Insightful Musings on the Scripturesby
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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18 Mar 11
Good afternoon, dear special people.
I'm typing this while at the Northwest Horse Fair and Expo where we have a booth set up to offer our new business idea. It's been fun...but not much action in the form of interest. We'll see what happens. We have Saturday and Sunday to go.
Have a great evening. Be blessed.
Love, Dad/Ray
18 March 2011
Proverbs 18
Focus: “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18: 24.
I have only one biological brother. He’s four years older than me. I like him. We are good friends. But that hasn’t always been the case. As kids, he was definitely not above exploiting his age advancement and superior strength. That seemed to turn around, however, when I finally beat him in arm wrestling when I was a Sophomore in High School. As friends and brothers, we agree on a lot of things, but certainly not all things. We’re simply on different pages when it comes to lifestyle and views on many issues.
Insofar as our friendliness, familiarity, and family bonds are concerned, I could say my brother and I stick pretty close. We talk about once a month on the phone and we see each other occasionally. In fact I saw him last Monday when we went skiing together—or I should say we TRIED to go skiing together. Didn’t really get in much skiing. We had a time and place to meet at Timberline, but before I got there, he canned up on a run and dislocated his shoulder. So the rest of the day, he was in Ski Patrol Clinics—ending up in a Portland hospital where they finally put his shoulder joint back in place. Through that time, up till he was loaded into the ambulance, I stuck with him like a brother should—but there’s no way I could stick CLOSER than a brother. How in the world could I do that?
Let me state the obvious. My brother is way below omnipotent. The fact is he, like me, is getting weaker all the time. Nor is he very omniscient. While he knows a lot, sometimes I think it’s not enough. And he’s definitely not omnipresent. He lives in Sunnyside, Washington and I live in Molalla, Oregon—and we kind of like it that way. But I’ll tell you what—if you can find someone who is all those things (omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent) and you have opportunity to become his friend, you’d better not pass up a deal like that! You’d be absolutely LOONY to do so! You would have a FRIEND WHO STICKS CLOSER THAN A BROTHER!
We are blessed with a huge network of friends—good friends. It’s still possible to COME TO RUIN, however, no matter how many we have. But being a FRIEND with the One Who STICKS CLOSER THAN A BROTHER actually prevents ruin—at least the serious kind. I could get carried away with scriptures—but you know what I mean.
“If you were another person, would you like to be a friend of yours?”