bodies to be burned or mutilated will be comforting.  How else could we, as benchwarmers, think of receiving the same reward as the martyrs if we thought we had to earn heaven?  Paul tells us in Romans 3:23 that we all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.   However, he continues in Romans 6:23 by telling us that eternal life is a gift—a gift for everyone.  That even includes the martyrs.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 23, 2013

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

PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574

rogerbothwell.org

While we cannot be more than perfect, because perfection is the ultimate expression of being, we can add to perfection by growth.  The ultimate expression is more tomorrow than today because of our increased abilities honed by discipline. Perfection is not the goal.  Growth, an endless process of maturing, is our goal. A good person, no matter how morally in need, is one pressing to become better.  A bad person, no matter how self-righteous and accomplished, is one content with the status quo.  Heaven has no retirement homes, no IRAs, no social security payments.  Heaven is a university with an ever-expanding curriculum personalized according to one’s abilities and goals.  To be more tomorrow than today is being truly God-like.  There will be no diplomas or degrees to hang on our walls because there will be no graduation.  Instead there will be the joy of learning to know and to do something new and to be more than we have ever been before.

The sadness of now is aging.  Aging slowly steals our prime making new physical feats only a dream.  But when we become ageless, prime is an always condition.  In I Corinthians 15 Paul wrote, “This mortal will put on immortality and this corruption incorruption.”   If you didn’t like school here don’t be concerned.  You just didn’t have the right teachers.  Heaven’s faculty will not only be knowledgeable but skilled motivators.

What is your dream?  What do you want to do?  Do you want to be the universe’s leading travel writer, poet, composer, fashion designer, pilot, oceanographer, astronomer, organist, pianist, soloist, carpenter, architect, biologist, golfer, chemist, physicist, (you fill in the blank …….).   The only people who wouldn’t want this are those who haven’t yet caught the vision.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 13, 2015

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

rogerbothwell.org

 

Don’t you just love a good mystery?  Most people do.  How about one titled “The Secret of the Missing Suet?”  It sounds like a good Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew book.

Well, in our story it all started when the wire basket suet feeder was empty every morning.  True, it had been very cold so it was very logical to assume that lots of birds were filling up their fuel tanks.  But empty every morning??  Morning after morning?  What could possibly be eating all this suet?  Surely it wasn’t the little bunch of chickadees and a downy woodpecker or two.  Surely, something else was feasting on the suet.  A couple of mornings later—mystery solved.  At the suet was a beautiful, gigantic pileated woodpecker.

Another important mystery—what keeps you going?

Surely, you don’t run only on food and beverage.  You are a multidimensional being.  In addition to your physical dimension you have an emotional dimension, an intellectual dimension, a social dimension, and a spiritual dimension.  Each component needs fuel.  Breakfast and supper keep the physical side going.  Perhaps someone you love keeps your emotional needs satisfied.  Maybe your job or school keeps you intellectually challenged and your church provides for your social needs.  But, what about your spiritual nature?  Just like your other dimensions it also needs daily bread.  What do you do to satisfy that need?

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 18, 2003

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

rogerbothwell.org

 

Do you know what a “hat trick” is?  Or just what does it mean “to deke?”  Depending on how much of a hockey fan you are you may or may not be familiar with these two hockey words.  A “hat trick” occurs when one player scores three consecutive goals during a game.  “To deke” or “deking” is when a player deceives the opposition with a crafty play like going right after a fake to the left.

In Matthew 4 Jesus scored a “hat trick” against Lucifer.  Three times Lucifer tried “to deke” Jesus into sinning, but Jesus scored a victory all three times.

Paul wrote, “My purpose is that…you may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  I tell you this so that no one may deceive you—or deke you—by fine-sounding arguments.”  Colossians 2:2-4.  If you want to understand life and why you are here the treasured answer is found in Christ Jesus.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 22, 2003

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

rogerbothwell org

It was a red 2000ish Toyota.  It was sitting in the school parking lot with its lights on.  A student walking across the lot wanted to help.  So she went over and tried to get to the light switch but it was locked.  How frustrating!  In just a few hours the owner would have a real problem and she could not help.  She walked away leaving the 2000ish Toyota with its lights sucking the energy from its battery.

Have you ever wondered if there are times when God wants to help us but He can’t.  While it is true, God is all-powerful and could force His good sense on us, He will not violate our power of choice.  To do so would shatter the principle of love, which only exists where there is choice.  Love is not love when it is coerced.  Once coerced, it becomes benevolent tyranny.

Our coed could have broken a window of the Toyota to gain access to the light switch, but the broken window would have been a violation of the owner’s property.  The solution to the problem would have been worse than the immediate difficulty.  Should God violate our freedom by imposing His wisdom on us, His intervention would have long-term effects worse than the fruit of our immediate danger.

