Author: Ian Bothwell

Every Thursday my grandson hosts a radio program on the Elon University radio station in North Carolina.   Today while on the air his sister called him from New York to discuss music.  I then texted him to ask her to say Hi to me.  She did.  So there we were.  I was in Massachusetts getting a hello from my granddaughter in New York via a radio program in North Carolina by using texting and who knows how many satellites.  Can anyone even begin to think that God doesn’t have the technology to hear our prayers on earth while He is in heaven?

Actually He doesn’t need technology.  While He is in heaven He is also here.  His characteristic of being everywhere at once makes it possible for Him to always hear us no matter where we are.  One of my favorite passages is Psalm 139, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.  Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”  Poor old Jonah discovered there is nowhere God isn’t.

Reality is we do not even have to vocalize our prayers.  He hears our thoughts. “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”  Romans 8

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 13, 2015

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

rogerbothwell.org

According to the dictionary the word “compassion” means having a deep understanding of another’s suffering coupled with a desire to alleviate the suffering.  On seven different occasions Matthew and Mark describe Jesus as having compassion.

In Matthew 9:35-36 we read, “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

In other New Testament passages Jesus showed compassion to particular persons.  But in Matthew 9 His compassion was expressed in general terms.  It is fairly easy to have compassion for a specific person.  When we see someone face to face and are confronted with his or her need it is normal to want to help.  But it is not normal to have compassion for the faceless crowd.  If you were told there were ten thousand hungry children in Uganda you would most likely reply, “That’s too bad” yet do nothing.  But if you were introduced to a real, starving child you would reach deep into your pocket to help.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 7, 2001

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

rogerbothwell.org

 

Many years ago I along with some friends decided to climb to the top of the Mountains of the Moon.  (The Ruwenzori Mountains in Uganda)  Not being foolish by finding a trailhead and heading up on our own, we hired a guide.  When we started out the guide pointed up the trail and told us he would be along in a while.  “But wait,” I said to him, “shouldn’t you go first.”  Looking at me he said, “My job is to get all of you safely to the top.  If I am in front I don’t know what has happened behind me.  I will be the last one into camp each night.”  And so he was.  Three days later we all were safely on top standing on the equator at noon on July 4 in a howling snow storm. This ranks near the very top of one of my best learned and most important lessons in life.

While Jesus says, “I am the Way” and “follow me”, he has an advantage our mountain guide did not have.  Jesus knows where we are all the time.  He can both lead and follow at the same time.  Jesus is the Super Guide.

One of the things I noted when we were on the top of the mountain was there were dangerous snow curls hanging over the edges of cliffs and it would have been very easy to inadvertently walk out onto one and thus plunge to one’s death.  Life is full of such deathtraps.  Once again our Super Guide knows exactly where they are and if we follow Him we can be sure to safely miss each one.  “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 12, 2015

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

rogerbothwell.org

 

 

While sitting at my desk I can hear winter retreating before the advancement of spring.  There are drips of water falling from the foot of snow from our roof unto the copper covering of the window behind me.   The dripping sound reinforces the clichéd name Old Man Winter.   Little by little winter is losing its grip.  While it is true we could possibly get yet another snow storm it would be like a delusional old man pretending he is still attractive to young ladies.  Winter is doomed to become history.

I just paid a Massachusetts excise tax on my car.  It is true.  Taxes and death are a surety.  Just as the taxman cometh so does our local mortician.  Old Man Winter and I have much in common.  His strength is ebbing and so is mine.  Lest I sound overly morbid I need to say I have an advantage over Old Man Winter.  He is doomed.  Quite to the contrary I am not for I know something he does not know.  I know about Jesus.  Oh to joy.

This ebbing of strength, this graying of hair (what is left), is only a temporary condition.  Soon my man-made knees will be replaced and I will leap and fly like an eagle. “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”  Isaiah 40:31.   The really good part is that will be an eternal condition.  Last week I sat behind a man my age and looked at his full head of hair and I thought, “You just wait.  I too will be like that again.”   Following Jesus is loaded with benefits.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 11, 2015

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

rogerbothwell.org

 

This past weekend I commented to someone about how very kind and generous another person was.  The response I received was, “Yes, but did you know he doesn’t believe exactly the way we do.”

That response set off a flurry of thoughts. I don’t know where to begin.  But I’ll try.  #1. I wasn’t talking about the person’s theology.  I was commenting on his character.  #2. The negativity sought to cancel the positive. #3. Should the nice person’s theology matter at all?   #4. The heresy police are still with us.  #5.  Is orthodoxy more important than character?  #6.  I doubt if any of us believe “exactly” like another.  Does that make us all heretics to each other?

It is not that I think truth is unimportant.  It is indeed.  Without truth we would be at sea without a rudder.  What I do want to emphasize is priorities?   Character ranks above all else.   A person with character is safe to be near even if he is not orthodox.  A person steeped in truth can be dangerous if he does not have a Christ-like character.

Jesus never said, “Hereby shall men know you are my disciples if you have all truth.”  What He did say was, “Hereby shall men know you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”

And finally, which one of us knows all things exactly right?  When we get to heaven we are going to get a lesson in what is really right from the One who knows all things. The irony in this is I am espousing a truth that people are more important that dogma which makes it part of my dogma.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 10, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I have heard that we can add 11 minutes to our lives by petting a dog.   If so I need only to pet my dog 131 times each day to live forever.  I’m all set.  It’s a wonder she isn’t bald from all the rubbing.  Now I just have to get my wife to do the same and in 48 more years we will celebrate our centennial wedding anniversary.

