Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good morning, special ones.

It is kind of awesome to consider today’s date. The way we often write it, it can only occur once every thousand years—12/13/14.

I have so much to do, but have spent so much time with this composition—changing—talking with Becki—if I took time to read it again, I’d probably edit even more. Oh well—time’s up—I’m going to let her fly!

We’ll pick Thano up this evening. That will allow our lives to return to their normal abnormal form.

The sun is shining beautiful at present. Makes me want to get out there and do something in it. From this window I see that “Taffy” our kitty cat has done something it it—she’s playing with a fresh-caught mouse.

Be blessed.

Love—Ray.

It’s almost scary to walk into a store like Costco these days. Right there near the entrance are all those huge high definition TV screens often presenting some spectacular supernatural nightmare battle of weird monsters—flying all over the place, crashing into things, blowing stuff up, intense destruction—it looks so real! If I allow myself to focus on one screen, I may find myself inside the cockpit of some high-speed flying machine navigating through a maze of all kinds of deadly obstacles. By natural psycho-somatic responses, my body reacts by ducking, leaning, and nearly falling in anticipation of the turns and maneuvers by which I’m being visually subjected. If I stayed there too long and really got into it I could risk losing my lunch.

There is evidence that John too is really getting into this big high definition audio-video revelation going on before him—so much so that when that “mighty angel” proclaims “in a loud voice, ‘Who is able to break the seals and open the scroll?’” John is so emotionally moved that he “wept and wept” because “no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it” (v. 3).

Where’s the remote? Shall we change channels—maybe choose a different movie? We’re familiar with a mind-boggling scope of technological entertainment alternatives. But John had no such option. And this production was not aimed at his entertainment. The cinematography may have been generated by supernatural animation, but the symbolism contained in the production has to at least represent what is REAL and TRUE. How else can we process “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” entering the stage—a “Lamb?”—“looking as if it had been slain”?—“standing”? Oh, my! This is weird! Add to that “seven horns and seven eyes”! How do I handle all this?

As I consider the three spectacular songs presented in this audio-video clip (chapter 5), it occurs to me that it is only the last one that involves my participation. It’s only right that I see myself included in the FOCUS VERSE above. Beyond that, something else occurs to me that brings the whole deal closer to home—closer to where I live right now. I’ll phrase the idea as a question: IS IT POSSIBLE THAT TODAY IS PART OF THE AUDITION SO AS TO DETERMINE WHAT PART I WILL SING? It’s really not a matter of whether or not I sing, but what part I will sing. The two human parts are not melody and harmony. I think they could be called REDEEMED and TOO LATE (Read Philippians 2:9-11). If I am connecting dots correctly, those parts then determine what happens to the singers after the close of that great performance.