New Blog Site

I wanted to let you know that I have moved my blog to a new site. It can now be found at:

http://www.blackstockministry.com/ryanblog/

Thanks!

A Question Worth Asking (and answering...)

"The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—is this:
If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?"

— John Piper (God Is the Gospel: Meditations on God's Love as the Gift of Himself)

I came across this quote from John Piper while reading another book that referenced it and found it to be very troubling.

Why did I find it to be troubling?

I found it to be troubling because it caused me to do some soul-searching and to think about how I would answer the question.

Am I looking forward to heaven because of how great it will be, or am I most looking forward to heaven because I will finally get to be with Jesus in person?

The answer to that question is very telling of my list of priorities and where "my comfort" ranks on the list.

This question has caused me to re-examine my relationship with Jesus. Not in the general sense of my salvation, but in the personal sense of my relationship with the One who laid down his life that I might have life.

Do I really know this Jesus that loves me more than any other?

Do I know him so intimately that the thought of being with him one day in heaven causes all other inferior thoughts to melt away?

The answer is no. I don't know him that way.


But I want to. I long to. I must.


How would you answer the question?

I mean really answer it, from deep down inside you where you know that God already knows.


May we know you Lord Jesus, and may knowing you create in us a thirst for you that will one day be quenched when we see you face to face.

A Great Model for Making Disciples

I thought this was a simple way of describing what our interaction should be as we make  disciples who will follow Jesus Christ. Building relationships with those we are ministering to allows these steps to take place.


  1. I do, You watch.
  2. I do, You help.
  3. You do, I help.
  4. You do, I watch.
  5. You do, someone else watches.

What do you think? Have someone else done this with you? Have you done this with someone else?

In case winding your watches has you worn out...

I could hardly believe such a product exists, but there it is, ready for those weary souls whom have suffered needlessly at the hands of watchmakers too sentimental to use a battery.















Yep, it's a watch rotator.  It winds your watch for you.  It turns the little dial on your wind up watch so that you don't have to.

Wow.

I am trying to think of how I would explain this device to my neighbors here in El Salvador.

When does our drive to create labor-saving devices cross the line?

Sorry for the rant, just couldn't believe it.  :-)

Book Review - Crazy Love, by Francis Chan

I just recently finished ready the book Crazy Love, by Francis Chan.  I was greatly challenged by this book to love God with abandon and with action.

Before reading the book I was concerned about it being too "touchy-feely" and not being firmly founded in the scripture.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that neither of my concerns were founded.  The approach that Francis Chan takes is very practical and very well rooted in the scriptures.  There were a handful of references that I felt were "stretched" a bit in order to support the idea being communicated, but these were few and far between.  Most of the concepts are clearly found in God's Word, but sadly seldom lived out in our lives as followers of Jesus Christ.

While reading the New Testament, one cannot help but be confronted with the idea of ministering to the poor.  For many years I have seen this clearly in the scriptures but have never acted upon it.  My tendency is to fall on the side of the skeptic, always assuming the poor person is either a con-artist or could just change their situation by making better decisions.  So how am I following the example and teaching of Jesus when it comes to ministering to the poor and needy?  I am not.  And that needs to change.

Rather than provide a blanket solution for every believer to blindly follow, Chan is careful to encourage the reader to seek out God's specific direction for them in regards to living out their love for the Father.

This book has encouraged me to seek out the specific ways God would have me to minister to others with the resources He has entrusted to my care.  Not just to be convicted about it, but to me moved to action.

This is a book I would highly recommend.  It is an easy read that propels you from one chapter to the next while maintaining a depth of content that will challenge you to live your life differently.

Do You Like Milk?

I like milk, a lot.  A tall glass of cold milk, a big bowl of cereal with milk, or a delicious piece of Tres Leches cake, I really like milk.

But I have a problem.  According to the doctors, I have a condition that causes my body to react to milk in an unpleasant way.  Yes, they say I have a milk allergy.

After drinking milk, my nose begins to fill with congestion and my throat begins to develop a thick coating.  It is not a pleasant experience.  For this reason, I have always avoided drinking much milk or eating foods containing a lot milk.  It is a high price to pay, but what can I do?

