Author: Ian Bothwell

It was a beautiful and disturbing sight.  There was a layer of snow decorating our patio and rhododendrons. Giant soft fluffy flakes were gently falling.  A gorgeous male cardinal was accenting the scene. One would have to be blind not to be stunned by him.  Then out of seeming nowhere a sharp shinned hawk swept across the patio about a foot off the ground.  It was an “aha moment” for me. I realized a great flaw in Darwin’s theory.   If there had been a snow bunting or some other less conspicuous bird it most likely would not have been dinner for the hawk unlike the bright red cardinal.

If the theory of adaptation for safety and survival was true cardinals would not be sitting in a blaze of glory in snow.   Like gold finches which change colors with the seasons most birds should be green in the summer and white and brown in the winter.  Evolutions say the red color scares off the predators.  This might be true if there were poisonous red birds but there are not.

I am not denying micro adaptation.  The finches in the Galapagos are a prime example of limited adaptation.  But they are all finches and did not adapt into eagles.  Birds are an amazing gift to us from a loving Creator.  Not the end of a line from dinosaurs.  I realize some will think me ignorant for this.  However, I am open for a logical explanation as to why after thousands of years cardinals have not adapted by toning down.

“In six days the Lord created heaven and earth and all that is in them.”  It is a bold declaration in the heart of the Ten Commandments given to Moses by the Creator Himself.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 18, 2016

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Another week has begun and some of us on such occasions feel like an NFL quarterback surrounded by three hundred pound monsters whose only goal is to knock us down.  Our entire team is depending on us to not only pinpoint our effort with precision but to remain absolutely calm, knowing we are going to be slammed to the ground as we scan the field for the best possible play.  Our only hope is to have our own three hundred pound monsters protect us.

If you have ever felt this way I have great news for you. The Bible says in Psalm 91:11, “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”  Now I realize I am treading on dangerous ground with some of you by inferring that angels are three hundred pound monsters.  So let me assure you they are not three hundred pounds.  No indeed, they are not limited to that.  They are any weight necessary to meet our adversaries.  Oh, neither are they monsters.  Those are the bad ones trying to get through the protective circle of good angels.

Something else that is very encouraging is on Jesus’ resurrection morning you can be sure Lucifer had his entire force around the tomb.  Jesus was NOT coming out.  The Father sent one angel. Just one!  And the entire force of hell fled.  As Paul said in Romans, “If God be for us, who can be against us?”   If you need some additional courage read Psalm 91 in its entirety.  There are some amazing promises there.  Here is one more as a spiritual and mental appetizer. “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 11, 2016

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

It was so cute it was amazing.  She was a tiny Chinese Vanna White or better yet like the models on the Price Is Right.   We were at the grocery store and kept meeting this petite little girl and her mother because we were going in opposite directions from aisle to aisle – twelve aisles equaled twelve meetings.  Upon one of our meetings I stopped to watch her pick up a packet of Double Stuff Oreos. Holding it in one hand she gave the package the hand/wrist model wave over the package while explaining to her mother the wonders of Oreos.  How could her mother not buy it?  Nabisco should have had their cameras rolling.  We would see her night after night on our television screens.  She could sell millions of Oreos.

It would be awesome if all of us could sell Jesus to the world.  Instead of doing the model hand wave we could show off the great aspects of Jesus by the way we live and the way we treat others.  Nothing sells a product better than happy satisfied customers. I have never met anyone who wanted to live a crummy life.  However, people mess up because they don’t know any better or do know and yet they still make bad choices.  Either way the result is a subpar life.  Jesus wants all of us to live the abundant life.  Barring the random bad things that do happen to good people the quality of our lives can be vastly improved by living a Christ-like life with the help of the Holy Spirit.

All of us who call ourselves Christians are salespersons (witnesses) for Jesus.  How I wish we were all super salespersons. Our product is so much better than Double Stuff Oreos and that is saying something.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 14, 2016

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Well, it’s over.  The 1.6 billion dollar lottery has three winners. Millions of people, who bought a ticket, can now stop dreaming. (For now.)  For two dollars, less than the cost of a small (excuse me – Venti) Starbucks coffee, people had dreams and hopes.  It was less than renting a movie from your cable company, which only lasts two hours. Before you write to me explaining the evils of gambling, let me just say this.  For many millions it wasn’t gambling as much as it was the price of a few days of extravagant, over-the-top dreaming.  People thought about friends and relatives whose lives they would change.  They thought of helping the church or school down the street.  Oh, yes, I am romanticizing because there also were many greedy people thinking about themselves.  But I think the greedy were outweighed by those who really did think about the good things they would do.  (I like the Pollyanna view of life.)  It was a two dollar dream.  It wasn’t so much gambling as it was an investment in supposed happiness.  I said supposed because winning has the potential to be a disaster, as it has for other lottery winners.

