Done for now

I'm throwing in the towel. I've decided not to update this blog anymore. Two reasons. 1. I just never get around to updating it. 2. Facebook is the way I'll be keeping people updated.

I will be blogging, however. Follow me if the purpose for the blog interests you.

www.theologicalcorrectness.blogspot.com

Thanks to all who followed this blog (both of you!).

To God be the Glory!
MJR

Rethinking my blog

I realized the other day that I haven't updated my blog in a long time. Turns out, it's been almost a year. I don't think I'll ever be a blogger.

I'm going to think about this and either start writing regularly, or pack it in. I'll let you know what I decide.

MJR

August 2009

It seems to me that I should be far more tired than I am right now. Perhaps my fatigue hasn't set in yet. Or, perhaps the Lord has given me the rest I've needed through means other than sleep. I'm thinking its the latter.

The short version:

1. Camp with the High School students at Covenant College

2. Camp with the Middle School students at Camp Kulaqua

3. Missions Trip with the High School students to Cherokee, NC

And the long...

1. From July 10-15, Hana, Noah and I were up on top of Lookout Mountain in Georgia (right near Chattanooga, TN) at Camp ELEVATE with the High School students from our church. We took a group of about 20. The speaker this year was an RUF campus minister named Brent. He spoke about idolatry. It was the best teaching we've had in three years of attending camp Elevate. Brent explained that idolatry is loving, trusting in, and/or depending on something or someone more than God. He asked a series of about 12 questions, such as:

a) What are you most passionate about?

b) What do you fear the most?

c) What is the most important thing in your life?

d) What thing, if you lost it, would you be totally lost without it?

e) What satisfies you the most?

Then he dropped the bomb. He said, "If you answered anything other than 'God' to any of these questions, you have idols that you are worshiping." The students were numb. So many of them realized that they had been looking to many things other than God for satisfaction, security, and joy. Sports, academics, relationships... among other things, made the list of idols from our group. Tears fell as we remembered the power of the gospel and rejoiced in God's mercy in Christ. We were amazed at how the Lord worked in their hearts as they made commitments to break free from their idols by putting all of their trust in God. The leaders and I realized we had been bowing down to some idols too. It was a very powerful week and I believe lives were changed. I know mine was.

2. From July 20-24, I was in High Springs, FL at Camp Kulaqua with the Middle School kids. Hana and Noah came half way through the week (they didn't have proper housing for a baby there). It was wild! I had never been to Kulaqua and did not know what to expect. We arrived and I learned that the camp had: a water park (with a wave pool, lazy river, and water slide), a gym, go carts, horse back riding, a zoo (yeah, a zoo), and a spring where kids could swim and launch each other from the blob. I was profoundly impressed.

It was a great week, and I was really able to bond with the Middle School kids. The speaker did a great job. He taught about the four main parts of the the Biblical story: Creation, Fall, Cross and the Fulfillment. The kids were impacted by the teaching about the Fulfillment. They had not thought very much about the New Heavens and New Earth. They rejoiced as they tried to imagine a world without sin and evil. It's hard to

even begin to imagine, isn't it?

I'm looking forward to returning to Kulaqua next year. I just hope they don't have the two camps so close in dates again.

3. On July 30th Hana, Noah and I left with 11 High School students, Amy (one of my invaluable volunteers) and Jack (Hana's brother), for Cherokee, NC. We were returning once again to the Cherokee Indian reservation there to minister to the Cherokee people. We had a great time! We worked with people at a Senior Center in the mornings and in the afternoons we worked with kids at a youth center and we also cleaned up a few cemeteries. There are many small family cemeteries on the reservation and, as a way to show the love of Christ to the Cherokee, we cleared the brush and overgrowth away from the graves so that you could actually see that it was a cemetery. It was an experience.

In one small cemetery (two graves) we built a platform for a headstone that kept falling over. The deceased man's son was in a wheelchair and unable to make a way for his father's headstone to remain upright. It made him sad to see it laying on the ground all the time. So, we dug a hole and dropped in two cinderblocks, cut a platform, poured cement, and dropped the headstone in about three inches into the cement platform. It won't fall over ever again.

It seemed like a pretty simple task. There were more of us there than it took to do the work. We wondered why God wanted us to do it. Then, after we'd been there for about an hour, a woman walked up the hill and asked what we were doing. We explained it to her and she said she was relieved. She thought we were grave robbers! Her name was Enci and she explained to me that it was her grandfather's headstone that we were fixing. The other grave in the cemetery was that of her husband, who died in a motorcycle accident.

