Category: devotional

Thirty years ago I saw a movie that etched itself in my brain.  Sophie with her ten-year-old little boy and her darling seven-year-old daughter is forced by a monster Nazi guard to choose which child will live and which will die.  If she doesn’t choose both will die. Being the father of two small sons at the time I shuddered with horror at such a choice.  What would I do?  How could I live with myself either way?

Two thousand years ago God the Father in cooperation with His Son had to make a choice.  Jesus had to die not a temporary death but an eternal death.  The price for sin is eternal separation from God.  If Jesus was to pay the price for sin then He had to do it with no hope of ever living again.  In the Garden of Gethsemane the Father withdrew from Jesus and the hope of the resurrection Jesus had previously referred to was now gone with the Father’s presence.  If Jesus did not do this we could not be saved.  Together the Father and Jesus chose us to live while He died the death we deserve.

While on the cross according to Matthew’s account a horrid darkness settled over the cross.  The Father was gone now.   Jesus was alone and cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”   Jesus is at the doorway to hell and descending into eternal darkness.  At any moment Jesus could have said, “It is too much” and billions of angels would have rushed to save Him.  The Father could have said, “It is too much.”  Our lives trembled in the balance.  The choice was made – Jesus or us.  They chose US.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 3, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

I’m sitting here looking at a full page magazine ad that states “96 elephants are killed every day in Africa.”  It stirred a memory of someone who said to me, “If only Satan would die, the world would get better.”  My reaction to that is absolutely not.  It isn’t Satan out there killing those elephants.  It’s ignorance.  I would like to say, “If only we could eliminate ignorance the world would be a better place.”

There is no question that the most dangerous animals on earth are humans. Our bottomless pit appetites drive us to amazingly thoughtless acts of cruelty and destruction.  Our ignorance of the consequences of our acts or our blindness to see those results are destroying the very earth over which God made us stewards.  We deny well researched scientific data merely to satisfy those appetites with cheap whatever.

We don’t need Satan to inspire our actions.  We are very capable of imagining and designing our own evil.  Sometimes we are tempted to say the world keeps getting more and more evil.  However, that is a lack of knowledge of world history.  Holocausts, pogroms, mass slaughters and serial killers have been with us since the dawn of written records.  The one thing that has changed is technology makes it easier and more efficient to do our dirty deeds.

Often we point our fingers at others with disgust and rarely understand or admit to ourselves that we under the same circumstances of those others might have done what they did.  The only real answer to this is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to transform us and finally according to I Corinthians 15 replace our corruption with incorruption.  It cannot come soon enough.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 2, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

We began a journey today in the rain.  As we rolled along with limited visibility from the rain and the spray of other vehicles I had my wife check the weather map on her iPad.  “We only have 50 more miles and we will drive out of it,” she said.  But after 50 miles we were still being pelted.  Again she checked the weather map only to discover the storm was moving with us and we were barely making headway.  For each 50 miles we went the storm followed at 30 miles per hour.  Eventually we won.

How like life it was.  Life’s storms and troubles follow us.  We think we see sunny days ahead only to discover either our troubles have followed or we have driven into new ones.  Do we eventually win?  Perhaps.  It depends on our definition of winning.  If by winning we mean we have grown and understand more, then hopefully we have.  If by winning we mean sunny days come and last for the rest of our lives.  Then no we never win.  This life is one filled with disappointments and challenges. And truthfully we need them.  The old expression “no pain, no gain” is pregnant with meaning.

The real challenge is what do we do with challenges.  They can ultimately be blessings if we become better people because of them.  Maybe using the word “blessings” is pushing it a bit.  Perhaps the word “opportunities” is a better word to use.

Lest I sound like I am complaining, I am not.  I have had more than my share of sunny days and I am very thankful.  But I also know that as my wife and I age there are many unsunny days ahead.

Written by Roger Bothwell on September 1, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

I had an awful father.  He had an incredible work ethic.  For decades he worked two full-time jobs making sure his family was well cared for.  While we were not rich, far from it on a school teacher’s salary, we had nice things.  Remembering him fills me with awe, making me awful.

English is an awful language filled with words that mean just the opposite.  I stopped at a yard sale and saw piles of priceless things.  Who could put any price on the junk they were trying to sell?  Here in New England things that are really fascinating and intriguingly good are wicked good.  Once I had to resign a letter resigning from a job.  I lost the first copy.

