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Relive through reminiscing and remembering, a Maine pastor's recollections of boyhood experiences that turned into a minister's messages in old age. After five decades (Barry's first message was preached in 1966), travel back in time with a lifelong Maineaic to his home place, the Blackstone homestead of Perham, Maine. What sparked these homilies was his inheritance of seven acres of the family farm, homesteaded in 1861, and the receiving of his grandparent's house built in 1924 at the death of his Uncle Paul. You will probably come to the same conclusion as this coastal Maine pastor--that his seminary training began long before he attended a Bible school in South Carolina in the early 1970s. Flash back with him to the 1950s and 1960s when spiritual lessons were everywhere on his rural potato and dairy farm. Pastor Blackstone didn't know it then, but realizes now that he was surrounded by family Bible teachers and friendly Biblical instructors that eventually would inspire this series of sermons. Homestead Homilies is a collection of scriptural observations inspired by a dog named Rover, an uncle named Read, a moonlit night, a barnyard hedge, a day plowing, a grandmother's helpful hand, a bee hive, a simple prayer, a sparrow's song, and many more simple events in a past age where homilies were being preached and now eventually heard. It is the author's prayer that these simple sermons will provoke the reader to remember long lost messages from their distant past.
Barry Blackstone has been fascinated with the biblical reference to “giants” since childhood but only began looking deeper into the subject when he was challenged by a member of his congregation twenty-five years ago. Over those years, Blackstone compiled information on all the named “giants” and those that slew them (men well-known like David, Joshua, and Caleb and those not so well-known like Othniel, Elhanan, and Abishai). Coming to the conclusion that this race of super-humans was a product of Satan’s plan to corrupt man, stop the coming of the Messiah, and resist the Hebrews from possessing their promised land, Blackstone began to see the principles and precepts needed to combat the “giants” of our day in our spiritual warfare “against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph 6:12). Travel with this pastor through the Bible as he reveals the origin of the “giants,” how they survived the Flood, and when they were finally wiped out in the days of David. With strange names like Rephaim, OG, Arba, Anak, Sheshai, and of course Goliath, learn about their fabled size, their formable weapons, and why they all were so easily defeated! This exploration will cover some of the greatest battles described in Scripture and will uncover how to win against gigantic foes personally. Each chapter is written in a devotional style that will bring a spiritual encouragement to the reader and will help them see that no matter how invincible the adversary, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31).
Contained in this book are one hundred and fifty “fish tales” from fifty years of fishing, shared by an avid fisherman who has also spent the last fifty years fishing for men as a small-town pastor in New England. This accounting of passed fishing trips and fish caught reflects on the spiritual application to the techniques and tactics using in fishing for trout and salmon, and a few other species of fish, to the biblical application for people Jesus called “fishers of men”! In each of these short stories, Pastor Blackstone reveals to his reader the wonderful blessings that come from leading someone to a saving knowledge of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The author is convinced that Jesus deliberately chose fishermen to be his earliest disciples, men he would call “apostles,” because those Galilean fisherman had the necessary characteristics and qualifications to teach (cast) his gospel and to share it with the multitudes. It is the hope of the writer that this book will not only be of interest to someone that fishes, but ultimately will be found profitable to anyone that wants to share his or her faith in Jesus Christ with others.
At a Moment’s Notice is the very first writing project the author ever attempted in 1988. After thirty-five years, the author took a second look at the series of devotionals and decided they needed to be made into a book. At a Moment’s Notice contains fifty chapters based upon the truth of the title. Gleaning from the word of God, the Bible, the preacher in the author recognized that more often than not the main characters underlined in the Scriptures reacted immediately to certain situations and circumstances they were confronted with. Take a trip through Holy Writ as we encounter the judge Shamgar as he comes face-to-face with a marauding band of Philistines in his field; as Lydia the purple saleswoman meets Paul by a river in Philippi; as Hur helps Moses at a moment’s notice with the Rod of God that eventually wins an important battle; as Simeon comes into Herod’s Temple just at the right moment to meet the Christ-child; and as Naboth has to make the most difficult decision of his life that will also cost him his life. Though the actions and reactions of each famous or infamous hero or heroine highlighted in the book have the same quality, the lessons being taught are as varied as the stories being told. Take a few moments to read the account and ponder what is being taught, and then hopefully an application can be made in the reader’s heart—at a moment’s notice!
Walk again in your childhood with a favorite animal friend as Pastor Blackstone remembers his boyhood and best friend: a dog named Rover and their adventures together. This series of remembrances and reminisces of a canine companion after over a half a century of time was invoked by an adulthood best friend, a cat named Eddie (highlighted in his own book—Meows from the Manse). Rover: A Boy’s Best Friend is a mental stroll through memory lane when the author was much younger and the world of his family’s homestead was open for exploration and expedition with a mostly black German Shepherd and Collie mix at his side. Travel with these best friends through the four seasons of nature covered in white and green and brown; through the forest paths of north Perham, a tiny agriculture community in Aroostook County, Maine; through the fields and the pastures of a 720-acre dairy and potato farm as they encounter woodland creatures of every sort and barnyard animals of every kind; through meadows and mornings and moonsets that years later form wonderful illustrations and spiritual lessons for the young man who would grow up to become a pastor for nearly a half century. You will hear from Rover himself as he barks out sermons that will stand the test of time, and homestead homilies that will rebuke and reprove as the author makes a modern application to a boyhood experience with his dog. Sit back and read and recall your own “dog tales,” or “cat tales” if that is your favorite animal, as you travel again with “a lad and his Lassie,” with a “shaver” and his Rin Tin Tin, through the early years of life when your best friend was a dog named Rover!
