Author: Ian Bothwell

There is an interesting YouTube of a man on a street trying to sell a $50 Canadian gold coin for $25.  No one will buy it.  He is even standing near a store that buys gold so someone could go inside and check its value.  No one will do that.  At one point he offered to trade it for a bottle of water someone was carrying and he was unable to trade it. The coin weighed an ounce and gold was then selling for $1500 an ounce.  Many people refused the offer by saying, “I’m good.”

In Revelation 3:18 God calls for His last day church, Laodicea, to buy His gold so it can be truly rich.  The gold He offers are the riches of spiritual understanding. He so wants us to grasp the wonders of having an ever growing good character as we become more and more like Him.  It is so easy to be comfortably content with where we are.  We say and mean it.  “I don’t want to harm people.  I don’t want to steal from them.  I want the best for others.” However, there is so much more.  There is an incredible peace that continues to grow as we watch the world go mad about us.  There are philosophies and mental riches that come with a friendship with Jesus.

Like the people who refused the gold coin by saying “I’m good” we just don’t get it.  They didn’t buy the coin because they didn’t understand the value they were being offered.   We don’t spend the time in prayer and study because we just don’t grasp the value of what we are being offered.  So who is the biggest loser?

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 14, 2015

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

Rogeerbothwell.org

 

Do you ever wakeup about 4 AM with a parched mouth?  You want to roll over and go back to sleep but something cool and refreshing slipping over your dry lips would be an oasis.  The longer you wait the more intense the thirst.  Finally you head down the stairs for the kitchen.  Now the real dilemma begins. In the darkness illuminated only by tiny LEDs scattered about the room you put your hand on the handle of the fridge.  You have tried to keep your eyes half closed as to remain in a semi-stupor so going back to sleep would be easier.   If you could only just crack open the fridge door but you have open it wide enough to get your arm inside and maneuver.

How is it that a forty watt bulb can produce a burst of light equivalent to the first atom bomb blast at Los Alamos?   It isn’t just your eyes?  Even your skin reacts as the light rays push the wrinkles out of your face.  Reeling and staggering away from the light you try to back up to the open fridge as not to be permanently blinded.  You put in your arm without really looking directly into the heart of the “sun.”  I know where the sun goes when it goes down at night.  It sleeps in my fridge.

It is no wonder God cautioned Moses not to look at His face.  Surely the light would have incinerated Moses.

There are two kinds of light.  Too much too fast of either can harm.  Books and knowledge must be dispensed carefully.  In ancient times Hebrew children were forbidden to read certain chapters in Scripture.  Light in due time.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 10, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

There are times that David makes me gasp in astonishment.  In Psalm 26 he wrote, “Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have led a blameless life, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. 2 Test me, O LORD, and try me; examine my heart and my mind. . . .  6 I wash my hands in innocence, . . . 11 But as for me, I lead a blameless life, redeem me, and be gracious to me.  12 My feet stand on level ground; in the great assembly I will bless the LORD.”   This comes from a man who ravaged Philistine villages and killed everyone, even children, lest they identify him to his Philistine host.  This is a man who had one of his mighty men killed because he, David, wanted the man’s wife. On his deathbed he tells his sons to kill someone. Perhaps I could understand this better if he would have ascribed his innocence to God’s forgiveness but he brags of “my integrity.”

Granted he was brave.  He was a magnificent poet. He was a good musician. But he was far from innocent.  I find myself wondering what magnificent things David would have written if he had known Jesus and had read the writings of Paul who called himself “Chief of Sinners”.   If David understood Christ our righteousness and the cost involved in truly making us innocent he would have waxed ever so more eloquent about our God.   We shall stand tall in the integrity of Jesus.  Our sins will not only be forgiven but blotted out.  We shall, like David, sing of integrity, but it will not be ours.  But wait.  Yes, it will be ours.  It is a gift and after a gift is given to us it is ours.

 

Written by Roger Bothwell on Sept. 12, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

In our little city and most likely also in yours there are markings on the street for bikers where there are traffic lights.  If you are on a bike and want the light to detect you so it will turn green for you, you have to stop on that marking.  It’s a pretty good system.  We live in a fascinating age of electronics detecting us.  Electronics in department stores can profile us as we move about and they can instantly change the ads we see to cater to our profile.   Our homes have electronic sensors that warn us when someone is moving about where they are not supposed to be.