God could have forced Eve away from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, but had He done so everything He has asserted about freedom and choice would have been a lie.  (Titus 1:2)

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 13, 2003

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

rogerbothwell.org

 

In 2003 it would have been pretty difficult for anyone with a television not to know about Joe Millionaire, who according to Fox Network, was a construction worker pretending to be a millionaire in order to woo a gold-digger.  It was by far one of the worst shows ever produced.

If it was so bad, why bother to mention it?  There is a reverse story.  And this one is true!  The wealthiest being in the universe became poor and lived with us.  The incarnation of Jesus Christ is the most remarkable story of all time.  Paul describes it like this, “He, Jesus, had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status…. Not at all.  When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human!…It was an incredibly humbling process.  He didn’t claim special privileges.  Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.”  Phil. 2: 6-8

It is such an incredible story.  How could the Creator become one of His created?  Why should He care enough about us to do it?  God’s love knows no bounds.  His compassion for us is the theme of all time.  In Colossians 1: 15-16 Paul writes, “ We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen.  We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created.  For everything, absolutely everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.”

What a story we have to tell!  What a God we have to love and be loved by!

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 3, 2003

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

rogerbothwell.org

 

He spent the morning in a small room filled with other anxious citizens.  They had been called for possible grand jury service.  As they waited, he was sure his thoughts were similar to the others.  How, if selected, could he manage the months of service?  Who would teach his classes?  What about all his other commitments?  Fortunately, at noon a man entered the room and told everyone they were dismissed and could go home.  People wasted no time leaving the building

As he was getting into his old truck, it occurred to him that the man who had just dismissed them did not display any symbol of authority.  What if he had just been another juror from another room who decided to have some fun and dismiss everyone?  That all  had instantly believed him because he told them what they wanted to hear.  They never asked for any verification of his authority.  They just hurried out.

Such it is with most of the things we accept as truth.  If someone comes bearing a message that pleases us, we seldom ask for verification.  We are quick to believe what we want to believe.  Jesus warned us “many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.”  (Matt. 24:11)  A man told the prospective jurors they could leave and they left.  They never looked back.  They never asked, “Who are you?”

In Thessalonians 5:21 we read, “Test everything.  Hold onto the good.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 9, 2003

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

rogerbothwell.org

In 1945 my father was the principal of an elementary school in Duncannon, Pennsylvania.  That entitled him to a few extra gallons of gasoline made possible by receiving extra little red ration tokens.   As I am sitting here holding some of those tokens I find it difficult to imagine rationing.  It was a different time when World War II demanded all manner of limitations on what people could purchase.  Items like shoes, cheese, sugar, rubber items and even typewriters were on the ration list.

It occurs to me that God has a no ration list and a ration list.  On His no ration list is grace.  There is a limitless supply of His willingness and ability to completely and totally forgive us from misdemeanors and felonies. (Are there such things in His kingdom or is a sin a sin?)  What I do know is no matter how heinous it might be He will upon our request blot it out.  Wow.

On His ration list would be power.  Power is something that has to be limited to the user’s ability to use it wisely.  Too much power in the hands of a novice can be deadly.  He gives us just enough for our daily needs.  Jesus told us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”  I like the term “just enough.”  It reminds me of Goldilocks.  Not too hard, not too soft, not too hot and not too cold.  Our heavenly Father knows us so well and can grant us all manner of blessings in a “just enough” manner.

I am thankful He rations.  Humans can be very dangerous when given too much of most everything.  Grace is excluded.  How grand.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 10, 2015

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

rogerbothwell.org

 

I have an acquaintance who I have to say is a bit crazy. (Am I allowed to say that?)  He’s not dangerous just obsessively preoccupied with the end of the world or I guess I should say the second coming of Jesus.  Daily he scans the news in search of signs of the end.  When I ask him about it he is quick to quote Jesus in Matthew 24 where Jesus speaks of earthquakes and wars and rumors of wars.  I’m intrigued that he does this because in that context Jesus said, “But see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. . . .All these are the beginning of birth pains.”

Then there is Luke 17 where Jesus says, “”The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; . . .” Paul says in I Thessalonians 5, “You know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”  Peter says the same thing.  “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.”  II Peter 3

But my acquaintance asks, “How then will I know when to be ready?”  The answer seems obvious.  Always be ready.  What does that mean?   Make Jesus your savior, spend time with Him as you would a friend, enjoy being in His kingdom which is. (Please note the present tense.)  Trust and obey.  Trust because He is trustworthy and obey because obedience is the smart way to live.  It is true the world is in a mess but WWI and WWII were not picnics!

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 9, 2015

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

rogerbothwell.org