In 1719 Isaac Watts wrote, “Before Jehovah’s awful throne, ye nations bow with sacred joy; know that the Lord is God alone; He can create and He destroy.  Wide as the world is His command, vast as eternity His love; firm as a rock His truth shall stand, when rolling years shall cease to move.”

Most things in the universe change.   Even our sun will change.  It will burn out.  Don’t worry about it.  It’s a few billion years before that happens.  But we will be around to see it happen because another thing that doesn’t change is God’s promises that we will live forever.  Forever is a really long time.  How reassuring it is to know there is only one thing about God that will change.  It is His love for us.  Love grows and if He loved us so much two thousand years ago to give us His only Son just imagine how much He will love us when our sun burns out.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 31, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

This afternoon I mailed a $5.50 book back to Amazon.  It cost me $3.50 cents in postage.  I probably used a gallon of gasoline to go to and back from the post office.  Gas is currently $2.50 cents a gallon so I am out of pocket $.50.   I should have just given the book to a friend.  One would think that as old as I am I would count the cost prior to doing something.

In Luke 14 Jesus speaks of this very thing.  He said, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?  Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,…”

So just what does it cost to follow Jesus?  Salvation is a gift, which, when thoroughly appreciated engenders love.  Love engenders a desire to give.  Sometimes we speak of an obligation of grace.  I’m not sure I like the word “obligation.”  I do not feel obligated to give my wife, my sons or my grandchildren anything.  But I certainly want to give them things.  Is the word “urge” better than “obligation?”  Obligation means have to.  Urge means want to.  I want to obey Jesus. I want to do anything for Him because He is so magnificently wonderful to me.  My cross, which Jesus speaks of, is not onus.  It is a joy.  Obedience is a joy.  Giving is a joy. Love is like that.  Love and obedience are not obligations.   They are fruit.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 27, 2015

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

Rogerbothwell.org

Jesus’ disciples came to Him and asked Him to teach them how to pray.   To be able to communicate with the Lord of the Universe is a way to open our minds to an understanding of our origins, being and future.  We are curious creatures.  We want to know.  Real prayer is not a Santa Claus list of needs and wants.  Real prayer is the melding of our finite minds with the infinite mind of God Himself.

Each of us brings to any relationship a history of us.  For me to truly know you I must know your parents, your siblings, your culture, and your sins.  It is all these and more that make us us.  Your prayer life and mine are very different.  It would be erroneous for me to describe to you my prayer life and say, “This is the way to do it.”  All I can tell you is this is how prayer works or doesn’t work for me.  Prayer is as unique as DNA is unique to each of us.  As a forensic scientist can identify us by our particular code so God can identify us by our yearnings and cries.  He does not need us to begin each prayer with, “Dear God, this is ….. calling.”  He knows who is calling Him because He knows the very distinctness of our content.

Paul wrote, “When I was a child I thought as a child.”  He could have said, “When I was a child I prayed as a child. But now that I am a man I pray like a man.”  Jesus said, “We have not because we ask not.”  Ask.  Don’t beg.  The one who knows you better than you know you, hears and will open to you what you really need.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 28, 2015

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

rogerbothwell.org

 

The first time you have to negotiate a roundabout it is intimidating and scary.  But once you get the hang of it they are a wonderful way to keep intersecting traffic flowing.  As long as everyone follows the rules they work quite well.  One of the features I like is if you miss your exit all you have to do is go around the circle and your exit will be there again. I have been known to go around three times because I missed my exit twice.  If I had missed again it would still be there for yet another try. Roundabouts are much like life.  If we mess-up and miss something we can usually try it again.  The old adage about opportunity only knocking once must have been thought up prior to the invention of roundabouts.

I qualified the going around again with the word “usually.”  Sometimes we crash and there isn’t another attempt available.  And sometimes in life a few things do only come once.  However, most people are resilient.  The effects of a defeat slowly ebb and we get on with life.  To be a teacher in Massachusetts students have to take state exams.  They are not easy.  I had a student who tried twelve times before she finally passed.  She should get a reward for tenacity.

