Roger Bothwell

Last evening in class some of my students taught me a new word.  I had no idea this word existed.  It is “subitize.”   It is pronounced “sue baa tize.”  I felt a bit dull because it wasn’t the high school math teachers who taught me this word.  It was the kindergarten teachers.  Subitize means to perceive at a glance the number of items presented.  Unless you are Rain Man the limit for most of us is seven.
 
In Matthew 10 Jesus said, “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”  Our Heavenly Father is the Master Subitizer. 
 
On a very clear night with little light pollution the average person can see about 2000 stars.  We cannot subitize them.  They were counted by astronomers with sky maps.  That is such a small sampling of what is really out there.  “He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name.”  Psalm 147:4.  He doesn’t call them Sirius and Arcturus.  Those are the names we have given them.   He calls them by the names He has given.  Each is special.  I have often wondered what is His name for our sun.

Our personal names are those our parents gave us.  I wonder what He calls us.  We shall know someday.  “I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.”  Revelation 2.  One thing we know for sure. He knows you and me.  He knows all about us because He is the Master Subitizer.

We have a small music box containing three separate cylinders, thus it plays three different tunes.  I like it best when all three songs are playing at the same time.  I know that sounds strange but each time the music is a different delicate cacophonic dissonance of never before heard music.  Each time is an original composition created by different starting times. If you concentrate you can pick out each separate tune as you filter out the other two.  I know the definitions of cacophony and dissonance imply unpleasant jarring sounds.  But the softness of the music box produces something eerily beautiful.
 
There are millions of prayers simultaneously ascending to God’s ears.  Each moment He hears the beautiful sounds of His children intermingled with need, worship and love.  As a teacher I sometimes have to ask my students to politely wait their turn for I am not capable of grasping their concurrently spoken ideas.  Our Father has no such limitation.  You can speak.  I can speak.  We do not need to wait for our turn.   Neither the softness of our thanksgiving nor the pained anguish of our needs interfere with His caring cognition.
 
The wonder of our Heavenly Father will challenge our intellects forever as we seek to grasp the immensity of His love for us.  Paul wrote, “Open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.”  Ephesians 3.
 
Thusly as we all speak to Him it is music to His heart. 

History provides us with moments of great importance.  Decisions, decisions, decisions weigh heavily on our hearts.  Sometimes proximity blurs the importance for us and we forget other much more important moments.  Not a Tuesday night but a Thursday night 2000 years ago a decision was made not for the continuity of the Roman government but for the universe.  God had sent His Son, His only Son, to earth and the culmination of that was would He or would He not while being human suffer one of the most horrific of deaths at the hands of those He had created.
 
There was silence in heaven as He fell to the earth in Gethsemane begging His Father for another way to save mankind.  There was not another way.  Satan pressed in smothering Him with the prospect of eternal loss, not only for Himself but for everyone.  Rising from the ground He made the decision.  But even yet the physical horror was yet to come.  We can now count the beatings, the humiliations, the number of thorns in His brow, the betrayal of Peter, the wooden cross on his back almost stripped of all skin by the lashes with barbs embedded in the strips of leather, the nails in His hands and the thirst-the incredible thirst.
 
Satan was sure he could break Him.  No one would so endure when with the flick of an eye bring it instantly to an end.  All heaven and all hell waited to see what the end would be.  Any other decisive moment in time pales in comparison to this.
 
On Sunday morning the angels sang because WE won.  We won not just four years.  We won eternity for everyone and anyone who will decide to accept the gift.

While walking my dog this afternoon we met a lady with a snarly little dog.  My dog which was for sure five times the size of the offender was a model of decorum.  I was so proud of her.  The lady said to me, “You will have to excuse her.  She’s pregnant.”  I’m tempted to say, “That’s not the first time I have heard those two sentences.” But I won’t say it because I don’t want to get into trouble.  Being that I have never been pregnant makes it appropriate for me to say nothing.
 