Journey with a family through six months in "the valley of the shadow of death" as an aggressive lung cancer takes a beloved, firstborn son through the worst battle of his life. A Purple Heart recipient from the Afghan war, Scott's war with cancer will highlight and underline the survival on a distant battlefield only to die on a familiar home front. Share the thoughts and memories of a dad reflecting on the irony of the number forty, and read of his memories of his past that helped him endure one of the greatest tragedies of his life, the death of his son in his fortieth year. Witness the miracles in the midst of the misery as family and friends rally to help this family cope with an incurable disease. Note the sadness that comes when this father's father passes away at the height of his grandson's struggle for survival. Hear the glimmer of hope that comes from looking "beyond" to happier and fairer days coming in the blessed place called heaven. See the faith that sustains through insomnia and illness, heartache and heartbreak. Learn the precepts from the Bible that that will not only help one understand the process but understand the purpose of why someone so young passes away. This book is more about departing than dying; more about heaven than earth; and more about acceptance than bitterness.
Have you ever wondered what Jesus saw, heard, and did during his so-called “silent years” between his birth in Bethlehem, after his trip to Egypt, and before his baptism at the Jordan River? The only mentioned event in the Gospels from that time frame was being forgotten in Jerusalem by his parents at the age of twelve, as recorded by Luke. Barry Blackstone takes you on an imaginative journey, an inspiring jaunt into those days of Jesus as he remembers his own boyhood and early childhood experiences in the tiny farming village of Perham, Maine, a hamlet similar in size and nature to the Nazareth of Jesus’ day. After visiting an archeological site in Nazareth in 2010, Blackstone realized the parallels between his obscure upbringing and the quiet years of the Savior in his boyhood home. It is the wish of the author that his reader might see through a morning dew, a blossoming flower, a blue sky, a gentle rain, a brilliant rainbow, a crowing rooster, a loving sister, and a father’s carpenter’s shop into the life of the boy Jesus. Blackstone attempts to fill in some of the gaps in the story of Jesus by sharing his barnyard memories with an application to the teaching of the adult Jesus. Can one see insights into what Jesus experienced in the lessons, parables, and teachings of his adult ministry?
Are you ready for an Alaska adventure? Travel with a pastor through central Alaska on a two-week tour of our fiftieth state. A lifelong dream to visit the land of the midnight sun, this preacher will share his spiritual insights and Biblical observations of the last frontier. Journeying with this Maine minister will be his wife of forty-five years and their first born son, who had spent his final two years of active military service stationed in Alaska with the United States Army. Experience the North Pole and fishing for grayling and rainbow trout near Fairbanks; taste for the first time Alaskan king crab; travel south with this trio to Denali National Park and witness the animal world at its finest; view Mt. McKinley from thirty-six miles; explore the Kenai Peninsula and catch the biggest rainbow trout of your life; visit old missionary friends at their airfield ranch in Chickaloon; take a plane ride over one of the greatest glaciers in the world; four-wheel through virgin forest to a glacier river; feel the spray of ice-cold waterfalls while passing through a mountain pass; share the thrill with your son of hundreds of migrating salmon bumping against your legs in a tidal stream, and pan for gold and find some nearby ancient gold dredge. Travel with the Blackstones as they experience the best of what Alaska can offer tourists as well as the explorers, and on the way learn a few spiritual lessons that might just change your life.
Return for a fifth time with Pastor Blackstone to the fabled land of India and discover more biblical precepts and life-changing concepts as he travels again with his good friend Shibu Simon to "earth's farthest bounds." This time the Maine pastor will speak at three Indian graduations in three days in two different Indian states, witness a baptism in a cattle trough, get up close and personal with a temple elephant that had just blessed a house, and travel through eight Indian states in ten days while journeying the length and breadth of India in a four-thousand-mile odyssey. That odyssey will include visiting the Taj Mahal by water, the Red Fort of Agra, the Golden Temple of the Sikhs, a hostel in Delhi, and the guru caves of Udayagiri. Experience your first cycle rickshaw ride in Amritsar, your first rural hospital in Uttar Pradesh, your fifth Indian train ride through Haryana, and a surprising side-trip to Orissa. These encounters and experiences will cause you to think what is possible if you step out of your comfort zone and journey to "earth's farthest bounds" on business for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords--Jesus Christ!
Have you ever wondered why the best die young? Who of us hasn’t thought the same thing when we learn of the death of a young Christian with such potential when a fellow believer lives on to wreck his testimony, the reputation of the local church, and the cause of Christ? Having been a pastor now for nearly fifty years I have had nearly a lifetime to ponder the word “expendable” in relationship to not only individuals, but dreams and desires, hopes and wishes, events and expectations. This concept of expendability came home to me years ago when I learned that my grandfather, on my mother’s side, had a brother who died of an illness in his early twenties after only spending a year on the mission field in Peru! Over the portal to a special room that celebrates those that died young in the Hall of the Faithful in Heaven is found, I believe, this superscription: “EXPENDABLE”! I would like to share with you some of the biblical portraits that are hanging from those celestial walls, for if you are looking for the answer to the question I asked, I have come to believe it can only be found in the Bible.