Author: Ian Bothwell

My father wasn’t much of a handyman.  He was a school teacher.  That was what made his obsession with tools fascinating.  He loved to go to Sears just to buy tools.  He told me Sears had a lifetime replacement warranty on tools so those were the ones to buy.  You never knew when you are going to wear out a crescent wrench.  Most of what he brought home was never used.  But one never knows when one might need a super socket set. A man can never have too many tools.   The only tools my dad ever wore out were textbooks and other teaching tools.

In Ephesians 6 Paul speaks of military tools being used by Christians.  It’s interesting that he never used any tent-making analogies.  Jesus was well acquainted with tools from his carpentry years.  He did make reference to building on a rock or sand and He spoke about a man building a tower without doing a cost analysis.  He did speak about sawdust in your eye.  But He never did talk about His carpentry tools.  His new tools were His disciples.  If you are going to build the new kingdom it isn’t with an adz.  His tools aren’t saws and hammers they are you and me.

I like the idea of being a tool in the hands of the Master.  Maybe He needs you or me to do a very specific job just as some tools are very specialized.  Whatever it is I hope we do it well. As a result of my father’s tool obsession my shop area is well equipped.  There are some tools there I have no idea what they are.   But I have them just in case.  Perhaps Jesus keeps us ready just in case.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 13, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

This afternoon at Denny’s I watched a man order a breakfast special.  It came with a large stack of pancakes, a strip of bacon and a pile of scrambled eggs.   He was in my natural range of vision so I could watch as he put syrup on his pancakes.  Wow did he put on syrup.  He poured and poured and then poured some more.  He ended up with a little bit of pancake with his syrup.   Then he picked up the salt shaker for his eggs after he scarfed down his bacon.  He salted and salted and then salted some more.  He looked to be about my age and I could not imagine how he had lived so long if he always ate like that.  Then I thought maybe he is in his twenties and just looks my age.

When I pondered the definition of sin being anything that harms you or another, I had to conclude that I watched him sin.  But he would have said, “I didn’t break any of the Ten Commandments.”  And I would have said, “Yes, you did.  You were in the process of killing yourself.”  If we limit our definition of sin to the breaking of the Ten Commandments we have missed the principle under-girding the Commandments.  The principle is to do no harm.  He harmed.

So very piously I sat there mentally condemning this man while I thoroughly enjoyed my large chocolate milkshake down to the very last possible sip.  I am such a hypocrite.  Jesus would have said to me, “Judge not, that you be not judged.   Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 9, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

Old cigar boxes are wonderful because that’s where we can put all manner of useless stuff that’s too meaningful to throw away.  We have one containing some old political campaign buttons.   One says, “I like Ike.”   There is an Adlai Stevenson button, two Nixon buttons along with a Kennedy.

I had quite a debate once with someone who thought our memories would be wiped clean in heaven.  He based his position on Isaiah 65:17.  “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.”  I thought he was a bit nutty.  For what would be the use of this life and the lessons learned if we couldn’t remember anything?   The whole point of growing up is to learn and become a better person because of the mistakes and avoided mistakes of life.  If God was going to wipe our memories clean why not just start us out there and forget all this pain and suffering?

So what does Isaiah mean?  Have you ever had a great week somewhere that was so wonderful and so busy that you never even thought about anything else? It didn’t mean you couldn’t remember. You could if you needed to.  You just didn’t need to.  I actually think we get to have some of our meaningful useless treasures with us in heaven.  Cigar boxes filled with buttons and bows.  (My wife has her mother’s hair bow. It means a lot.)   But aren’t cigar boxes sinful?   No.  Things aren’t sinful.  People are.

Life is made up of memories.  The future hasn’t happened yet.  Now is but an instant.  99.999 percent of life is memories.  Without them we would be useless unprogrammed droids.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 11, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

One of my favorite things to do for the state university where I teach is to supervise student teachers in our local public schools.  This morning I was in a third grade with twenty students at the beginning of the school day.  A voice came over the intercom from the principal’s office asking the children to rise for the pledge of allegiance.  Instantly the children rose to attention.  We faced the flag, put our hands over our hearts and together we said those wonderful words.  It was a good feeling.

