My Stale Bagel

When I got to work this morning I spotted a leftover bagel on my desk from the previous day.  It felt pretty hard as I raised it to my mouth.  I was amazed at how quickly it had turned into a rock.  Just 24 hours before it was nice and soft and just plain yummy.  Yet this morning I had to gnaw through what seemed to be a concrete shell before finding anything near soft.  Giving up I dropped it in my metal wastebasket and was jolted by a major clunk as it hit bottom.  How could anything so nice turn so quickly?

When I was a pastor I saw people marry the most wonderful person in the world only to wake up the next year with a monster in their bed.

In the case of the bagel it was all about environment.  Had I protected it I’m sure it would still have been edible.  I had not. The dry winter air sucked the moisture right out of that ring-shaped bread roll.  As a psychology professor I think there is much truth here for how we turn out.

Environment is extremely important to the final product of a human being.  We can be fortunate and be in a nurturing place that fosters good character development and the use of our talents.  Unfortunately the opposite can be true and people around us can suck out all the goodness we ever had.  Good people can turn stale.  But the reverse happens all the time.  Selfish backbiting people give their hearts to Jesus and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit transforms them into human treasures.  We cannot over emphasize the power we have over who we become.  While children cannot choose who they have to be around adults can.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 9, 2008

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Not a Loan – A Gift

Is it just me or do you also have difficulty getting things back after you have loaned them out?   If I had kept records through the years I’m sure I would have less than a 20% return rate.  That 20% would be money.  Books are something else.  I don’t understand how really good, honest, trustworthy people can see a book on their table and not have a compulsion to return it.  Alas, I have adopted the concept that once something is loaned, it’s gone.  It is always a serendipity if it returns.   All of which, reminds me of John 3:16.

God did not loan us Jesus.  He gave Him to us. He is ours and we are His.  He didn’t come with a library card dated return by 31 AD.  He wasn’t a loaner because we were being repaired.  We were totaled.  We needed something permanent.  Now here’s where it gets really good.  We were given the top of the line.  This was a gift that couldn’t get any better.  Just read here from Hebrews 1 to see what an extra-ordinary gift we have received.  “God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high: . .”

That tiny baby in Bethlehem was Emmanuel from the moment of His conception.  God did not prepare a vessel and fill it at birth.  It was God Himself from the very beginning.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 16, 2016

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A Good Kind of Pride

Tonight was the last class for this semester.  We traditionally have pizza.  So there I was coming from the far end of the parking lot carrying seven extra large pizzas and my book bag filled with all that stuff teachers accumulate during the semester.  Before I got to the building I was puffing.  As I leaned on the pad that automatically opens the doors one of my female students also got to the door.  She said, “Can I help you carry some pizza?”   This was a “girl!”  Really now, I needed to protect my masculinity and as I started to say, “No thanks. I’ve got” my brain hijacked my stupidity and I blurted out, “Oh, yes please!”  I was about to allow my foolish pride kill me.  Proverbs 16:18 – Pride goes before a fall, might have taken on meaning all of its own.

All of my life I have heard that pride is a sin.  But I have come to believe that should be qualified.  I have yet to discern how being proud of others can be harmful.  I am very proud of my sons.  I am super proud of my wife.  I am proud of my very obedient dog.  If being ashamed is the opposite of being proud then Jesus is proud of us.  Hebrews 2:11 says, “So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.”  The “them” in that sentence is you and me.  How could it be that Jesus is proud of us?  It’s an overwhelming thought.  Again I think I need to qualify this by saying, “Sometimes.”  It would be smug to say otherwise.  There are some moments that are not so great.  He must be proud of what we will become someday.  His love knows no bounds.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 15, 2016

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The Wonder of Zeros

It’s that time of year when college teachers really do work.  Finals, essays and other projects pile up in a seemingly endless heap.  While pondering what grade to give a particular student I suddenly remembered being on the receiving end of zero grade.  There was attached note from the prof.  “This was an exceedingly interesting five pages worth the above grade.  Thanks for the entertainment.”  It was the only time I have ever struck out so poorly.  Usually one hits a foul ball or two before being out.  This was three whiffs.

