Author: Ian Bothwell

On January 8th 1956 Jim Eliot along with four other young men were killed in Ecuador by the very people they were seeking to evangelize.  A memorable statement was found in his journal.  “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”  It is a variation of a line written in 1699 by Philip Henry, Matthew Henry’s father.  “He is no fool who parts with that which he cannot keep, when he is sure to be recompensed with that which he cannot lose.”

Through the years this thought pops into my head at the least provocation.  Today I got this month’s copy of Popular Mechanics and once again I thought of it as I read the cover article, “Survival Secrets – 20 Fatal Mistakes.”  It tells us how to cope with dangerous situations. But it neglected to tell us how to cope with the reality that we all will die somewhere, somehow.  So I will.  You and I are going to die.  Now comes the very big and huge HOWEVER.  However, when we accept Jesus we instantly crossover from death to life. John 5.  Jesus, the one who never lies, said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”  John 11

I do understand why Popular Mechanics did not mention this. But I would be remiss if I did not. Jesus – The Resurrection is the headliner of our lives.  As Jim Eliot said this is something we cannot lose. No one can snatch it from us. It is the gift that keeps on giving forever and ever and ever and ever.  Please don’t make the really fatal mistake of not accepting the gift.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 11, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

It’s interesting to see what becomes of churches that are sold.  Some remain churches but others become almost anything.  A church we built in Calhoun, GA. became a bank. This afternoon I passed a church that now serves as a martial arts center. If we think of martial arts as being the skill to defeat others in physical combat, there is an irony involved.  If we think of martial arts as learning the ability to defend oneself there is an interesting correlation with the church’s original intent.  Peter tells us in his first epistle, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Let’s be honest. We are no match for Satan.  He has been around for the entire history of earth. He knows people and how to defeat us.  We need self-defense.

Actually self-defense really is a poor term to use because we can never learn enough to be a match for him. However, Psalm 91 is very reassuring. There is a defense for us.  “If you say, ‘The LORD is my refuge,’ and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent.  For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.”

We can never forget Daniel’s response to the king after Daniel spent the night with some very hungry lions.  “My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me.”  Awesome.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 13, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Today I heard someone use the word “fetching” as in “She is very fetching.”  I think it has been years, perhaps decades, since I have heard that word.  Words are like clothes and haircuts.  They go out of fashion.  When I sit down to write I have different piles of words on my desk.  There is a pile of nouns and a pile of verbs.  Then there are piles of adverbs and piles of adjectives.  There is no end to the various ways they can be assembled into sentences. “Fetching” is in the adjective pile.   However, if we remove the “ing” the result is “fetch.”  Then it moves over to the verb pile.  “My dog is a retriever but does not know it.  She will not “fetch.”

Perhaps “fetching” has grown old because of the women’s movement. It sounds pejorative.  I am reminded of Samson saying to his father.  “The woman pleases me.  Get (fetch) her for me.”  It sounds so much better to say she is lovely, pretty or beautiful.

One thing for sure is God does not fetch us.  He could.  He is all powerful.  Instead He comes to us. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.”  Talk about respect.  He will never force us to come nor will He force His way on us.  He is inviting.  He woos.  He loves us and longs for our company but He knows what love is.  Love cannot be forced or fetched.  Love draws.  Love creates desire.  If you have not read I Corinthians 13 recently, do so.  Delight yourself by reading it in a few different translations for different nuances.  God is not self-seeking.  All that He does He does for us.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 25, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I am sitting here staring at a blank piece of paper.   It is wonderful.  It is potential.  It is something grand waiting to happen.  It is a poem or perhaps an essay.  It is a Pulitzer prize waiting to happen.  There is a wonderful children’s song that goes something like this.  “I am a P.  I am a PO.  I am a POT.  I think you know where it is headed.  While a child is not a blank they can indeed be molded, inspired and transformed into something marvelous by recognizing and utilizing their talents.