We are being watched. But that is not new.  God has been watching us from the moment we were conceived.  We can’t hide.  Jonah tried.  That was wasted effort.  Psalm 139 tells us, “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.”  When I was small I was told my angel would not go certain places with me.  If I wanted to go I was on my own.  Really?  Just when I needed him/her/it the most I was abandoned?  If this were true it seems Satan would take the opportunity to do away with us.

God watches over us as a mother hen watches her chicks.  And we don’t have to stand on a prescribed mark like the biker at the traffic light.  Our comings and goings are His concern.  If this is so why then do bad things happen to good people?  We don’t know.  Horrible things happen every day that are not God’s will. But this one thing I do know.  He will in love more than make it right.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 11, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I grew up in central Pennsylvania and like every area (especially before television standardized American English) we had our own colloquialisms.  “It’s all” meant it’s finished like when Porky Pig says, “That’s all Folks.”   Or as in “That’s all she wrote.”  It wasn’t until I lived in other places when I would say, “It’s all” people would look at me waiting for me to finish the sentence.  They wanted me to say, “It’s all right” or “It’s all I can do” or “It’s all the ways it can be said.”  But I was finished speaking when I said, “It’s all” because it was over.  There wasn’t any more pizza.  It was all, not all together, all gone, all.

I have a treat jar on my desk and my dog comes and begs.  She can really give me the “I’m so hungry look. I really, really need a treat.”  But when I tell her “It’s all” she walks away.  Even dogs understand what “It’s all” means.

We are waiting for the promises of Jesus to be fulfilled.  We are waiting for the time when we “shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” Matthew 24.  There will be no time left.  It will be over.  Nations will have waged their last war.  People will have abused their last child.  Terrorists will have cut off their last head because finally our God, the maker of heaven and earth, the king of kings, the lord of lords will stand up and say, “It’s all!”

Written by Roger Bothwell on Sept. 10, 2014

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

Roger Bothwell.org

 

We have some very nice neighbors who for many years we pass on our evening walks.  We stop and chat.  We know tons about them.  We know where they work and what they do.  We know about their sons and what college courses they are taking.  We know when they bought their home and what they paid for it.  There is just one really important thing we don’t know.  We don’t know their names.  I’m also sure they do not know our names.  I really should ask them and tell them ours but it seems so awkward after knowing them for years.  Some evenings when we walk past their house and we are sure they haven’t come home yet from work I am tempted to look in their mailbox to read their names on their mail.  I would probably be caught and arrested.

Can we call them our friends?  I don’t think so.  I don’t think you can call someone your friends if you don’t even know their names.   Ever since I have been a little guy I have loved John 15:15.  Jesus said, “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”   Jesus doesn’t keep secrets from us.  If we want to know what God is thinking we should study the teachings of Jesus.  I grew up singing the song I Come to the Garden Alone.  The refrain says, “And He walks with me and He talks with me and He tells me I am his own.”  Those are sweet words especially when they come from someone who knows our name and a whole lot more.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 9, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

It was fifty years ago this past weekend when I first became a pastor.  My wife and I left the seminary in late August and went off for our new adventure.  Everything we owned was in a 5 by 7 foot U-Haul trailer as we rolled out of Michigan on our way to Iowa.  I can’t tell you how excited I was that first Sabbath morning.  I can’t tell you how puzzled those church members were to try and understand why the conference would send them a child to be their pastor.  They loved us and bragged that they trained us.  They did.  They taught me more than I ever learned at the seminary.

Most of them are gone now and when I see them in heaven they will have to reintroduce themselves to me because so many of them were old when I first met them and in heaven they will be young again.  Perhaps we will all have to reintroduce ourselves to each other because Paul says in I Corinthians 15, “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.  It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: . . .”  We are going to look so good.  Move over George Clooney.  You ain’t seen nothin yet.