So very often saying nothing is the correct response to a majority of comments.  I have often thought the Quakers were really on to something significant. “Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles.”  Proverbs 21:23   How often have I returned from being at a gathering or a committee meeting and wished I had refrained from opining.  Usually what I had to offer was not constructive and was only spoken because I wanted to appear bright.  I wasn’t.
 
Jesus, the smartest man who ever lived, could have silenced His accusers in so many ways, but instead He chose to be quiet.  “And the high priest arose and said to Him, ‘Do you answer nothing? What is it these men testify against you?’  But Jesus kept silent.”  Matthew 26   So many love the sound of their voice while not realizing what they hear is not what others hear.  It’s usually a bit shocking to hear one’s recorded voice for the first time.  We barely recognize the person speaking.  And yet even though I think this to be a wise course of action, we should not miss the opportunity to say something encouraging and uplifting to a discouraged soul.  A few wise words are a treasure.

It was crazy beautiful.  There I was with my leaf-blower in hand trying to blow the leaves out of the yard and over the bank only to have a stiff breeze pick them up and blow them back.  I was in a mini-cyclone of swirling bright red and yellow maple leaves.  Someone might ask why was I so lacking in I.Q. to be trying to blow them away.  Could I not wait until the day was calm?  I am tempted to respond like a small child with “cause.”  But this time I had a reason.  It was beautiful.  I was lavished with color.  Sometimes we do things just because it’s delicious.  My eyes were feasting.  My mind was semi-drunk with hues.
 
Being human is so wonderful.  We are capable of euphoric moments of sheer delight; standing during Handel’s Messiah, drowning in the lushishness of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, tearing when a baby cries his first sound, gasping when seeing my bride coming down the aisle on her father’s arm, marveling at a field of California poppies or standing in St. Peter’s Cathedral surrounded by the works of Michelangelo and hearing the haunting chants of monks echoing across the stone floors and against the stone columns. 
 
It is a taste of so much more to come. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love.”  I Corinthians 2:9.   We will go from wonder to wonder and we will wonder how can something be so beautifully wordless.  The challenge will be to stay clear headed and not become inebriated with magnificence beyond all imagination.

For years one of my sons worked on Wall Street.  For years I listened very carefully to him.  I was always hoping to glean just a tidbit of information that might alert my attention to a particular stock.  I knew better than to ask.  Insider traders go to jail. But I couldn’t resist hoping I could put two and two together for a hot tip.  I never got it.  He was always super careful and I was never able to glean an iota of investment information.  I don’t bother anymore.
 
But I am still fascinated by the idea that insider information might be helpful.  Being that I am a family member in God’s family, I listen carefully for insider information.  Maybe I can glean a tidbit of information that might make gaining eternal life a bit easier.  But, wait.  How much easier can it be?  Romans 8:23 says eternal life is a gift.  The last time I checked the dictionary the word gift meant receiving something for free. 
 
Now let me think about this. I am a family member.  I have connections.  Jesus is my Savior and Brother.  If there was a shortcut available surely He would tell me.  But how can there be a shortcut when something is already free?  So I have to conclude my kinship with Jesus isn’t going to make the deal any sweeter.  It’s already as sweet as it can get.  And I can begin reaping the benefits right now.  I Peter 1 says,   “. . . you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”  Note the present tense in that promise.  I was about to say, “Sorry, I don’t have any inside information.”  Instead I should be rejoicing that there is no insider information needed!

I just discovered my dog eats tomatoes.  Dogs don’t eat tomatoes!  This is truly weird.  What other strange appetites and behaviors are housed inside my beautiful friend?  I thought I knew her well.  Could it be that my wife of 54 years also has secrets?  Probably so; and probably for good reasons.  It’s not always wise to know everything about somebody. Has Ecclesiastics 12:14 ever bothered you?  Or maybe even more so, frightened you?  It says, “For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”
 
That seems like a short trip straight to hell.  But hang on.  Don’t despair.  Don’t go to the fridge and pig out on a half gallon of Breyers.   Isaiah 43:25 is a verse for you.  “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”   Now we are talking Good News.   Our heavenly Father knows everything about us.  Jesus said He even knows how many hairs we have or don’t have.  And yet He still loves us.  He still wants to live with us forever.  He must like us.  And He blots out our sins so others can’t snoop and pry.
 
