Category: devotional

So often we misuse Romans 8:28, “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”  I can understand why we do it.  When tragedy strikes we desperately try to make sense out of it.  We don’t want some terrible loss to just happen without some meaning.  It is our nature to order our lives and random horror is contrary to our sanity.   When nothing seems to have a reason often we say, “Well, surely God must have had a purpose.”  When I was a pastor I used to respond with, “Someday we will know.”

We live in a world filled with random events that ruin lives.  We run over a road hazard and damage a tire.  Fifty miles later it explodes and our car careens into a tree or worse across the center lane destroying even more lives.  Let me be very plain.  God did not do this. If anyone did it, it was Satan.  However, most likely, it was a random bad thing that happened to good people.

So what about Romans 8:28?  It is a wonderful promise that means when horror happens God can help.  Something good can be worked out.  It was not His will.  But because He loves us so much He will bring about something positive.   Now you are thinking but why didn’t He intervene before it occurred?  That is a question no one on earth can answer.  We don’t know.  What we do know is someday we can talk to Him about it.  But please do not blame God for the bad things that occur.  We live in a dangerous place.  It’s called Earth.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 20, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

An almost full moon hovers over our six degree evening.  Winter has made herself at home in New England.  Long gray shadows artistically lace across the snow creating eerie art that changes moment by moment.  An owl fluffs his feathers while silently watching for a stray creature to satisfy his evening appetite.  One would not know a storm approaches for it is still and sounds are swallowed by snow cushions hanging on the pine boughs.  Our dog sits by a window on the second floor of the house ever so softly growling at any sign of life. I wonder what she thinks.  Are there primal memories from ancestors past reminding her of hunting with a pack on nights such as these?   As I enter the room she looks at me as if to say, “Could I please go out?  I need to push the snow with my nose and feel it on my tummy as I wade.  I have business out there.”

If one listens carefully one can hear my trees creak and groan in the stillness of the coming night.  One can stand outside and be fascinated as one’s breath slowly ascends past one’s eyes.  The flush of red cheeks is its own elixir.  I am reminded of Proverbs 25:13, “As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refreshes the soul of his masters.”   Solomon reminds us of cold refreshment on a hot day but let us not miss the delicious joy of it on a cold winter night.  What a joy to be a faithful messenger that brings joy to our Master.  How wonderful if we were always so.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 18, 2011.

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

Rogerbothwell.org

After slipping into the driver’s seat, inserting the key into the ignition, I put the car in reverse to back out of a hospital parking space. Almost instantly I heard a steady beeping from the car’s rear radar telling me something was very close.  I looked in the mirror and didn’t see anything.  I turned around in the seat and still did not see anything.  I inched the car back and the beeps came closer together telling me something was there.  The temptation was to think  it was malfunctioning and just go for it.  But my better judgment kicked in and I put the car in park and got out.  Phew!  There standing not tall enough for me to see over the lid of the trunk was a little girl.   Her mom was busy in another row of cars getting a baby out of its car seat.

Sometimes I think I am smart enough to ignore one of God’s commands. I can’t figure out the danger so I just go for it.  Now that is hubris and just plain stupid.  He knows.   If it wasn’t going to hurt me He wouldn’t have mentioned it.  But He did mention certain things and it pays not to ignore Him.  Sometimes I see life falling apart for people, smart people.  Could it be they are ignoring the warnings?

There are some wonderful verses in Psalm 119 extolling the value of paying attention to God.  “The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver.” Verse 71 “Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;. . .”  Verse 98  “Through Your precepts I get understanding; . . .” Verse 104.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 22, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

We ate this evening beside three of the happiest children.  All through our meal we were serenaded with happy sounds.   It was better than any concert no matter how skilled the musicians.  There is something magical about the sounds of happy children that cannot be surpassed by any other earthly sound.  No matter how rotten our day has been and how many grousing adults we had to listen to, it all ebbs away by laughter and sounds of love.  Awesome.