Now decades later I would like to speak on behalf of the value of a zero.  A zero stops you from continuing on a pointless path.  A zero is a great place holder.  I love zeros in my checkbook when they follow a prime number.  The more zeros the better as long as they are left of the decimal point.  When I was little I loved the equation “x divided by zero.”  It meant I got the whole pie.

There is a zero all of us should covet.  It is a capital zero at the top of the list of our sins.  Each of us has tallied up an impressive record of misdeeds, but not to worry.  God has promised “”I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”  Isaiah 43:25.  That’s a great zero.  If you are looking to receive a truly marvelous Christmas present this year, please take advantage of this offer.  It doesn’t come wrapped in pretty paper.  It comes to us blood stained from Calvary.  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 13, 2016

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Tuned to Each of Us All the Time

On our walk today we came upon Santa.  He had painted the big letters UPS on the side of his brown sleigh.  I think that stands for Ubernorth Pole Service.   I’m glad he got an early start this year because if what I saw is any indication of how busy he is, he is slammed.  I kid you not.  He stopped at more than half the houses.  My dog and I eventually passed him and turned the corner before he did.  He even had an elf with him and we were taking time to sniff along the way.  Well, at least one of us was sniffing.  Often after a good inhale she looks up at me trying to understand why I am not down there enjoying the pure essence of it all.

As we rounded the corner I pondered about how wonderful it is that our heavenly Father is omnipresent; talk about orders needing to be filled and delivered.  Our prayers and those of billion of beings on each of billions of planets are continually reaching His ears.  The sheer cacophony of languages asking for something all at the same time would totally overwhelm a lesser being.  But have no fear.  He is more than up to the task.  He is even anxious for increased attention from us.  He loves it when we trust Him to care for us.

When speaking about Jesus, Paul wrote in Colossians 1, “For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”  How marvelous to think that He and the Father are tuned into us all the time.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 15, 2015

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Wonderful Is His Name

Tis the season for Christmas programs.  Our schedules are filled with The Messiah, Readings of the Night Before Christmas and many children’s choirs.  We passed a church this morning that had so many cars in the parking lot they were parked four deep.  It would be a while before some people got out.

Some time ago I saw a choir where the children knew all the words and were spot on coming in and out when they were up.  But there was something wrong.  Something was missing.  And then it hit me.  The children were not smiling and there was little joy being expressed.  They might as well have been singing Old MacDonald Had a Farm.   The joy of Christmas isn’t so much the technical prowess of the choir but the emotion expressed.  The children were prepared in their heads but not their hearts.

Oh Holy Night is only moving when the singers are moved.  The Hallelujah Chorus is only wonderful when you cannot keep yourself in your seat but have to stand, not because it is convention, but because God is so great and so mighty.  I have to say that this weekend I did hear and watch a mother and daughter sing a duet about Jesus Our King that caused me to well up; it was so full of love.

Jesus really is Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God, The Prince of Peace.  I heard someone sing wonderful counselor.   He is a wonderful counselor but that is not what Isaiah was saying.  Jesus is Wonderful period.  Wonderful is not an adjective modifying counselor.  Wonderful is His name.  He fills our hearts with His splendor and love and majesty and it is beyond comprehension.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 14, 2015

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Mega Stuff 

Long I stood pining over the Oreo section.  When I was little there were only Oreos.  Now the selection is wonderful. There are double stuff, triple stuff, orange flavored, mint flavored, thin ones (Why would anyone want a thin one?) vanilla flavored and then I saw it – Mega Stuff.  Wow – instant salivation.  But, Christmas is almost here with all its sweets.  More sugar is NOT what my house nor my body needs.  But it was MEGA STUFF!  What if they were only for the holidays?  Maybe it’s now or never!  (My family doctor is going to read this and just shake his head in frustration.)