There is a huge difference between loving and liking.  Loving is wanting the best for us.  Liking is wanting to be with someone.  How grand it is that our heavenly Father who knows all about us not only loves us but likes us.  Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you…that where I am you may be also.”
   
I wonder what other things my dog likes to eat? 

I have this wonderful wooden box filled with cards.  It is great fun to open it and shuffle through old driver’s licenses, (I actually liked my picture on one of them). There are ID cards from the Massachusetts Teacher’s Association, the Audubon Society, Atlantic Union College, Fitchburg State University, Quinnsigamund College and many more.  One of my favorites is a complementary pass for me and a guest to Boston Red Sox games.  I can go in and sit anywhere until the rightful ticket holder shows up.  Then I have to move to another empty seat.  Sometimes I used to sit right behind home plate and no one would come and bump me out.  It is difficult to understand why someone would let a seat like that go empty.  But then again there are seats in heaven’s throne room for everyone and thousands will let it go empty.  What a waste!
 
It’s a waste of life and opportunity.  It’s a waste of intellect and creativity.  It’s a waste of happiness and fulfillment. God is in the business of saving people He will make every effort and use every tactic available to woo people into the Kingdom.  But there are some hard-nosed folk who will resist and resist until they no longer hear the pleading voice beckoning them to come.
 
Revelation 3:21 says, “To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.”   Now that is a seat no one in their right mind would ever want to miss.  Please come with me.  I promise I will cheer and shout your name the day I see you sitting with Jesus.  How very grand!

I dropped an M&M on the floor – a red one.  I had 2 seconds to retrieve it.  But I was slow on the draw.  Locating it and bending over took at least twice that amount of time.  But wait, I was still within the 5 second rule.   Should I or should I not?  If it had been a brussel sprout would I have even pondered?  Dropping it would have been a boon.  I would not have to eat it.  But this was an M&M.  It had that crispy coating over that amazing drop of chocolate.  This was not a Brussel Sprout this was a tragedy, unless the 5 second rule applied.
 
Ah, the intrigue and power of rationalization.  Now, I know that bacteria are transferred instantly onto a fallen object, that is if it lands on the bacteria.  But what if this was a clean place on the floor?   And research does show that a full minute on the floor will contaminate the fallen object ten times as much over that of an object retrieved within 5 seconds.
 
Was I about to risk my health anymore than if I ate a bowl of ice cream?  I have no idea who sneezed at the ice cream factory or the health of the scooper/server at Friendly’s. Is anything we eat really clean?  And furthermore just this morning I received a huge dose of antibodies.  I mean huge.  It took four hours to run it through a tiny needle into my arm.  (I have to do this once a month – aftermath of many kinds of chemo.)  Right now at this very moment I am as safe from disease as I will ever be.
 
More importantly – this relates to so many other aspects of right and wrong.

We have a hairy woodpecker in our yard that deserves to be reported to the National Audubon Society as an endangered individual.  He must think it’s Halloween because all morning he has been knocking on my back door and flying away when I answer.  No sooner do I sit down than he is back knocking, knocking, knocking.  It was cute the first two or three times but really enough is enough.  I feel like I am trapped inside an Edgar Allan Poe poem.  “While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.”  We can call this one, “The Woodpecker.”
 
Jesus said, “Behold I stand at the door and knock.”  However, quite to the contrary He doesn’t run away when we answer.  But He is just as, or even more so, persistent as our woodpecker. He never had to chase me.  I have loved Jesus as long as I can remember, but I have known persons who were persistently chased, courted, harassed and beleaguered by the Holy Spirit, who would not let them go.
 
Just before His death Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives looking over Jerusalem and He mourned, “How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”  The truth is we are loved and God is just not willing for us to perish. “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”  II Peter 3:9.
 
And so He continually knocks, raps, taps at the front door, side door and backdoor of our hearts.  He really wants in and will never fly away.