There are other happy sounds.  I can think of baby birds chirping for the next worm, squealing puppies, off key people singing Happy Birthday, people on Let’s Make a Deal winning the Big Deal of the Day, the softness of my wife’s breath sleeping beside me.  There are so many wonderful things to listen to.  Right now the wind is wrapping itself around the corner of my house whispering to me, beckoning me to come and let it redden my cheeks.   What happy sounds can you think of?

Of course the best sound of all will be the voice of Jesus soon saying to us, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” Matthew 25:34.  Now that is a HAPPY SOUND in capital letters.  After we hear that we will then get to hear the sound of the redeemed, “And (they) cried with a loud voice, say, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.”  Revelation 7:11.

There are so many good things for us to hear but until then I still think the happy sounds of happy children are the best.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 21, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Occasionally I receive emails from individuals who remind me that even though salvation is free we can’t go on sinning as usual.  What I want to say but won’t because it wouldn’t be nice is “Duh!”  Of course not.  If one truly understands God’s incredible gift of grace one would want nothing more than to be like their saving hero.  That means by His grace and with His help I will do all I can to be “good.”   The key here is motive.  I am now wanting and trying to be good not to be saved but because I am saved.  The real fruit of a Christian life is that which comes because more than anything we want to be like Jesus!

When I was a little boy I wanted to be like Roy Rogers.  I had a double holster with two cap gun six-shooters.  I used to stand in front of a mirror and would see how fast I could draw those guns.  I had seen a movie when Roy drew them like lightening and that is what I wanted to do.

“Now that I have put away childish things” I still want to be like my hero.   Except now instead of my hero drawing a six-shooter He draws something so much finer.   My Jesus draws pictures of His perfect character on the canvas of grateful souls who know there would be no possible way for them to have eternal life other than by grace.

The tone of the emails I receive are almost like people are afraid someone will be saved and still get away with doing something bad.    Well, we will, but not because we want to.  It is just because God is still working on that canvas!

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 20, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

It just seemed like a good ice cream day.  I realize that 30 degrees, a gray sky and a fresh layer of snow don’t seem like a good ice cream day, but the truth is any day is a good ice cream day.  So I talked my wife into stopping at Friendly’s.  I ordered a double thick malted milk shake.  It was awesome. It came in a clear glass filled to the brim along with a full metal mixing can waiting to refill the glass.  But to my horror when I tipped the can to pour into the glass it all came out in a giant rush.  It was way too much for the glass and my precious ice cream cascaded down the sides of the glass and all over the table.   I sat there wishing I could lick off the table. But alas it was gone.   It was too much too fast.

I truly believe God is very careful when He dispenses blessings to us.  We are limited in what we can receive and properly use.  Too much too fast could easily end up in a disaster.  While it is difficult to believe, winning the lottery has destroyed families.  It was too much too fast with limited ability to cope.

In Malachi 3 God speaks of opening heaven and pouring out blessings upon His people.  “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.”

Despite the promise of more than we can receive and not having enough room I still believe He is wise and judicious in His care.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 19, 2010.

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

I have waited a few days before responding to some recent outrageous remarks by some religious leaders concerning the tragedy Haiti.  I wanted to regain my composure lest I say something I would regret.  However, after waiting I am still furious.  Realizing that Jesus Himself would on occasion be filled with anger because of attitudes of so called religious men, I think I am in excellent company.

First of all, we live in a world where bad things happen to both good and bad people and to blame victims for misfortune is heaping misery upon misery. Something God would never do.

Second, if God was responsible because of something that supposedly happened two hundred years ago, it certainly doesn’t say much about an omnipresent God keeping up with His agenda.  God must have been pretty busy elsewhere to just now get around to it.

Third, it says God is pretty sloppy when handing out punishment because there were many missionaries, college students and others on mercy missions to Haiti who perished.  They were good people doing what God would want from all of us.  What about their parents?  These people hardly had made a pact with Satan.