Fifty years ago people used to say every aspirin one took subtracted 11 minutes from their life.  My response used to be, “Who would want to live for 11 more minutes with a raging headache?”

On my mother’s 90th birthday she made a secret wish.  She wouldn’t tell but I always knew what it was.  She wanted to live to be 100.   She made it to 97.

My wish is much more ambitious.  I never want to die.  Therefore I choose to take Jesus up on His promise to Mary and Martha.  “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.’”  Sounds good to me.   The French philosopher Blaise Pascal used to say if we trust Jesus on this we have everything to gain.  And if Jesus wasn’t telling the truth we have nothing to lose by believing Him.

So as I sit here with my dog pressed close to my legs, taking an aspirin for a slight headache, I choose to, and I urge you to also choose with me, to take Jesus up on His promise.   What a wonderful way to live.   Being a Christian is the best.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 9, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Do you every wonder how it is that evil people and good people are members of the same species?  The human mind is by far the most mysterious thing on earth.  It sits behind the eyes and holds within its folds the universe.  It receives a continuous stream of data and processes it into consciousness and self-awareness.  That consciousness transforms into an “I.”  “I” then make highly selective choices as to how “I” will respond to all that sensory stimuli.

There are some who believe that what we do with self is already determined and we have no real freedom.  There are others who have concluded that we have absolute freedom and power to choose what we will be.  Perhaps reality is somewhere in the middle.  A Volkswagen brain cannot will itself to become a Mercedes.  But it can will itself to be the very best Volkswagen brain ever.  We are limited by our physical inheritance.  But we can train, we can alter, we can discipline, we can hone our minds as a body builder strengthens and defines his biceps.  We can feed our brain quality thoughts and exercise it by contemplating character-building ideas.

Paul says, “Let this mind be in you that was in Jesus Christ.”  Philippians 2:5.  Paul also says, “I in Christ and Christ in me.”  Jesus wants to be our personal trainer.  He wants to guide us into a more excellent state of thought and consciousness. He wants us to think heavenly ideas and intellectually soar above the crowd.  The freedom to be such is ours to choose.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 8, 2001

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

rogerbothwell.org

As you can imagine with several feet of snow beginning to melt (spring is only two weeks away) there are streams of water running down our New England streets often hiding this year’s new crop of potholes.  Potholes are nature’s way of telling us we do not have its permission to drive cars.  It’s the most wonderful time of the year for businesses that sell tires.  Last week when I picked up our car from the shop the mechanic had it all washed and shiny.  That was a labor of futility.   By the time I got to the first traffic light the car was covered with salty, gritty, muddy water.  He really should not have bothered to clean it.

This is so much like our attempts to be righteous and have a clean heart.  We are living in a world of moral potholes filled with sinful gritty slime designed to keep us dirty.  I once had a church member who told me how good he was because he prayed three times every day and asked for God to forgive him his sins.  He felt like he could go six hours or so without sinning and thus he could stay clean by praying so often.  Really?  That would be like me washing my car three times a day while continuing to drive on our city streets.

Part of the problem was his understanding of sin.  He thought sin was an act, a deed or some kind of performance.  Sin is much more than that.  Sin is a condition.   Sin is a state of being.  Sin is selfishness that oozes from our almost every thought. This is why Paul tells us in I Corinthians 15 that corruption must put on incorruption before we go to heaven.  Until that happens we are indeed forgiven but we are forgiven sinners.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 6, 2015

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

rogerbothwell.org

Good chess players not only anticipate their opponent’s next move but their opponent’s next several moves.  A good player knows a fairly innocuous looking move might not appear dangerous in the immediate future but could be the key to victory as it sets the stage for a later devastating attack.  A game can be lost several moves back, but the loser did not know it then.  He did not know where he was led until it was too late.

In 1 Peter 5:8 we read, “Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”  Peter did not know about chess but he surely knew about lions.  If he had known about chess he might have written, “Your enemy the devil schemes like a grand master seeking to devour you.”  He is patient.  He has a lifetime to get us.  He can plant a seed now and water it knowing the ultimate fruit of an idea or action.

Psalms 1:1 tells us to be careful where we walk, where we stand and where we sit down for this is the progression of disaster.  The walking seems so innocent.  The standing is just satisfying curiosity.  The sitting is the fruit.  We need to be so careful because the grand master of evil is playing for our souls.  How reassuring to know the true champion Jesus Christ is playing on our side.  As Paul says, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”  Romans 8:37

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 4, 2003

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

rogerbothwell.org

My hands have become my father’s hands.  When I see what protrudes from my shirt sleeves I am transported to another time and place.  These hands I bear are no longer the hands of my youth but are the hands of my father’s seventies.

My father was a school teacher and he should have had school teacher’s hands but for years he worked two jobs.  At night he worked in the steel mills in central Pennsylvania to come home in the morning and get ready to go teach.  Those years his hands were the hands of a laborer.  It was his seventies hands that I now have.

If I had looked closely I think I would have seen something I missed.  In Isaiah 49:16 God says to us, “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”  I wasn’t smart enough to look carefully for had I been I would have seen my name and my sisters’ names etched in the calluses forged from working eighty hours a week for years on end.  Alas, how often we get smart too late.

Isaiah 45:12 God says, “It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it.  My own hands stretched out the heavens: I marshaled their starry hosts.”

Are we not humbled and thrilled to grasp the immensity of His grandeur and yet feel the intimacy of His care?   Often in life we feel we have been wronged and no one cares.  We could not be more wrong.  He cares. He didn’t just write our names on His hands with ink that would fade.  Oh no.  He engraved our names in His hands.  This Father relationship is a forever relationship.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 5, 2015

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

rogerbothwell.org