Living here in El Salvador, we have eaten a variety of things that we had never tried before.  One of the more exotic things I ate here was a type of lizard called a Garrobo.  It tastes like chicken of course.  But another thing we have enjoyed here is raw milk (yep, straight from the cow).  We tried it the first time when we got some from our neighbors that have a bunch of cows behind our house.

Raw milk is so delicious!  Creamy, tasty, and satisfying.

And possibly the best thing about raw milk is that it does not cause me an allergic reaction. Incredible huh?

Processed milk causes me an allergic reaction, but the raw milk does not.  So what is in the processed milk that causes the allergic reaction in my body?  I still don't know for sure what it is, but I know for sure that something that happens to the milk during the processing is guilty of causing my allergy.

So, do I really have an allergy to milk?  I don't think so.  What I do have is an allergy to something added to the milk during the processing.

This idea caused me to think about things that are added in.

There are people that appear to have an intense and unpleasant reaction to God and Jesus.  Of course, they must decide personally what they are going to think about God and Jesus, but do you think that it is possible that the unpleasant reaction they have to God and Jesus isn't actually an unpleasant reaction to God and Jesus, but rather an unpleasant reaction to something added to God and Jesus?

Is it possible that we as Christians are adding things to the image of God and Jesus that we present to the people all around us?  Are we causing in them an allergic reaction to God because we have misrepresented the fact of who the God of the Universe really is?

We cannot represent God if we do not know Him well.  Do you know the God of the Universe well?  We can know Him by spending time with Him in His Word.

Teach us Lord who you really are.  Help us Lord to represent you to the people how you really are in truth, without adding anything else that might cause in them an allergic reaction.

Interesting Video on Leaders and Followers

Book Review - The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life, by Hannah Whitall Smith

It has been said, and I believe it to be true, that you can extract some kind of benefit from just about anything you read.

Some books are a lot of work to read, and even more work looking for that sometimes hidden bit of benefit. This book is not one of those books.

The copy of the The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life that I read was given to my wife by a good friend of ours and highly recommended. My wife read it first and would share bits and pieces with me as she went through it. These little appetizers helped to put this book at the top of the cue in my "Books to Read Next" list.

First published in 1870, this is not a shallow book that dances around and eventually touches some spiritual truth that can be a applied to your life. To borrow an excellent metaphor from the Bible, this book is meat and not milk.

Hannah Whitall Smith does not reveal some long lost secret of how to be happy, but rather leads you on a fantastic journey of drawing close to our Lord and learning how to live out in our life what has already been true since the day we entered into Christ through salvation.

One of a multitude of poignant illustrations the author uses is that of a farmer who has a hidden buried treasure beneath the ground in his field. The immense treasure is there and belongs to him, but he passes his entire life without ever realizing its existence or enjoying its benefits. Hannah Whitall Smith uses this illustration to describe the rich treasure of communion and fellowship that belong to each and every believer, there all along just below the surface, waiting to be discovered and enjoyed.

Some books can be read and absorbed quickly, and others need to be read slowly and savored, allowing each page and principle to sink in. This is a book to be read slowly. Take your time, savor the teaching, seek to draw closer to the Father with each page and chapter.  It is definitely a book to re-read again in the future, for as you grow in spiritual maturity, so will grow your ability to absorb and apply the truths contained in the pages.

This is an excellent book and I would highly recommend it to anyone that is ready to surrender self and uncover more of the wonderful treasure of truth that the Bible has written of our walk with the Father.

You can find the book on Amazon here:

Missions Dilemma

I am a big fan of Steve Saint's book, The Great Omission. This video is a trailer for the new missions training series he has developed. Can't wait to check it out.

What is "Que Dice la Biblia"?

Here is a great video giving the history of Que Dice and explaining its purpose. It was produced some years ago, so it is a little dated, but it will give you some great insight into what the ministry of Que Dice la Biblia is all about.

My involvement in overseeing the day to day operations of the ministry "Que Dice la Biblia" will be increasing this year. We will transition the operations from Kansas City to our location here in El Salvador (or where ever the Lord takes us in the future).