Fourth, it says God is capricious and unthinking and hardly the God presented to us by Jesus when Jesus said, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.”  John 14

With men like these religious people on God’s side, God really doesn’t need any enemies. I have come to believe they and I worship different Gods and I have no desire to meet him anywhere and at any time.  I like my Jesus God so much better.  No, let me rephrase that.  I love my Jesus God so much better. I know there are tears in heaven over this loss.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 18, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

We went through a bag of dog treats this afternoon watching the Patriots lose their playoff game.  My wife has trained our dog to instantly come when she blows a whistle.  It was a fairly easy process.  Each time she blows the whistle the dog gets a treat.  It seemed wonderful and foolproof until this afternoon.  Every time an official at the football game blew his whistle the dog came running for a treat.  I couldn’t not give her something lest her training go to waste.  I just love double negatives. She couldn’t tell the difference from our whistle and the whistle on television.  She has limited intelligence.

She reminded me of a church member I once had who told me God told him to divorce his wife and marry another.  Of course “the other” was fifteen years younger and also prettier than the original.  When I asked him how he knew that’s what God wanted him to do he answered, “When I pray with ‘the other’ I feel so close to God.”  Talk about limited intelligence.  I’m wondering if my dog would outscore him on a Stanford-Binet.

I sometimes think it wouldn’t matter if there was no Satan to tempt us.  I think we do a pretty good job on ourselves.  It is so obvious that we hear and see what we want to hear and see.  We rationalize to get what we want.  It is so difficult to be honest with ourselves.  If we could only steel ourselves to do what God directs us to do in Scripture, we would not go wrong.  We would hear the right whistle and ultimately get the right reward – eternal life.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 17,2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I was wishing you could have been with me this afternoon during a phone call with a college student’s parent.  According to law I cannot reveal to a parent their child’s grades.  So there I sat with his semester grades on my computer screen; I’m his advisor.  Since I will not tell you who he is I can tell you his grade point average was near 0.5 on a 4.0 scale.  His mom poured out her heart to me about how bad the school was.  She had quite a litany of our errors. Passionately she told me how bright he was and how dull we were.  The irony of this was one of his “F”s was from me.  There was so much she didn’t know.  First of all, she was right.  He is bright.  He rarely missed class.  He was always on time.  He engaged in class discussions.  However, he never turned in one assignment nor showed up for the final exam. I kept saying, “Yes, Ma’am.”

Does any parent really know their child?  We think we do.  However, most parents would be horrified if they knew it all.  Probably it is best the way it is.  Do teachers know their students?  We think we do. However, most of us would be wonderfully surprised if we knew more. Don’t you just love the idea that our heavenly Father really knows our kids and yet He is amazingly fond of them?  They have no secrets from Him and yet they are the apple of His eye.  That is so awesome.  We are loved!

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 5, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

On January 15, 2010 seven thousand Haitian people were buried in one grave.  Good people, bad people, forgiven people and guilty people, young people, old people, children and grandparents, Christians and non-believers.  What an interesting task God has on resurrection morning. Not really.  It is easy for Him.  He knows each of us intimately.  Our DNA is imprinted in His expansive infinite mind.  Just as He was not dependent on pre-existing matter when He spoke our world into being, He is not dependent upon specific molecules.  Our thoughts, our memories, our personalities are the things He stores for resurrection morning.  Just as my father, who has been gone for twenty years, lives in my mind, so we will live in our heavenly Father’s mind.

I Corinthians 15 is a joy to read.  It is the most complete explanation about life and death found anywhere in Scripture.  Apparently there were people in Corinth mocking the promises.  They wanted to know what we would look like in our resurrected bodies.  Paul assured us we can trust the promises and know that we will be gloriously different than what we are now. Just as a seed produces a mature plant that looks nothing like the seed so shall we be so much more than what we now see in the mirror.  What will we be?  What we were supposed to be from the very beginning.

He wrote in verse 49, “As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”  “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible.”   Verse 52.  Don’t be too vain about how good you look now because someday you will look so much better!!

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 15, 2010.

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

Rogerbothwell.org