I felt a bit sad for the children whose church forbids them from doing so.  It is their loss.  I do appreciate why their church takes that stand.  They feel they are breaking the first commandment to take the pledge.  However, the commandment reads, “Thou shall have no other gods before me.”  Please note the words, “before me.”  God is not saying we should not revere and honor other things.  We just should not revere them above Him.  God is to be first in our lives.  We can have second and third and fourth and fifth things in our lives.  While I pledged my allegiance to my country I was not disavowing that my God came first.  The pledge, thanks to President Dwight Eisenhower in 1954, contains the words “under God”.   That means my pledge is under or lesser than my allegiance to God.

I wish the parents of the children who didn’t stand could understand that simple concept.   It would make their lives so much richer.  Then they could have that same wonderful feeling of belonging to a community larger than just the community where they worship.  It’s great to belong.  It is one of our fundamental human needs.  We were not made to be alone.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 13, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

It was cacophony.  The sounds of rap music, if you can call it music, (Wow, am I ever old!) were coming from the speakers in the ceiling and some fast talking adman was hawking Golden Oldies CDs from Time/Life on a television in the corner.  Since I was in a doctor’s office I was guessing someone was conducting research on patients, because no civilized doctor would or could have tolerated the noise.  I tried my best to focus on just one but the other continued to be extremely annoying.

I should be used to this by now.  All my life I have had two voices in my head competing for attention and loyalty.  There are two small voices and they are not always so small for they sometimes roar for compliance.  One promises immediate satisfaction not worrying about tomorrow and the other promises delaying gratification for a quieter but quality life.  Sometimes temptation for the immediate looks so delicious.

When Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness did He hear two voices or three?  (His own, Satan and the Holy Spirit.)   Did Jesus need the Holy Spirit or because He was 100 percent God was He strong enough on His own?   I am going to assert because he was also 100 percent human He, like us, needed the Holy Spirit.  (See Hebrews 4.  Tempted such as we.)

If you also have a cacophony in your head claim the promise in James 1, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”   That way you will be strong enough to make the right decision.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 12, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

For six weeks we had a very sick dog.  She was miserable.  Our problem was her nose was wet and cold.  Her mouth was nice and pink. Blood tests revealed strong normal organ functions.  And yet she walked ever so slowly with her tail and head competing to see which could droop lower.  She would cry in anticipation of being bumped.  Finally on the vet’s third visit (our vet makes house calls) she tested her for a disease that should have revealed itself with a fever and chills.  We were getting desperate.  Bingo.  There it was anaplasmosis.  She’s better now.

I have known people with “cold wet noses.” By all outward appearances they should have been having a great life.  They were physically healthy, financially stable, had a great career, had great personal relationships and yet they were miserable. They didn’t know what was wrong. Finally we found it.  They were so happy they were miserable.  I know it sounds impossible.  It is the ultimate oxymoron.  They were miserable because they had Solomon’s disease.  They had no meaning in their lives.  They were afraid it was all going to come to an end.

The truth is it was going to end because they had never met Jesus.  No matter how successful and how well managed our lives can be, they will end.  All the IRA’s, all the education, all the endowments given, all mean nothing in the grand scheme of things unless we can be assured of always being in the Grand Scheme of Things.  In John 5 Jesus promises us we can cross over from death to life.  Eternity is ours.  It is then and only then that everything has real meaning.  It is then that we experience true happiness.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 12, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

This weekend after waiting for my turn at a four-way stop it was finally my turn to go when on the edge of my peripheral vision I caught movement. As I quickly retreated my foot from the accelerator, a young man on a bicycle hurled past the front of my hood and was gone on down the road never knowing how close he came to not becoming an older man.  Why when coming to a busy intersection would he even begin to think the stop signs were not for him?

