Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

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March 29, 2010
            Good morning to you—from New York.
            If this is New York, I wonder what happened to Old York.  For being “New,” there sure is a lot of old stuff around here.  Whatever.
            We now have a plan to host one of my old friends from childhood for lunch here today—Peter Runke and his wife, Debbie.  Should be fun.  Our memories take us all the way back to 2nd grade in Miss Wiseheart’s class.  Wow!  That was 1951.  Peter resides in nearby Rochester—a retired engineer with Kodak. 
            May you be blessed as you do your day.  Be reminded that THIS IS A DAY THAT THE LORD HAS MADE.  Someone should make a song out of that.
                        Love and prayers.  Dad/Ray

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29 March 2010
Passage: Acts 27:27-44
Focus: “Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive.”  Acts 27:34.

            I can identify with this account.  I have gathered some experience of my own at being in storms at sea in small vessels.  Not fun.  And we all know that life can often become like that—a storm at sea.  Not fun.  I’ve had some experience there too.  In those passages there may be the winds of adversity and trouble.  There may be the waves of persecution and opposition.  There may be the contrary current of opinion and peer pressure.  There may be the lurching of confusion and disorientation.  There may come the utter exhaustion of tending to relentless survival details and the weakness of insufficient emotional and spiritual nourishment.  Amidst those circumstances of life, Paul’s advice stands as good as it ever was: “Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive.  Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.”  And a little bald guy in the group shouted, “So what?!  We’re not worried about our hair!” 
           Oops!  There goes my imagination again.  I just made up the bald guy response.  But I’m not making up the fact that your survival is not possible without nourishment—whether you think you have time for it or not. It’s not an option.  And God’s Word is the perfect food source for soul and spirit—packed with all kinds of high-energy vitamins and nutrients when taken along with prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.  Once again, let’s recall the words of Jesus when He quotes, “Man shall not live by bread (physical food) alone, but by every word (spiritual food) that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).   Additionally, be reminded of the practical benefits of the Word as presented in Paul’s illustration in Ephesians 6.  About that passage, someone has said, “With this application, you become a guaranteed victor.  Without it, you become a guaranteed casualty.”