She explained to me that her daughter was on meth and few other drugs. She rarely came home. When she did, she slept most of the time. She was very concerned for her daughter. I asked her if she was a member of a local church, and she said she was not part of a church. We talked to her about the gospel and about the power of Jesus. We gave her a book that told the story of the life of Christ (using Scripture). We encouraged her to turn everything over to Him and trust Him to save her daughter. Then she said something shocking. She said, "My husband died 7 years ago today." We looked on the headstone and noticed that it was, indeed, 7 years to the day since the man had died. I told her that I was excited for what the Lord might do in her life and the life of her daughter. I told her that I didn't think it was a coincidence that we happened to be up there that day - exactly 7 years after the event that had caused the pain in her daughter's life - the pain that drover her to drugs.

I didn't tell her this, but there was another reason I was excited for what the Lord was going to do for them. As we left Orlando in two vans, we chose code names for each van to be used with our walkie talkies. My van, which was silver, was called the "silver squirrel." Amy's van, which was white, was called the "white fox." 500 miles and a few days later we were standing in a cemetery sharing the love and power of Christ to a woman who desperately needed it. The cemetery was located at the end of a long driveway. The street at the end of the driveway was, and I'm not kidding, "Fox Squirrel Branch." (on the reservation, 'Branch' is like 'road.')

In fact, we were just a few feet from the corner of Fox Squirrel Branch and Warpath Rd. I knew in my heart that God had sent us on the Warpath, to bring light to this woman whose life was in darkness. I believe God is going to do something great in her life and her daughter's life. When we ask for signs, God generally doesn't provide them. He's really into that "faith" thing. But, that doesn't mean that God doesn't give us signs. Our God is an awesome God, He reigns from heaven above, with wisdom, power and love. Our God is an awesome God.

That's all for now. I have a BUSY few weeks ahead of me. I have to finish two online classes for seminary. I have to get things planned for the fall for both the Middle School ministry and the High School ministry. And, most importantly, I need to be a husband and father. The Lord is good and He always provides for us. I can't even begin to explain how wonderful it is to have things always work out. It's not luck. It's not just good fortune. It's a loving and graceful God's providence. Let us know how we can be praying for you!

"God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Cor. 5:21

For the Nations,

MJR

July 2009

So, it's been four months since I wrote an update. Would you believe I've been busy? Trust me... I've been busy.

The short version:

1. Got a job

2. Graduated from RTS

3. Started said job

4. Vacation in MN & NY

5. A crazy summer this way comes

And the long...

1. In March I was asked to if I wanted to interview for the position of Assistant Pastor at our church (University Presbyterian), to run the youth ministry. Hana and I felt like it was too good to be true. We've dreamed of staying at UPC for years. But for the last year (or so), it hasn't looked like UPC was going to have it in the budget to hire me. Turns out, they did! I interviewed for the position on April 19th, and was informed that they were going to offer me the position just two weeks later. It was bittersweet news. Clay, my partner in youth ministry at UPC, also interviewed for the position. We were thrilled to have been offered the job; but we were sad to see Clay and his wife go. The good news is Clay got a job up in North Carolina. God is good.

2. On May 22, I graduated from RTS. It feels like yesterday I was sitting in the hot classroom listening to Dr. W. Buswell McNut (that's really his name), parse masculine, nominative, singular verbs. It was fairly surreal. The graduation ceremony, by the way, was outstanding. The best part of graduation was the realization that I was done with Seminary. The hard part was that two of my best friends at RTS postponed graduation for certain reasons. It almost didn't feel right graduating without them. God has blessed me with some tremendous friendships over the last few years. Still, although I actually have a couple online courses to finish up, and ordination to prepare for... I'm pretty happy about graduating! Whoo hoo!

3. I was hired to run the youth ministry at our church. That includes the high school ministry (which I've been running for the last three years, part time), and the middle school ministry (which Clay had been running for the last three years, part time). My "official" start date was to be July 1. However, I ended up starting on June 1. June was crazy. We had to get the whole summer planned for both ministries as fast as possible and get volunteers to staff each event. By God's grace, we did it. Then we took a nice vacation. Then on June 28, they had "Welcome Matt" Sunday at church. It was really nice. We really felt loved.

4. In mid-June, we had the chance to fly up to Minnesota to spend a few days with my family. We got to see Hana's aunt, uncle, cousins, and grandparents too! It was fun to introduce Noah to his great grandparents from North Dakota! We also attended a graduation party for my cousin's son's graduation party (high school). We saw a lot of people on my mom's side of the family. It was really fun. My cousin, Dan, looked at me as I held Noah and he said, "tomorrow he'll be graduating from high school." He was referring to Noah, and how fast time goes. I laid Noah down in his crib and sang to him a bit before he fell asleep tonight. He reached up and grabbed my pinky. It brought tears to my eyes because I know how fast he'll grow up. Also, my cousin-in-law (who is a fellow theologian) gave me a three volume set of the works of Edward Payson (a Puritan). I haven't had the chance to read much of the set yet, but I will. I'm looking forward to it!! Thanks, Stacy!