Why would people even think God’s commandments are not pertinent after the cross?  What did we think was God’s purpose for giving us His law?  His law is the loving concern of a parent for young children who are not experienced enough with life to know the consequences of murder, theft, etc. God’s laws are there to keep us from harm and from harming others.   Those consequences did not change because God made provision for our foolishness.   Just as that bicyclist was foolish and stupid so are we when we think His laws don’t matter anymore.

When Paul speaks of them being nailed to the cross he was referring to them as a means of salvation.  Salvation only comes from Jesus and His sacrifice.  There is no other way.  Jesus even said, “I am the way.”   Paul was not saying we don’t have to obey.  What he was saying is keeping or trying to keep them will never save us.  Actually, we can disobey if we want the consequences of disobedience to rain upon us.  The consequences didn’t change.  God does forgive us for our foolishness but He also lets us reap the now consequences of our disregard for his wisdom.  The law is a teacher, a professor, an expert on survival in a dangerous world.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 11, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

His name is Jonathan Goldsmith and he has been called, “The most interesting man in the world.”  He is a pitchman for a product I best not mention.  But I call attention to him because of how he closes his commercials.  His ruggedly handsome bearded face looks into the camera and he says to us, “Stay thirsty, my friends.”

Jesus said in John 4, “”Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”   And in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

And in Revelation 7 we read about the redeemed standing before God being described as follows, “Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sits on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”

There is an irony here.  In order for us to be led to the living fountains, in order for us to drink the water springing up to eternal life requires us to be thirsty.  We must want it.  We must never be satisfied until we drink it.  Each day we must drink.  And so in the words of Jonathan Goldsmith, “Stay thirsty, my friends” and Jesus will satisfy.

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 23, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Today we drove north from New York City to the west of Boston.  It was one of the top ten most beautiful trips I have ever made. Someone had splashed the landscape with a trillion cans of orange, red, yellow and bronze paint.  When the sun shone on walls of color the atmosphere itself glowed.  At one point as we neared a tunnel we were swallowed by color not only on both sides but also on the mountain in front of us.

As our leaves are rapidly coming to their end I wondered why is it as we near our end that we could not go out in a blaze of glory.  Instead we grow pale.  Our hair, if we have any left, goes mousey gray.   I know only two people with really white hair.  Our skin wrinkles.  It is difficult to stand up straight.  We shuffle.  Do you remember the song, “Old soldiers never die. They just fade away.”?  I’m fading.  I find myself wishing I were a leaf.

I found myself smiling this morning at a lady who must have spent a fortune on a complete reconstruction of her face but she forgot to do her hands.  It looked strange to see a sixty face with twenty hair sporting a pair of eighty-five hands.

Fortunately, unlike the leaves which end in glory, we will begin again in glory and retain it.  When we are a thousand with a thirty face and thirty hands (I’m guessing thirty is prime.) we have no need of the plastic man.  We will never need the plastic man because we will always have Jesus, the resurrection and the life and the sustainer of life evermore.  John 3:16  promises, “shall have everlasting life.”  How grand!

Written by Roger Bothwell on October 25, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I’m sure you are as happy as I that the current political campaign is over. “Oh, what a relief it is.”  This afternoon our present Massachusetts governor and our governor elect had a joint press conference.  Being that they are of different parties some members of the press pressed them with questions like, “During the campaign some harsh words were spoken.  What…”  Our present governor immediately and continually cut them off with the following response.  “The campaign is over.”  He must have repeated it a half dozen times until the press got the message.  “The campaign is over.”

That is a class act that should be emulated by all of us.  We have all had conflicts with others.  But there comes a time to stop.  There comes a time to say, “It’s over” and get on with a productive relationship.  Why do we so often hang on to slights or worse and let those things make us miserable for years that follow?  When we stop and think about it, if we really think about it, it is stupid because we are then making our own lives miserable. It isn’t the other.  It is us.  We are doing it to ourselves.

Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.…”  Your life will be better.  The other’s life will be better.  Everyone wins.  Jesus knows us so well.  Christianity is about the quality of life, now and forever.  Don’t forget the now part.  “The campaign is over.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 6, 2014

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

Rogerbothwwell.org