The sooner one accepts Jesus into their life, better is the life that follows.  The wisest thing is to let Him in as soon as possible.  But, should we fail to take the opportunity we can know tomorrow will give us yet another try.  God is that way.  He loves us too much to limit our opportunities.  Some might think, “Well, then I can wait.”  That’s foolish.  Why gamble with eternity and why live in a “shanty” when one can live in a “mansion”?

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 28, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

 

Imagine yourself driving in bumper to bumper traffic going 80 miles an hour.  Slowing down creates major hazards as people behind you try to merge into lanes on either side to get by.  It is safer to drive with the pack.  Suddenly as you round a corner there is a black and white car with blue lights sitting by the side of the road.  Your heart skips a beat, your knees weaken, and your hands break out in an instant sweat.  You know he’s got you.  Of course he has everyone else and he can only stop one or two or three if he is an over-achiever.  As you pass him you keep watching in the rear view mirror wondering if you are going to be the one he selects.  There is safety in numbers.  That’s why (we think) fish swim in schools.

If we are the unlucky one pulled over we will most likely say, “But, officer, everyone was doing it.”  That is an interesting defense used by teens when caught doing something they shouldn’t.  “But, mom, everyone does it.”   I wonder if someone yelled up to Noah, “But, Noah, we were all doing it.”

The Marine Corp has an interesting recruiting slogan.  “We are looking for a few good men.”  That’s what God is doing.  While God is full of grace and will save as many of us as He can, He is also looking for some Enochs and Jobs.  He wants to be able to single out some individuals and say, “Have you considered my servant ….?   Put your name in that blank.   One might think that would be the cause for pride but quite to the contrary.  Such a woman or man would also be amazingly humble – not one of the crowd.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 27, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

At first I thought I was on Candid Camera but alas I wasn’t.  I should have been.  It was a warm day and a small frappe from McDonalds sounded perfect.  As the teenage girl passed it out the drive-by window I failed to notice all the caramel sauce wasn’t inside the plastic container. There I sat with one hand smeared with sauce.  In a fraction of a moment I had it on my steering wheel, on my shirt, on the gear shift (I don’t know how I did that.) and on my face.  I definitely got a whole lot more than I paid for.  I was a mess.  I was like Eve.  She got so much more than she thought she was going to get.  It was true that she gained knowledge.  The serpent did not lie about that.  She gained knowledge about pain, heartbreak and death.  What a mess ensued.

Satan is always very liberal with his giving.  He tempts us with something.  We get it and a mess we hadn’t counted on comes with it.  Satan is happy to give us something that would normally be good if the consequences in that particular context are hellish.  He knows God has a plan for each of us and he is devoted to ruining God’s dream for us.  Time and again God has to abandon Plan A and go to Plan B and then to Plan C.  Each change diminishes God’s dream.  But the good news is God never gives up.  He has Plan Triple Z ready just in case we keep making bad choices.  The good news is Plan Triple Z still includes eternal life with lots of time to grow.  Thank you Jesus.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 26, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org

 

By now, if you have not had a bucket of ice water dumped on your head, you have at least seen videos of others reveling in the chilling joy of a miniature Arctic Ocean cascading over their domes.  The ALS challenge has spread across the world faster than a speeding bullet.  Sorry Superman something is faster than you.  It is called the Internet.  I have a friend who teaches school in what has to be one of the remotest towns in America yet he has Internet service and can read this devotional as soon as my neighbor across the street.  My friend Rob lives in Gambell, Alaska, a tiny town on the western edge of St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea. He really knows about ice water.  He doesn’t need a bucket.

Communication has come a long way since Jesus preached to and passed out bread and fish to 5,000 men plus women and children.  It is with confidence that we can say that the Gospel has gone to the entire world.  For anyone anywhere it is a mouse click away.  But just because someone is able to hear the Good News or has heard about the Good News doesn’t mean they understand the Good News.  I know people who have gone to church all their lives who don’t understand the Good News.  They can tell you Bible stories and recite memory verses but they still worry about not being good enough to be saved.  That is tragic.  The Good News is not one of us will ever be worthy (good enough).

In Revelation 5 there is a search for one worthy to open the book sealed with seven seals.  There was only one.  That was Jesus.  It is an inspiring chapter.  Please read it sometime today.

Written by Roger Bothwell on August 25, 2014

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

Rogerbothwell.org