Category: devotional

One of the assignments in my Philosophy 101 course is for each student to write a reflective personal philosophy.  One of the things I have learned from these essays is how well known is Robert Frost’s poem about two roads dividing in a wood.   Often it is quoted, especially the last lines, “and I took the road less traveled by and that has made all the difference.”  If all the people, who think they have taken the road less traveled, have really taken the road less traveled, then it is not the one less traveled.

While it is true each of us is unique and there is not, nor has there ever been another like us, it is also true that we are very much like most people.   A simple freshman course psychology textbook pretty much sums up the makeup of a normal person.  It’s the persons described in the DSM-IV that are on the road less traveled.  The variations between an Englishman and a Frenchman are cosmetic.  The variations between an African and a member of the KKK are not nearly as vast as both groups might wish.

There seems to exist in most of us an egocentrism that tells us we are not like others.  We are special.  We belong to a superior race.  We are part of the best culture.  We are members of God’s church.  We are more sincere than those who fill the pews around us.  We.  We.  We.   How deflating it can be to wake up one morning realizing that none of the above is true.  God loves the common man.  Just look at how many of us He has made.  Enjoy your trip down the road most traveled.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 13, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

In a world of instant communication and worldwide coverage of almost everything,  it amazes me to realize there is starvation occurring in Somalia and Northern Kenya while we have an obesity problem.  When one sees the pictures of these families coming out of such a barren land one wonders if       Romans 1:20 is applicable for these people.  Paul says we are without excuse because we can see the wonders of God’s power and grace by the things he has created.  Living in New England – yes – no question about it.  Living in southern Somalia – surely not.  I believe God treats each person uniquely as each situation is unique. These people are already in hell.  For them there isn’t much wonder at the beauty of His creation.

I am amused when I hear people in this land of plenty speaking about how unfair things are when they don’t get everything they think they deserve. I recently heard someone complaining that the school bus stopped two houses down the street causing their poor child to walk 100 feet.  Shall I mention the Somalian mother who had to leave her starving baby by the side of the trail to perish because she needed to make sure her other children made it to the refugee camp?

Only in some fantasy land does fairness exist.  The challenge of being like Jesus is for us to recognize where and when we can intervene to make life fairer for those who need help.  Jesus’ very own brother, James, wrote, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 11. 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

For over fifteen years now we have lived less than twenty minutes away from Walden Pond.  Surely every American high school graduate knows (at least a smidgeon) about Walden Pond, Thoreau and Concord.  Thinking that it was time to round out my education a bit I embarked upon reading Walden.  Not bad. Pretty good read.  Now comes the embarrassing part.  On page 177 Thoreau wrote, “White Pond and Walden are great crystals on the surface of theearth, Lakes of Light.”  The paragraph that continues is lovely.    The embarrassment is I cannot recall ever hearing of White Pond, let alone knowing where it is; so much for being informed.

This brings me to my incredible ignorance of life about me.  While I will not make judgments about you, I am suspicious I am not that unusual.  Most of us think we are knowledgeable and aware.  We think we are fairly aware and yet there are worlds of things right on our doorstep that warrant our attention.  I know my wife will not like me mentioning that there is another complete world for creatures just in the walls of our home. While we sleep they scurry about making sure to stay out of our way.  Our yard has a host of wild flowers that I never see.  They come and go in the lower woods that have become almost impassable because of an old ice storm.

In our own mind there are levels of consciousness that rarely rise to the surface and yet billions of bits of data are constantly being processed.  We rarely think about driving while driving, yet we arrive safely home.

And so it is that all around us is a world of God and angels.  They are there just as White Pond is only twenty minutes from my house.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 11, 2010

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

Rogerbothwell.org

It’s an amazing story with a silver lining.  He was so many points ahead.  All Matthew Emmons had to do was hit the target to win a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics.  He did.  Unfortunately to everyone’s horror, it was the wrong target.  He didn’t even win the Bronze.

I have seen some very bright people apply their gifts toward a lifetime goal and achieve it.  However,  they failed to win happiness.  The problem was they selected the wrong goal.  They selected a career or fame or wealth but neglected their spiritual lives.  A walk with Jesus is an amazing ingredient in one’s life that enables one to not only achieve life’s goals but to also maintain a truly abundant life because they properly prioritized their goals.

Jesus said it and it is true.  “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all the rest will be added unto you.”  Matthew 6:33.   It seems so simple; it seems like it cannot be true.  Yet the truth of it is played out in thousands of lives.  Pick the right target and you get the gold.

As for Matthew Emmons?  Well, he got something better than an Olympian Gold Medal.  A Czech silver medallist named Katerina Kurkova came over to console him and in the summer of 2007 she became Mrs. Katerina Emmons.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 11, 2008

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Last night while walking my dog I was serenaded by tree frogs, katydids, crickets, the buzzing of mosquitoes and the barking of a dog far off in our little city.  I like night sounds.  About two A.M. I awoke for a while and listened to a freight train rumbling its way across Leominster.  Its distant horn sounded as it crossed roads outside the city and sang me back to sleep.  Who knows what dreams of mine were filled with faraway places or better yet places nearby packed with people I love.  Those are the best kind.

I have never had a Nebuchadnezzer dream so important I wanted to know what it meant.  Freud would find my dreams too simple for analysis.  I never had a voice calling me like Samuel.  I am intrigued by people who speak of God telling them things.  This past week in church someone told of God telling her to play her guitar.  God does silently guide my thoughts as I read in John or Paul.  He feeds me until my brain is full.  But never has He told me to take a call to a church or to teach at a specific school.  He didn’t tell me who to marry.  Well, maybe He did by placing her in front of my admiring eyes.