Welcome to MacJournal!

Welcome

To get started, create a new entry by clicking on “New Entry” in the toolbar or choosing “New Entry” from the File menu. You can also drag files from the Finder in to the Sidebar or the Entries list to import them as an entry. Show the Inspector from the View menu to see settings for the current entry, journal, and document.

What's new in version 5?

• All new interface, built for Mac OS X Leopard.


• Add any kind of content, not just text. Drag PDFs, QuickTime movies, images, and more into the Sidebar to create an entry with anything on your computer.


• Open more than one MacJournal document at a time and save them wherever you want, or just use the default document and never worry about saving.


• Create Smart Journals from searches you perform.


• Create aliases to entries that you can store in other journals.


• Assign each entry a rating, status, and priority, and sort any journal by those values.


• Record video from your iSight and attach it to any entry.


• Performance enhancements for working with large numbers of entries.

The Missional Church

I liked the perspective this video had to offer on putting our focus on ministering to those outside of the church instead of trying to only draw them in. Enjoy.

Coffee Anyone?

Is there a message here somewhere? I think there is. Enjoy.

A Double Blessing - Bragging on God

I want to share with you something that happened this week and in so doing give praise and honor and glory to our awesome God.

Each Saturday for the past six months I have been teaching a Discipleship II class at the church. We also have the classes for the new School for Pastors and Leaders on Saturday, so there are a lot of people there at the same time.

This past Saturday, after finishing with the class at around 6:30 in the evening, I was packing up my things to go when a young man walked into the classroom and asked if he could talk with me. This young man had recently started coming to the church and in addition to attending the services had gone on a youth activity to the water park on the 15th of September (Independence Day here in El Salvador).

While I had had the chance to say hi to him a few times, we hadn't really spoken much since he had been coming. I was a little surprised that he had singled me out to talk to, but of course agreed to speak with him.

We sat down and he immediately began to tell me his story. A mother who had moved to the United States and left he and his siblings behind. A hard life doing the things that young men often do without a stable home, and without Christ. Through his tears he explained to me that he didn't want that old life anymore and wanted to follow God instead.

I took some time to explain the gospel to him from Romans, and we talked about what it means to repent from your sins. He expressed that he wanted to receive the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, and so he cried out to God to save him.

It is always amazing to see the visible change in a person's countenance when they truly give their heart to the Lord. Praise God for another sinner that has come to repentance!

This young man's name is Eusebio (sounds like A-oo-say-be-O) and his is 22 years old. He is excited to begin the process of learning to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Please pray for this new believer that he will learn to walk with the Lord and know Him.

Now for the REALLY incredible part.

I was talking with one of my good friends today in Kansas City. He is Costa Rican and is faithful to pray for us and many other missionaries every day. He asked me how things were going and I told him the same story that I just shared with you. He paused for a moment and then asked again, "What day did you say that happened?". I told him again that it happened on Saturday and he could hardly believe it.

He then read to me from his prayer journal what he had written and been praying for this past Saturday. In summary, he had been praying specifically that each missionary on his list would have the opportunity to personally share the gospel with someone and see them come to put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We rejoiced together and gave God the glory for this young man and for the prayer God allowed us to see so powerfully answered.

Let us be faithful to pray. Let us be faithful to pray specifically.

Sometimes God will give us the tremendous blessing of finding out how the prayer was answered now, and sometimes we will not know until we are with the Lord, but let us be faithful to lift each other up in prayer.

To God be the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

What do you believe in?

Our girls playing in the rain

Our girls playing in the rain
Originally uploaded by rblackstock

Our girls enjoying the rain yesterday.

Computer Tech Support Cheat Sheet

As someone that has provided computer tech support to various people over the years, I found this to be pretty funny.  Enjoy.  :-)

Book Review - Once An Arafat Man by Tass Saada

I just finished reading an awesome book and I wanted to tell you about it.

Once An Arafat Man, by Tass Saada is the story of a Palestinian man that served as a PLO sniper under Yasser Arafat.