I bristle when I hear people trying to motivate children by telling them they can be anything they desire.  All they have to do is want it bad enough to work hard.  That is just not true. There are limits for everyone. I never could have been a gold medalist marathon winner at the Olympic Games.  I didn’t choose the right parents.  My legs are too short to compete with long legged runners.  I have IQ limits that keep me from being another Einstein.  I have creativity limits that keep me from being a Shakespeare.

But what we all can be is far more wonderful than any of the above.  We all can be citizens of God’s Kingdom.  We can all live forever.  We can grow forever and surely then there will be no limits because time will no longer be a limitation.  We can all have our sins forgiven.  We can all learn to be the kindest, most caring person in our environment.   Those wonders have no connection to our short legs or average IQ.   What we are is a “POTENTIALITY.”   We have no idea how wonderful we will be.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 24, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

One of my favorite boyhood possessions was a snow globe my dad bought for me at Niagara Falls.  I would sit by my bedroom window and turn it over and over making it snow inside that little glass world.  It didn’t matter what the weather was outside my window.  I could make it snow any time I wanted as long as I had my snow globe.  It was a little world inside my big world; which is like our personal world inside the world at large.  The world at large is filled with hustle and rushing and wars and endless strife.  We have the power to create our own personal world.  We can fill it with Jesus and create a pre-heaven.

Revelation 3:20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”   Once we let Him in things change.  Our personal world is filled with peace and we are sheltered from the strife of the outside world.  We can watch the news and see what is happening in the outside world but we don’t have to let it change our personal world with Jesus.

When we accept Jesus we are adopted into God’s family.  We become citizens of God’s Kingdom and can begin to reap the benefits of citizenship.  Our personal world can be such that when we move to heaven it will be but a change of address more than a change of atmosphere.  It is amazing what power God shares with us. We don’t have to let the world tell us how to live.  Real living can be grand inside our personal world.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 23, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

There is a location on our evening walk where the wind blows the leaves into a pile.   Each night while my dog walks around the pile I shuffle my feet through it  making as much of a mess as possible.  Some nights I even turn around and do it again.  My wife nailed it when she said, “Are you being a little boy again?” I think somewhere in heaven there is a secret location with a workbench, saws, hammers, planes, sawdust, finished and unfinished products.  Guess who frequents it.  I doubt if we will be invited in.  This is special.

Going back to special places can be risky.  We have memories of how something was and we risk it not being that way when we return.   Real estate developers, highway construction, growth or decay of trees and painters can transform a place so that it is little like we recall.  Then it is spoiled for us.   As I race down an interstate highway I often wonder what farms, barns, houses, special places are no more because of Eminent Domain and our rush to go somewhere.  When people lose their homes because of fire or flood I feel so sorry if they lost their pictures.  Couches and chairs can be replaced but not pictures filled with memories of bringing home those babies and watching them take their first steps.

John 14 is intriguing.  Could it be that those homes uniquely prepared for us are filled with photo albums, special pets, an old train set, a pair of worn-out sneakers?  Don’t quickly count it out.  I Corinthians 2:9 does say, “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived — the things God has prepared for those who love him.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 22, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

The brownish, reddish, yellowish leaf danced outside my window.  Up and down in the autumn air it pirouetted with all the flourishes of a ballerina.  Having let go of its branch it was not about to settle to the earth without one last performance – one last encore.  Could I, by applause, have kept it dancing I would have clapped until my hands grew weary.  Masterfully it pretended to be a butterfly reeling above the asters as if it wanted just one more sip – one last draft of nectar sweet.  Just as I thought the recital was concluded when it neared the lawn, up it soared for yet another performance – another presentation of beauty.  Did it know it was being admired?  Did it know I wanted it never to end?  No – this was beauty for beauty’s sake.  This was the springtime violet that would never be seen by human eye.  This was the summer’s daylily behind a rock wall.  This was beauty created when God said, “That is very good.”

Our God is a God of beauty.  He breathes into us the lushishness of life that we might see what He sees and rejoice with that which causes Him to rejoice.  Beauty comes in many forms.  It is exterior.  It is interior.   To create inner beauty is to become more like our God.  Character building is more important than all the cosmetics in Macys.