I had one ninety-year-old guy who wore a Band-Aid on his forehead to keep his eyelid up.  If he didn’t it just fell closed.  I so want to see him in his prime.  We have so much to look forward to.  Once we understand and catch a glimpse of our future we just cannot let it go.  We would be so foolish.

Written by Roger Bothwell on Sept. 8, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

They appeared to be in their twenties and seemed to be very enamored.  They (and I say this as tenderly as possible) appeared to be on the lower side of gifted.  Perhaps challenged is the correct word.  They were at Burger King and their hugging and kissing were bothering some of the customers.  They were not being aggressively disgusting just displaying a lot of passion with their affections to each other.

Several years ago I had a similar situation occur regularly in church during the worship services.  While the situation in Burger King was almost sweet, such a display in church really bothered me.  Perhaps it was because I was preaching and was trying to keep the congregation’s attention.

Being associated with universities through the years I learned intelligence comes in so many levels and areas.  I had faculty members not come to church when I was preaching because they knew I would not challenge them.  They really were very smart.  The smarter you are the fewer people you can talk with without boring them.  I am amazed that God is interested in talking with us.  He knows and understands everything.  What can we tell Him?   How do we interest Him? I think my dog is very smart but really our conversations are very limited.

God’s fascination with us is our capacity to grow.  Just as I loved my sons when they were three, I found them more and more interesting as the years went by. Now I am in a situation where they can speak of things that force me to really concentrate and even then I sometimes don’t understand.  As God’s children we will never speak of things He will not understand.  He will be delighted to see our IQ climbing with our never ending birthdays.

Written by Roger Bothwell on Sept. 7, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

One of the greatest men who ever lived was a tradesman from Galilee.  We know very little about him.  What we do know catapults him to the apex of the Human Hall of Fame.  Heaven selected this man to be the protector, nurturer, role model, teacher and most influential person in the earthly life of Jesus.  I am of course thinking of Joseph, the carpenter from Nazareth.   He was a widower and already had children when he married the teen God chose to be Jesus’ mother.

We don’t know when he died but he was the one who taught Jesus His carpentry skills.  Years later when Jesus raised Lazarus to life, He surely must have thought about using that power to bring His Joseph back.  But, knowing what was to come and knowing how crushing it would be to Mary, He spared Joseph seeing the cross.

A study of Jesus’ miracles reveals that He did nothing for Himself.  Every miracle was to bring health and joy to others.  That is not to say that He did not gain personal pleasure from healing the blind and the lame.  He would not have been human had He not thrilled with the joy of restoration.  Can you imagine His joy on resurrection morning?  He will be as happy as we.  But then again, it has the element of sorrow because of those He does not raise to eternal life.  It will be a day of mixed feelings.  I love what Peter says regarding this. “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”  II Peter 3:9.  I’m sure Jesus is very anxious to see Joseph.

Written by Roger Bothwell on Sept 2, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

If you have ever owned a dog you know the “Who Me?” look after something happened in the house.  Whether it be a pie on the floor or a missing pet pigeon (that happened in our house), the only culprit possible will give you that bowed head so you can’t make eye contact.  The news this evening reported a home in Oregon that was missing a lot of footwear.  They must have seen a lot of “Who Me?” looks because the vet found 43 socks inside their Great Dane.   Since we only have a very sketchy story of Adam and Eve I wonder if they tried the “Who Me?” with God.  I wouldn’t be surprised.

Sometimes we are so in love with ourselves (and love is blind) we don’t even recognize that the very things we blame others for we are doing.  We don’t even do the “Who Me?” because we won’t allow ourselves to believe we could be like that when we are so blatantly like that.  Do you remember Nathan having to tell David, “You are that man”?

This is such a common human trait that Freud even had a name for it.  He called it the Projection Ego Defense Mechanism.  Jesus was the best psychologist who ever lived.  No one knows us better.  In the Sermon on the Mount He warned us not to judge others because so often we have a 2 x 4 hanging out of our eye when we accuse someone else of having a speck of sawdust in theirs.  The next time the Holy Spirit prompts you regarding something that you need to fix, please don’t give Him the “Who Me?” look.  He knows the secrets of your heart.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 5, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org