This is one of those books that is hard to put down as the chapters flow easily from one to the next.

I smiled, laughed, and praised God as I read about the journey God took this man on to lead him from a life filled with hate, to a life filled instead with peace, purpose, and a deep love for the people he once considered his enemies.

God used this book to challenge my thinking in these areas:

• The source of the struggle between the Arab world and Israel
• The ways God uses to bring Muslims to repentance and a relationship with Jesus Christ (specifically dreams and visions)
• Following the vision and plan God has set before me, trusting God to see me through even when there is danger

As the foreword of the book points out, the first section graphically describes some of the fighting that Tass was involved in during his time as a Fatah fighter. For some this will not present any challenge, but for others it might be difficult to read about the details of the battle. I would encourage you to not be deterred by this first section. It is graphic, but well written, and an important piece of the complete story.

This is a book that will leave you rejoicing and thanking God for the marvelous ways He transforms sinners into saints.

You can find the book for sale on Amazon.com by clicking here

A highly recommended book!

Have you contracted Affluenza?

Neither a typo nor a new strain of the swine flu, affluenza is not a sickness in the traditional sense.

I heard this word being used recently and thought it was a catchy way of describing a condition that ails Christians and Non-Christians alike.

A (non-Christian) definition from Wikipedia:

Affluenza, a portmanteau of affluence and influenza, is a term used by critics of consumerism. Sources define this term as follows:

affluenza, n. a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more. (de Graaf ^[1])

affluenza, n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by the pursuit of the American Dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth. (PBS [1])

So in other words, a clever name for materialism.

It is interesting that materialism is usually associated with those that have much and are focused on getting more. But really the basic definition of materialism or affluenza is being focused on what you don't have.

• Those that have much and are focused on getting more
• Those that have little and are focused on getting more

While we lived in the states, there were lots of examples of those that would be considered rich by most standards and were focused on getting more. More cars, more houses, more televisions, more Ipods, more stuff. I am afflicted by the dreaded affluenza at times as well.

Here in Central America, there are many examples of those that are poor by most standards and are also focused on getting more.

While the rich man has the resources to buy more and does, the poor man does not have the resources to buy more. The problem is that the focus of both men is the same, they are focused on what they don't have.

The world is driven to try to fill a void in their life that can only be filled by a relationship with Jesus Christ. So what about Christians? What kind of void are we trying to fill through the accumulation of more things?

Could it be the same lack in our own lives? Not a lack of salvation, but rather a lack of a real, intimate relationship with our God?

So what am I focused on? What are you focused on? Have you contracted the dreaded affluenza?

Let me prescribe to you the medicine which I too must take far too often.

Medicine A

Medicine B

Am I the man? I AM the man. Part III

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Stop! If you haven't yet read Part I or Part II of this mini-series, you should read them first before reading this post. It will make much more sense and be a better investment of your time when read within the context of the other two posts.

Part I
Part II








So we left off in Part II talking about the story that the Prophet Nathan used to confront King David about his sin with Bathsheba. We talked about the 3 main characters and the oft-overlooked 4th character of The Traveller.

This time we are going to look at the real-life parallel in the life of David to discover what this Traveller represents for us and what application we can make to our lives from this story.

The components of the real story go like this (paraphrased):

1. King David is walking around on the roof top of his palace while his army is away at war (we will save the topic of why David wasn't with them for another time).

2. He is looking down into the city and he happens to see a beautiful woman bathing herself.

Here I am going to make two assumptions about what happened that cannot be supported nor refuted in the scriptures:

• Assumption #1 David was not looking for trouble, his glance simply came to rest on something he had no business looking at. He made the decision to sin in continuing to look and then act upon it further, but the fact that he happened to see her bathing was not necessarily sin. Just as if we are innocently walking down the street and have something inappropriate come into view, the issue is what happens next. Do we keep on looking, or do we look away?

• Assumption #2 Bathsheba was also not looking for trouble, she was simply taking a bath. It was very likely that many "private" places ceased to be private if viewed from a sufficient altitude. The place where she was bathing might have been quite private unless viewed from somewhere up high, such as the roof of the palace. So I am assuming that Bathsheba had no ulterior motives for bathing as she did, other than to be clean.
  