Everybody is beautiful to somebody.  The secret is love.   The more we love someone the more beautiful they grow.  Considering that Jesus loves us enough to go to the cross for us means only one thing.  We are looking good.   When God looks at us He sings Joe Cocker’s “You are so beautiful.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 21, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Our squirrels have disappeared.  There is neither a gray nor a red anywhere to be seen. I’m not sure that I mind.  They ate an enormous amount of expensive bird seed and for that their absence makes me happy.  But, I really would like to know what happened. Does my neighbor have better tasting birdseed than what I provide?  A few years ago I saw a red fox grab a red squirrel off our patio.  Do we have another fox or has the neighborhood coyote gotten them?  The neighborhood is full of rabbits this summer so the coyote should be doing quite well.  I saw him recently and he is looking well fed.  We also have a cooper’s hawk who, on occasion, watches the bird feeder.  Aha, about three weeks ago there was a bobcat just outside the window.

It is a mystery I will most likely never solve. Most people like mysteries. The mystery section at Barnes and Noble is huge.  Somewhere in my elementary years I thoroughly enjoyed Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works.  Agatha Christie has been dead since 1976 and is still one of the world’s most read authors.  Her estate claims she is the third most read author after the Bible and Shakespeare having sold over 4 billion books.  Paul enjoyed speaking of the mystery of salvation and redemption.  His mysteries are not whodunits.  God did it!  But why did He do it?   Over and again He speaks of the mystery of Christ and that now in this generation God has revealed to us the knowledge of His love.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 16, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

It is often said the sweetest revenge is to live well and be happy.  It is a variation on a verse most familiar.  From the 23rd Psalm we read, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”  Even as a child I knew there was a tinge of “in your face” to this verse. There is a touch here of God saying, “Back off.  Go live your life with my blessing. I’ll take care of the revenge.”  In Romans 12 Paul wrote, “‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. ‘To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’”

If there is someone who really doesn’t like you, if there is someone who wishes your life would totally collapse, don’t worry about them.  Send them a magazine subscription.  Then they will think of you at least once a month.  Pray for their good health.  If something needs to happen to them God will do the right thing.  If we tried we would do the wrong thing.  We aren’t smart enough to do the right thing when we are emotionally involved.

How grand it is that we have this amazingly brilliant God who knows exactly what Joe Blow needs. If he needs to see us prospering God will lay incredible blessings on us.  While we are living the high life just remember that God also loves Joe Blow.  Yes, God loves our enemies.  Remember once upon a time we were God’s enemies and Jesus died for us anyway. Romans 5:10

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 17, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

They were cherry tomatoes and they looked especially good in the afternoon sunlight.  I was walking my dog and one of my neighbors has a garden that abuts the street.  The tomatoes were on the curb which is city property and I pay my taxes; therefore, it seemed that the tomatoes were in public domain.  Accompanying my salivation came the thought that in Mark 2 Jesus’ disciples plucked some grain to eat from fields that did not belong to them.  It was lawful for a hungry traveler to pick a handful of grain.  Is this ancient law germane in the 21th Century?  Was it morally right for me to harvest a handful of cherry tomatoes to satisfy my hunger?

If I ate them I probably would feel guilty.  I would awaken in the night thinking I needed to knock on my neighbor’s door and confess my larceny.  That was the heart of the matter. It was not a matter of law.  It was a matter of what I thought might be wrong.  James wrote, “Therefore to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin.”  I think the reverse logic is logical.  To him that thinks it is wrong and does it, it is wrong.  It might not be wrong.  But if we think it is and still do it, it has all the damaging effects as if it really was wrong.

To add a bit more context to this.  The garden belongs to one of the pastors in town.  I have in the past talked with her about her garden and she has given me eating rights. But I know many of my neighbors walk their male dogs along that curb.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 18, 2013

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

Rogerbothwell.org