Roger Bothwell

It was a dark moonless night on our street that has no street lights.  (I’m glad.  We can see stars.)  Our black lab was outside making her final night rounds.  Often she sits in the darkness staring off into the forest.   I’m sure she hears night sounds that beckon her.  Often I just allow her to stare as long as she wants.  But this particular evening I went out to call her in.  Since it was totally dark I turned on the flash light app on my phone and scanned the yard.  She was nowhere to be seen.  Was this the night she couldn’t resist the call of the wild?  Walking about the yard calling and peering under the rhododendrons I began to be concerned.  Where could she be?  Turning this way and that I looked and called.  Suddenly I felt a nudge on the back of my leg.  She had been with me all the time following me from bush to tree.  I’m sure she wondered what was wrong with me.  When I turned, she turned.  She’s a good dog.  She is so totally black on a moonless night she is invisible.

There are times when our life seems so dark.  Things do not go well.  Dreams are dashed.  We lose someone we love.  Our finances aren’t thrilling.  We pray and only hear silence.  Where is God?  Where are His promises?  Finally after much searching we feel a nudge.  He was there all the time.  We just couldn’t see Him.  His promise is true.  “Lo, I am with you always even to the end of the world.”  He’s a good God.   After all He told us to call Him Father.

Written by Roger Bothwell on April 12, 2016

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Elementary school teachers tell me they know when the weather is about to change.  They don’t need a barometer because the children get fidgety.   I wonder if that is also true with dogs.  Our weatherman is telling us a large storm is heading our way and today our dog has been fidgety.  Every little sound created an explosion of raised hair and ear piercing barking.   If the volume of ruckus roused had anything to do with it when the mailman came, one would have thought he was a terrorist.  While channel surfing I paused for a few moments on the end of Family Feud.  When the correct answer came up on the board there was a ding.  I do admit that it sounded like our doorbell and you can guess what happened.

Through the years I have known people who must have been aware that the weather was changing.  Every war, every earthquake, every natural disaster made them start barking that the end is near.  Our fervent desire for the second coming of Jesus sometimes clouds our better judgment.  The continual “wolf wolf at the door” has a dulling effect on our young people.   Soon they turn us off and discount everything we have to say regarding faith.   Our so very relevant message for vibrant living isn’t heard because of our not paying attention to Jesus Himself.  He said, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.”

It’s popular for preachers to focus on end time events because they get lots of rave comments at the door after church.  It’s an easy sermon prep.  All they need do is recap the week’s news.  But let’s beware we don’t become fidgety barking dogs.  Be pastors and care for the flock which so often need to be reminded that Jesus loves them.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 6, 2013

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While sitting at my desk I can hear winter retreating before the advancement of spring.  There are drips of water falling from the foot of snow from our roof unto the copper covering of the window behind me.   The dripping sound reinforces the clichéd name Old Man Winter.   Little by little winter is losing its grip.  While it is true we could possibly get yet another snow storm it would be like a delusional old man pretending he is still attractive to young ladies.  Winter is doomed to become history.

I just paid an excise tax on my car.  It is true.  Taxes and death are a surety.  Just as the taxman cometh so does our local mortician.  Old Man Winter and I have much in common.  His strength is ebbing and so is mine.  Lest I sound overly morbid I need to say I have an advantage over Old Man Winter 2014.  He is doomed.  Quite to the contrary I am not for I know something he does not know.  I know about Jesus.  Oh to joy.

This ebbing of strength, this graying of hair (what is left), is only a temporary condition.  Soon my man-made knees will be replaced and I will leap and fly like an eagle. “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”  Isaiah 40:31.   The really good part is that will be an eternal condition.  Last week I sat behind a man my age and looked at his full head of hair and I thought, “You just wait.  I too will be like that again.”   Following Jesus is loaded with benefits.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 11, 2015

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We are having a wonderful winter storm.  The wind is blowing the snow against the windows and making groaning sounds in the trees.   We knew it was coming.  For days the weather people were telling us almost to the minute when it would arrive.  So yesterday afternoon the supermarkets were packed with people stocking up on milk and bread.  One interviewed lady said she stood in the checkout lane for over 40 minutes.  I don’t understand.  First of all, the storm will be gone tomorrow and the roads will be plowed.  Are cupboards so bare people can’t live until tomorrow morning?  When they shop do they only get enough for one day?  Secondly, they have known about this for five days.

I’m reminded of Noah’s ark.  No one but Noah and his immediate family were saved.  But people had 120 years to show up.  Instead they pounded on the door when it started to rain.   In Matthew 24 Jesus speaks of a time of trouble climaxing in His second coming.  If the human pattern continues that means millions of people will try at the last moment to get ready.  When we consider how important this is, why do we wait?  Maybe we want to see more of the signs spoken of by Jesus.  But considering our hearts can stop at any second we might not be around to see the signs of the end.  We might not make it to the end of today.

This is a bit frightening and the last thing I want to do is to scare someone into accepting Jesus.   It is so much better to come to Him by responding to His wooing call of love.  But the truth is He loves us so much He will take us for any reason.  Scary or not He wants us.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 15, 2017

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It’s a shabby old building sitting amidst some fairly nice looking business establishments.  Its white paint hasn’t looked fresh for decades.  It is so rundown-looking it has a certain charm, but what really catches one’s attention is the large sign above the porch.  It reads, “Greendale Improvement Society.”  The paint on the sign is so faded you have to look carefully to read its ironic message.