3. David sees Bathsheba bathing, sees that she is beautiful to look upon, and decides to keep looking.

4. Desires of a sexual nature are stirred within David and he acts upon them by inquiring as to who she is, and then sending messengers to bring her to him.

5. David brings Bathsheba into the palace and satisfies his desires with this woman who is the beloved wife of another man.

6. David tries and fails to cover up his sin with Bathsheba, then resorts to having Uriah the husband killed in battle.


So where does The Traveller fit into the story? Which component of the real life events does he represent?

Let's review briefly combining both story lines:

1. David is The Rich Man. He has many wives and concubines at his beck and call.

2. Uriah is The Poor Man. He has one cherished wife (that we know about) named Bathsheba.

3. Bathsheba is The Cherished Lamb. She is loved and cared for by her husband Uriah.

4. The Traveller comes to visit The Rich Man and needs to be fed.

Here is where I believe we see the role of The Traveller in the real life events.

5. The Traveller shows up and needs to be fed. David sees Bathsheba and a sexual desire is stirred within him.

So The Traveller (in this case) is the sexual desire that was stirred up within David after seeing Bathsheba. Without becoming too graphic, think this through with me for a moment.

Is our naturally occuring sex drive something good or something bad when used within the biblical context of marriage? Something good obviously. Used outside of the biblical context of marriage, it is sin. Clearly.

David sees something that "gets his motor running", so to speak, by innocently glancing down from the roof and seeing something he shouldn't have seen, and didn't intend to see.

The Traveller arrives at the Rich Man's house and needs to be fed. A sexual desire that in and of itself is not wrong arrives within David.

Now the question is: Which lamb will feed The Traveller? One of the many lambs from the Rich Man's own flocks of which he is rightfully entitled to, or the Cherished Lamb that does not belong to him.

So the question is: How will David feed this naturally occurring desire? By being with one of his many wives or concubines of which he is rightfully entitled to, or the woman Bathsheba that is loved and cherished by her husband Uriah?

6. The Rich Man takes the Cherished Lamb from the Poor Man to feed The Traveller. David chooses to sin in looking more at Bathsheba, inquiring after her, and ultimately bringing her to the palace.

Remember in Part II when we talked about how things would have been different if the Rich Man had simply fed The Traveller one of the many lambs he rightfully owned? No harm, no foul right? The Traveller is fed. The Rich Man is happy. The Poor Man is happy. And The Cherished Lamb goes on being cherished by the Poor Man.

The Traveller did not doing anything wrong did he? He was just hungry. The sin was committed by the Rich Man in how he chose to feed The Traveller.

So how would the story of David be different if he had decided to feed the desire in a righteous way?

Imagine with me how the story would have been different had David accidently seen Bathsheba. His "desire" is stirred. He goes and spends some time with one of his many wives or concubines, as he was righteously entitled to do. No harm, no foul right? The desire is fed. David is happy. Uriah is happy. And Bathsheba goes on being cherished by her own husband Uriah.

So what does The Traveller represent for us? I believe The Traveller represents naturally occurring, God designed desires that occur in us and that in and of themselves are not sinful. The question is: How do you feed the desire?

We have seen the example of sexual desires within the Biblical context of marriage which should obviously be fed by your own spouse.

But what about some other naturally occurring desires?

• To eat food? Enough, but not too much. Eating the right things in the right quantities. Gluttony is where this naturally occurring desire becomes sin.

• To provide for our family? How many men take this natural desire and allow it to destroy their lives? More than food, shelter, clothing and care, now it becomes bigger and bigger homes and a new car.

What are some other God-given desires that can be fed the wrong way?

So The Traveller was not bad. The Rich Man was wrong for the way he chose to feed the Traveller.

The initial part of David's desire (prior to looking more, inquiring, and fetching) was not wrong. David was wrong for the way he chose to feed the desire.

Are there any God-given desires in your life that you are feeding the wrong way?

Let's feed them God's way so it does not need to be said to us, "Thou art the man".