I like night sounds.  They are the common sounds of life after a city has fallen asleep, except for that guy on a motorcycle without a muffler who moves from traffic signal to traffic signal at 1:45 A.M.  There isn’t anything much more hauntingly beautiful than talking to an owl after dark.  Perhaps that owl is God’s voice telling me He loves me.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 9, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Riding on grandpa’s shoulders was just the place to be.  Very quickly the wee little one learned how to steer her grandpa just like a horse anywhere she wanted to go.

How grand it would be to be so led by the Holy Spirit.  In our quest to grow more into the likeness of our heavenly Father we ask for guidance.  Jesus promised in John 16:13, “But when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.  He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”

The Spirit does come and does guide but not quite so obviously as putting His hands on our heads and steering us.  Instead the Spirit moves on the inside.  He woos and influences.  He courts and plants thoughts and ideas.  Unlike a horse, we do have choice.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 1, 2000

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

Rogerbothwell.org

While at the mall today I overheard a conversation that went something like this.  “My six and a half foot tall son who goes to Harvard . . .” I didn’t catch the rest of what was said because they moved out of my ear range.  But I found myself smiling because I am quite sure my mother never said to anyone about me, “My five and a half foot tall son who goes to Andrews . . .”  What is it with being tall?  People speak of it as an accomplishment.  Hey, they grew, okay.  They didn’t have any more input on the subject than I, except maybe they selected parents from a taller gene pool.  I have compensated through the years.  In school my roommate was six five and even now one of my very best friends is about the same.  I mentally average our heights and we are both six feet tall – peers – twins.

Revelation 3:5 is a marvelous verse, “The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.”  I can hear it now.  Jesus is standing in the courts of heaven and says to the Father, “Your five and a half foot tall overcoming son is my friend.”  I like the sound of that.  Or how about “Your five and a half foot tall growing son is becoming more like us every day?”  There is a terrific ring to that.

There are many ways to be a giant.  One can have tall parents or have an extraordinary capacity for spiritual growth.  Oh, this is going to be good.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 7, 2012

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

Having to vacate one’s office after 18 years of accumulating grade books, old term papers, syllabi from courses long forgotten, old tests, cards filled with signatures of students you don’t remember and out of date textbooks can be a daunting task.  Today will be day number five of taking hundreds of pounds of paper to the college dumpster.  I am so thankful for a hand-truck.  The person who invented that marvelous two-wheeled transporter should be awarded a Nobel Prize. I feel a bit strange tossing away boxes of term papers.  If they were done correctly each one represents an enormous amount of work.  Truthfully, most of them were banged out as rapidly as the student could type.  Very little information that could change the world is being sent to the world of paper recycling. All that will remain from those hours in the classroom and sleepless nights cramming for an exam will be a single grade in the registrar’s office.

But wait.  It wasn’t really about assignments and grades.  It was about education.  It was about changing lives and preparing people for service.  The most important thing wasn’t a grade, it was ideas.  It was about understanding one’s self, others and how the world works.  It was finding Jesus and making Him the Lord of one’s life.  It was about eternity and class reunions and alumni meetings thousands of years from now.  It was about character building and helping high school graduates transition into adults who will raise families and become meaningful contributors to their local communities.  If all those lectures, all those hours grading boring papers (most of them really weren’t very interesting) can be translated into outstanding human beings then many trips to the college dumpster is worth it all.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 5, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I wish you could be sitting with me at my desk.  There is the most alluring, the most intoxicating, the most enthralling, and the most exhilarating fragrance drifting from the kitchen to my nose. I am struggling to stay in my chair.  I want so badly to invade the kitchen and pull open the oven door.  Whatever is in there is no longer a desire.  It has transformed itself into a need.  By sheer force of will and discipline I continue to write to you instead of pulling up a chair in front of the oven, turning on the oven light and just watching whatever it is.  I am waiting for the oven buzzer to sound out, “It is ready. Come and get it.”  If my wife wants to punish me for some errant behavior (of course, there never is such a thing) all she need do is say, “It’s not for now.  It is for the church potluck.”  I cannot bear the thought.

2 Corinthians 2:15 says, “We are a sweet perfume of Christ to God in those who are getting salvation . . .”  God is so very anxious to have us with Him.  He longs to have us pull up a chair and stay awhile. (Forever)  Often we speak of our longing for the second coming of Jesus that will end this pall of pain and restore things to the way it was supposed to be.  If we think we are waiting we need but realize we only wait a few decades.  He has waited now for 2000 years.  For 2000 years the sweet aroma of the redeemed has filled His nostrils and He wants us.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 4, 2011

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

A watch battery is such a tiny little thing.  Yet it will power a timepiece with precision for two or three years.  In a two-year period it will push the second hand around and around 1,051,200 times.  If it lasts three years it will push it around 1,576,800 times.  How does that tiny battery contain all that power?

When we hold our Bibles what enormous power is in our hands!  Real power!  We hold the power to change human lives.  Our Bibles contain the ideas of God.  Nothing is more powerful than an idea.  Nothing is more powerful than idea from God. Ideas change the world.  God’s ideas change the universe.  And when we hold our Bibles, we hold those ideas in our hands.

The ideas of God render the ideas of man to kindergarten.  The ideas of God are the wisdom of the ages.  The ideas of God answer the great philosophical questions of mankind.  The ideas of God—not Plato or Nietzche–tell us who we are, why we are here and where we are going.

God’s ideas are the power unto salvation.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 4, 2000

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

Rogerbothwell.org