When I tell people about Jesus many of them accept Him for some of the same reasons people buy a lottery ticket.  Jesus is the source of over-the-top dreaming.  To give Jesus my expiring life for a chance of receiving a life that will never run out is a better deal than two dollars for 1.6 billion.  “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” (Jim Elliot)   Usually it takes some time being with Jesus for people to realize they aren’t taking a chance.  With Jesus it is a sure thing

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 15, 2016

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

Rogerbothwell.org

We do not hear with our ears anymore than we see with our eyes.  Our ears and eyes are receptors that transmit received signals to our brains.  Our brains then interpret and configure those signals into sounds or pictures.  Now comes the scary part.  Each of us has a unique brain.  The result is none of us see and hear what another sees and hears. The stimuli received are filtered through past experiences, education, repeated exposure and associate with others who influence us. This could be one of the reasons some things are beautiful to one person and not to another.  Most people think their mother is beautiful.  It has little or nothing to do with her cheekbones and smile.  Mom is filtered through love for all the care received when we were young and helpless.

I really enjoy Chopin piano concertos.  In reality they are rather bangy.  However when I was little my father, who for a time was an elementary school principal, would bring home a projector and we would watch movies of someone playing Chopin concertos on our living room wall.  It is also why I enjoy the smell of cigars. Both Chopin and the aroma of a Philly El Producto are all about memories of my father.

In Revelation 19 we find what can be some very scary descriptions of Jesus.  One of them is, “He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.  Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations.”  For millions that will be horrible.  But for those of us who love Him it will be beautiful.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 13, 2016

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

With an 18 day old knee we thought it not prudent for me to be clearing the driveway.  Anyway it was only an inch or so of snow.  Surely tomorrow’s sun would take care of it.  It did not. The next morning the eastern sun’s rays warmed and cleared the driveway across the street but by noon the now obscured sun’s rays from the west did not clear our drive.  We now have a rink we could rent out to a local hockey team.

I cannot say enough about the blessings of sunlight.  Neither can I say enough about the blessings of Sonlight. It is fascinating what it does and what it does not do.  Paul is a case study.   Prior to Sonlight he was an ambitious zealot.  After Sonlight he was an ambitious zealot.  Prior to Sonlight he was willing to kill for his cause.  After Sonlight he was willing to die for his cause.  Prior to Sonlight he used his incredible intellect to maintain an aged system of faith.  After Sonlight he used his incredible intellect to establish something totally new.  Prior to Sonlight he bragged of his own perfection.  After Sonlight he only had praise for the perfection of the Son.

What will Sonlight do for us?  Will it melt our iciness toward others?  Will it give us something in life worth dying for?   Will it make us sensitive to other’s pain?  Will Sonlight bleach out the stains of an old life?   Sonlight gives us new reasons to arise each morning?  Sonlight breeds within us an entirely new family history.  No longer are we the sons of Scotland or France.  Now we are the sons of the Living God who has made us princes and princesses of the entire universe.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 13, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Evolutionists cite our basic selfishness as the primary reason we exist.  The more selfish one is the more likely one will survive.  Our acts of charity toward the poor are rational selfishness.  Hungry people are dangerous people.  The French Revolution is a prime example of the selfish starving the masses to revolt and thus the rich taken to the guillotine.  Rational thought leads us to the knowledge that we need to keep the poor fed if we are to maintain our well-being.  Therefore, to give is intelligent self-survival.

However, the evolutionists have a difficult time explaining altruism.  The medic who in the midst of heavy fire continues to move about the battle field administering comfort to the wounded, the child who donates a kidney thinking he will die as a result of his gift, the Ebola doctors and nurses are samples of a continuous stream of altruism that threads its way through human history.  Altruism is perhaps the most unique human characteristic that indicates we are the product of a loving creator who said, “Let us make man in our image.”

Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than to lay down one’s life for a friend.”  In Romans 5:10 Paul tells us that Jesus died for us while we were His enemies.  We exist not because of selfishness but because of love.  Selfishness ultimately destroys. It is selfishness that gives birth to genocide.  It is selfishness that says my faith is better than yours; therefore, you must die. It is selfishness that makes Lucifer hate the saved.  If he can’t have it no one must have it.  Yet it was Jesus who said I have it and I will give it to you at any cost to myself.  He died. We live.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 12, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

When I was a little guy my father took me to a small fair at the edge of town.  I was captivated by what at that time in my life was the slickest fastest tongued man I had ever seen.  He was standing on a large box surrounded by people eager to buy his product.   It cured asthma, angina, constipation, sciatica, cataracts, diabetes and hepatitis. You name it. It cured it. Even though I didn’t know what most of those things were I wanted some.  My father was both amused and appalled at my gullibility.  I remembered this as I just now read a magazine article for a human growth hormone calling itself the reverse age miracle.  It appears that my snake oil salesman is still alive and is buying full page ads in magazines.  Nothing much has changed – only the promotional vehicle.

I have often wondered if what I have to offer the world is just a snake oil variation.  Or can I be like Paul?  Can I say, “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”  Surely there comes a time for all of us to admit to and to confront moments of wonder.  I did not say “doubt”.   I said “wonder.”  Wonder is halfway to doubt.  I am not afraid of my wonder.  I believe it makes me stronger to say with Paul this

mortal shall put on immortality and this corruption will put on incorruption.  Then all the promises of snake oil salesmen become truth.

Eleven of Jesus’ disciples died horrible deaths.  There is no way they would have done so for a made up story.  John wrote, “We handled the Lord of Glory with our own hands.”  Because they knew we too can know!  This isn’t snake oil.  This is the real deal.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 26, 2016

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

Rogerbothwell,org

 

 

Some of our most valuable possessions are our photo albums.  When today’s youth age they will sit and browse through electronic files of digital images of days gone by.  Those of us who have logged more than a few decades instead sit with crumbling paper albums filled with pasted fading brownish pictures of people standing straight with arms at their sides staring at the camera.  Under the pictures the person in the family with the nicest handwriting wrote in names and dates.  “Aunt Cora with Uncle Emil – 1911.”  It is the one thing we cannot replace when a home is destroyed.

I have grown up listening to preachers tell me that once in heaven I will not remember anything about earth.  They usually quote Isaiah 65:17, “The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.”  But where there is no memory there is no wisdom.  I do not think Isaiah was speaking of God performing some memory purge.  If that would be the case Jesus would not eternally bear the scars.  They are there lest we forget.  Surely all Isaiah was saying is we shall be so occupied with wondrous things we will not dwell on the past.  We have all had such wonderful days never once did we think of our troubles.  Heaven will not be burdened with memories of troubles but to forget will only cause us to repeat the foolishness that began all this woe.

History courses are a significant part of a good curriculum so each generation can do better than past generations.  There is a sweet nostalgia in browsing old photo albums.  Remembering the way we were adds to the richness of the way we are.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 8, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

My wife gave me a Fitbit for Christmas.  It is a small black band worn around my wrist.  Not only does it tell me the time and date, it also continually records my heart rate, the number of steps I take, the calories I burn, the number of times I climb stairs and how many hours I sleep down to the minute.  It even records at what moments I stir during the night.  It syncs with my computer that grafts all this data. It tells me I have a resting heart rate of 63.   On my daily walk there are some down hills and some steep up hills.  I can tell from the graphs generated what moment I started the ups by the increase in heart rate.  I know from my heart rate record when my dog stopped to sniff.  All this information is amazing.

One thing it does not do is number the hairs on my head.  That task is still left to God. But it is truly illustrative of how easy it can be for records to be kept in heaven of our daily activities – good and bad.  We do not have to rely on some angel’s memory or faithfulness to record things.  All the information can be recorded on and retrieved from a chip.  Isaiah talked about our sins being blotted out.  He was speaking metaphorically using the technology of his time.  Should Isaiah be alive today surely he would speak of God hitting the delete key or mouse clicking to the trash bin where they would be electronically shredded.

Whatever means one uses to describe the eradication of our sins is mere poetry.  The eradication itself is life and death.  Nothing could be more important.             I John 1:9.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 8, 2016

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

Rogerbothwell.org