Insightful Musings on the Scriptures
by
Ray Sparre, NU class of '67

Ray has a wealth of experience as a Husband, Father, Pastor, Missionary, and student of the Word. He believes and practices his faith where the rubber meets the road. You'll find his writings to be practical, insightful, and grounded in a truly Christ-centered world view.

Below are links to a printable daily Bible reading guide which Ray has followed, and an archive of all his daily devotional writings for 2010 and 2011.

|  Daily Reading Guide  |  2011 Devotion Archives  |  2010 Devotion Archives  |
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20 Mar 11
            OK, dear ones…
            This show is about ended.  It closes at 6pm.  But I’ll return tomorrow morning to dismantle everything and haul it home.  Still not much of substantial results from all this effort…but we’ll see.
            I’ll stick on a photo to give a glimpse of what things kind of looked like. The name we’re giving the business idea is Prestigious Pylons.
            We better get.  Have a good night.  God bless.
                        Love, Dad/Ray
 
20 March 2011
Proverbs 20
Focus: “Ears that hear and eyes that see—the LORD has made them both.” Proverbs 20:12.
            I remember a young lady we met when we were in the Western Solomon Islands in the 90s.  She was a student medical doctor from England and was on assignment at the Munda Hospital on the island of New Georgia.  She also visited us in Noro and did some scuba diving with our son, Andy.  The thing I most remember about her is that when we were out in our boat and dolphins came jumping and playing around the bow of the boat, she was so overwhelmed with emotion and awe with these amazing beautiful creatures that she cried.  At the time I thought that was amusing—rather unusual.
            But something happened to me on our next furlough return to the US.  We were able to attend the St. Paul Rodeo.  During the opening of the rodeo when those big beautiful horses burst into the arena carrying, and under the submissive control of, those little pretty ladies, I was so overwhelmed with emotion and awe with the whole dramatic display of God’s handiwork—you guessed it—I cried—at least I had a real hard time preventing it.  And you know what—I keep having those emotion attacks, taking me by surprise, without warning.  In fact, I had some trouble controlling my emotions and keeping my eyes dry just this morning while here at this big horse show in Albany (Northwest Horse Fair and Expo)—watching a group of young riders on wonderful horses for a few minutes in the arena.  Even walking through the building with all the stalls is emotional—like getting up close and personal with a gorgeous 1400-pound black Friesian that is as friendly and gentle as a puppy.  I have no doubt whatsoever that it’s all part of a God thing—that the horse, in general, is a demonstration of God’s creative design—and one of His special gifts to humans.
            There is no way that EARS THAT HEAR AND EYES THAT SEE happened by themselves. And I really believe that the proper use of ears and eyes will assist a discerning mind (also made by the LORD) to recognize that the world is plumb full of all kinds of things besides ears and eyes that have been made by the LORD—horses, dogs, birds, fish—we could go on and on. Furthermore, I don’t really think it’s all that outlandish to get a bit emotional over it all.  Why not use these marvelous displays of God’s extravagance as prods toward worship?
            Am I not describing an attitude of heart that clearly gripped the songwriter to compose HOW GREAT THOU ART?  Hey, why don’t we sing  the first verse?
 
“Praise is the soil in which joy thrives.”