 

Like that old building many of us make resolutions to improve ourselves and soon discover our best intentions have become historic relics.  New Years Day comes and we decide to lose weight, read that pile of books we bought last year, memorize 1 Corinthians 13, return a faithful tithe, exercise everyday and not yell at the kids.  Nevertheless, just like the Greendale Improvement Society’s chipped paint and faded sign, our dreams of improvement become charming artifacts.  At least we hope they are charming.

 

Self-discipline is an admirable trait that deserves an Academy Award.  While it will never receive one, self-discipline does come with built-in rewards.

 

Nine times in the Psalms the Psalmist cries out to the Lord, “Help me.”  If we have some good intentions about self-improvement, it is time to ask for help lest we become like the Greendale Improvement Society’s old building.f

 

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 28, 2005

 

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I bought my dog a bag of beef sticks for snacks.  I had planned to keep them in a drawer in my desk but when I opened the bag a cloud of garlic aroma wafted from that bag with such intensity my eyes rolled back into my head.  I gave her a couple and later decided to play Dagwood Bumstead by taking a nap on our couch.  I wasn’t too long zoned out to the world when I was startled to consciousness by an overwhelming foul cloud.  Opening my eyes I found myself staring into two dark eyes a few inches from my nose.  She wanted more as she gave me that “cocked head, pathetic, adorable, poor me” look.  When you love someone or something, people and pets take on a completely different perspective.  I got her another one.

You know the old saying one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.  Well there is a corollary saying, “One man’s stench is another man’s perfume.”  Just stop at a perfume sample counter at the mall.  Some are great and some are, well, not so great.  We are not very consistent about smells.  If we are hungry almost anything food smells great.  If we are nauseous the best smells in the world make us even sicker.

I am sure sometimes our behaviors and attitudes reek in the courts of heaven.  Yet, His love for us enables Him to continually reach out to us.  He does not offer perfume to mask our odor.  Instead He offers a transformation of being.  By His grace and with His power we are enabled to do sweet smelling acts of love as we become more and more like Him.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 31, 2012

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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

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My beautiful black lab stood in the snow staring off into the forest.  The moon was casting magnificent gray shadows across the reflective white floor.  She was trembling.  It was not fear.  Her hackles were not raised.  This was different.  The coyotes were calling from the treed mountain.  She looked at me and then looking into the night she moved a step forward.  Again she looked at me with a longing.  She wanted to go to them.  There was something primal moving her memory of being free to run and explore with her far removed cousins.  Taking yet another step forward she paused and when I said her name she turned back to me.  As we reentered the house she looked back to the trees.  She wanted to go.  It was only her love for me that restrained her.

She is not unlike us, who have primal memories of Eden.  We visit beautiful gardens laden with flowers and all manner of flora and there is an inner pull, an unsettled urge to want to live forever in such beauty.   Was it really so long ago that Eve and Adam tended God’s artistry? There are many layers of consciousness in our magnificent minds and deep inside there is a draw to go home.  How often must Adam have taken Abel, Seth and Cain to the gate of Eden and spoke to them of the beauty inside.

How grand that we have a way to satisfy this longing for eternal life in a paradise of God’s making.  Unlike my lab that resisted the call for her love for me we can respond with a yes to our call.  Our love for the One who formed us has made our entrance available. All we need is to say yes.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 20, 2015

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We have almost three feet of snow in our yard with another foot coming tonight and tomorrow.  That does not take into account the ten foot high mountain of snow at the end of the driveway pushed there by a nice man with a pickup truck.  The path from the driveway to a front door of the house is only as wide as our snow blower.  I traced a way in and then backed the blower out.   The problem is the dog.  The only place available to her needs is that narrow path.  The sides of the path are higher than she is tall.  Her problem is if she cares for her needs facing away from the house she can’t get back.   Her mess blocks her out because she will not tread over it to return home.

As I watch her dilemma from the front window I think of Adam and Eve blocked from the Garden entrance by the mess they made.  Just as they could see the Garden, my dog can see the house but the way is blocked.  It’s a common life theme.  People lose out on something good because of something they have done.   Jobs are lost.  Marriages are ruined.  Relationships are spoiled.  The list is as long as history.

I can intervene.  I can go out with a shovel and help my dog come home.  As for mankind the only way home was for God to intervene.  Because of the magnitude of the crisis the solution was much worse than my getting a shovel.  Jesus came and rescued us by way of the cross, which is by far the worst mess ever made by mankind and the best ever rescue by God.

Written by Roger Bothwell on February 9, 2015

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My woods are deeply asleep beneath winter’s heavy white cover.  There are no rabbit tracks, no sign of chipmunks or disruptions in the scape indicating an owl’s early morning breakfast.  Only a handful of oak leaves are left clinging to their summer perches. The bones of the oaks, maples and birches are beautiful etched across a gray winter sky.  It’s a short menu, if any, for the coyotes, bears and foxes.

I wonder about the chipmunks living in dark tunnels and rooms stored with seed from my bird feeders.  During the summer months I watched them figure out how to harvest from the squirrel proof feeders. (There is no such thing.)  They would stuff their cheeks and disappear into the cracks at the edge of the patio and quickly return for another load.  I have a lot invested in those underground pantries.

In Matthew 25 and other places Jesus speaks of preparing for the future.  If we live long enough winter will come for us.  No one is immune.  We will be required to call upon the resources we have stashed away in easier times.  In Psalm 119:12 we read, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”  If there is any correlation between the ease of winter and the amount of seed carried away my chipmunks will have an easy winter.   We can ease the intensity of winter when it comes by storing up Scripture.  “Though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil….Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”  These promises are real and sure. It is a matter of preparing for winter.

Written by Roger Bothwell on January 30, 2015

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