I never ever dreamed there could be too much stuff between those two wonderful cookies whether chocolate or vanilla.  Perhaps it’s my age. But I twisted off the top cookie. (Either could be the top.) and went for it.  Instant satisfaction followed by “Ohhh, that’s too much.”  Alas, I should have known.  There can be too much of anything except one thing.  (I’ll get to the exception in a moment.)

I am so dull.  I should have remembered Proverbs 25:16.  I just read it about a week ago. “If you find honey, eat just enough – too much of it, and you will vomit.”  And there is Titus 2:2.  “Teach the older men to be temperate.”  Why not the younger men and women?  You don’t have to teach older women to be temperate.  Grandmas are wise.

Now there is one thing we can always have in excess.  Yea, two things.  Love and mercy can never be overdone.  “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”  Ephesians 2   Awesome!

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 12, 2016

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 An Unpleasant Feature of Human Nature

King Solomon did not write all of the wise sayings we find in the Book of Proverbs.  Chapter 30 was written by a fellow named Agur.  We do not know who he was but he certainly was a smart man.  Here is a sample of his wisdom. “Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up; a servant who becomes king, a fool who is full of food, an unloved woman who is married, and a maidservant who displaces her mistress.”

Perhaps a fifth could be added to the list.  It seems the world cannot long endure someone who is always happy.  From conversations overheard, to daily newscasts, and tabloids that attack us while checking out of the supermarket, it does appear we are bothered by other’s well being.  When we hear that someone is rich we often ask, “But is he or she happy?”  Inwardly, there is something that wants to hear “no” as the answer.  After all why should someone have both happiness and wealth?  This seems to be an unpleasant part of our human nature.

When Jesus tells us to love one another He uses a word that means “wishing another the best.”  He is not asking us to desire that everyone be our best friend.  But He is instructing us to want the very best for others.  He wants us to pray for each other to be both happy and rich.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 20, 2200

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Guarantees

When making a purchase we contemplate many things.  We wonder if the item will really work.  We wonder how long it might be before it breaks.  The sales person always tells us how wonderful the company is in honoring their products.  Yet we have learned not to believe everything we are told.

Once the purchase is made we take it home, take out the papers and we read, “Limited Warranty”.  We read the fine print hoping to find that it really will be fixed if it breaks.  Have you every wondered about the thirty-year warranty you get from the guys who roof houses?  The truth is there are few things one can really count on.  Even the U.S. Government’s safety net for savings accounts in insured banks is limited and not absolutely sure.  Remember the great Roman Empire?

But there is one thing you can count on.  You can always count on God to keep His promises.  Jesus once said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.”  John 10:28.  He also said, “…surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Matthew 28:20.  These promises are guaranteed.  The guarantee was purchased at Calvary.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 18, 2000

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Chalk on a Blackboard

This evening in my Child Development class one of my students presented a paper on sensory perception disorder.  It manifests itself as a process that sends mixed and often times offensive sensory data to a child’s experience.  To a degree all of us have this disorder.   Classrooms today no longer have blackboards but most of us remember to our horror the sound of chalk screeching its spine-chilling sound.  There are things we cannot bear.  For me it is green smoothies made with kale.  For others it is the thought of eating jack cheese because it is made with goat’s milk instead of cow’s milk.  I actually threw up one night when my mother made me eat turnips.

As my students (elementary teachers) were sharing their experiences and how to be sympathetic to children in their classrooms, it occurred to me that God, Himself, has sensory perception disorder.  He is revolted and horrified when He sees us do things He knows will harm us.  We get so used to certain kinds of sins they have little or no revulsion to us.  However, our heavenly Father is repulsed, revolted and nauseated while watching us harm ourselves. He cares so much for us and He knows the extent of damage that we are inflicting upon ourselves and/or others.

Proverbs 6 has an interesting list of things God especially hates.  “There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.”  These things are to Him as the sound of chalk on a blackboard.

Written by Roger Bothwell on December 8, 2016

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