5. Here's what we've got coming up this summer. We're headed to Lookout Mountain, GA for a week of high school camp - then we get home and rest for a few days and then we head to Camp Kulaqua for a week with the middle school students - then we get home and rest a few days before we leave for Cherokee, NC for a high school missions trip. It's going to be fun! Crazy, but fun! We welcome your prayers.

Well, I apologize for being so delinquent with my updates. I'd promise to be more consistent, but you know me. And I know me. So, I'll just say I hope to be more consistent. Noah is smiling a lot these days. He's such a good baby. We love him more than we can express. We're trying to find a better way to get pictures to people. We'll let you all know when we get that figured out.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Eph. 3:20-21).

God bless,

MJR

March 2009

We welcomed Noah Matthew Ryman to the world on March 18th at 3:31 pm. He weighed 10 lbs 3 oz and was delivered via C-section (obviously, right?). He was 22 inches long and his chest measurement was 15 inches; the biggest the doctor had seen in 18 years of delivering babies (football player)!

Here's the story:

The due date (3/11) had come and gone and we went in for an ultrasound on the 12th to see how big our little guy was getting. The doctor said it appeared that he was 9 lbs 12 oz. We were shocked! Hana didn't believe it. I was kind of excited (shhh). After a few more days and no baby, our doctor called to get us booked at the hospital to be induced. Tuesday (3/17) we received a call and were instructed to be at the hospital at 4am on Wednesday the 18th.

We tried to get a little sleep that night, but we weren't very successful. At 2:53 Hana got up and started getting ready (our alarm was set for 3:00). I was awake too, so I got up and got going too. We got on the road on time and arrived at the hospital just before 4am. They checked us in and sent us up to the labor and delivery room. Our L&D nurse came in and began asking questions. Her name was Princess. Hana really liked her.

Around 5am they started the Pitocin (the drug that brings on contractions). They hooked up the monitor and Noah's heart rate was fine. Hana was having contractions but wasn't feeling them... at first. Eventually she began to feel the contractions. I raised my hand up (breathe in) and lowered it slowly (breathe out). Hana was doing great. After 9 hours of contractions but very little dilation, Noah's heart rate rose a bit. The nurses (one of which was Suzy, the wife of our pastor!!) did a few things in the hopes they would get Noah's heart rate back down to normal. They turned her, they put an oxygen mask on her, they turned off the pitocin... nothing worked.

The doctor came in and said everything was ok, but it was getting dangerous. He said we needed to have a C-section; we agreed and pretty soon they took Hana away from me so they could give her a spinal shot. The doctor promised he wouldn't begin the surgery until I was in the room. I sat on a chair in my yellow surgery gown and my blue cap and shoe covers. I prayed. I prayed a lot. I told God He was not allowed to take either one of them away from me (I repented for telling God what to do later).

Pretty soon Suzy came to get me and she led me back to an OR where Hana was lying on her back with only her head visible. They put up a screen to block the... well, the gross stuff. I sat in a chair and put my head by Hana's. The doctor said, "Matthew, it's your job to keep Hana's mind off of what 's going on on this side of the screen." We talked about how we couldn't believe we were having a son. We talked about how great God is. We cried a lot. I told her, "Any second now, we're going to hear him cry... any second now." Soon enough, everyone in the room began clapping. And then we heard Noah for the first time. Then we saw him. The doctor lifted him up over the screen and we saw him. All 10 lbs 3 oz of him. He was beautiful.

I could see him from across the room as they wiped him down and weighed him. They said I could go over to see him up close, but I wanted to say by Hana. Eventually Hana said, "Go see him, Matt." So I did. Then they sent me with Noah to the recovery room to wait for Hana. I sat with Noah in my arms. I couldn't believe it. He was so amazing. The nurse took him and tested his sugar, put goop in his eyes, and did a few other things. He cried loud, which was good because the more he did the more his color came in.

They brought Hana in eventually; I was so happy to see her. We prayed and thanked the Lord for his protection and for the child He had entrusted to us. Hana held Noah for the first time and I watched and was amazed at the sight of my wife, the love of my life, holding my son, the apple of my eye. I knew my life had changed forever, and I couldn't have been happier.

Eventually I went down to the lobby of the hospital where both sets of parents (grandparents!) were waiting, along with Hana's sister and brother. I told them the good news; that everyone was alright. I almost collapsed. I called my sisters and my Grandma. It had been a long day. Soon they moved Hana and Noah and I to a room where everyone could come visit us. Finally, everyone had gone. I leaned over and put my head on Hana's chest and wept. My beautiful wife was doing fine and my strong son was too. I was so thankful.

Well, that's the story; the first 18 hours (or so) of it anyway. A few days ago we took Noah to the doctor's office and she said everything looks great. Yesterday we went to Hana's doctor and he took out her staples. People from our church are bringing us meals every night and Hana's mom is here helping me take care of my family and get my work done at the same time.

The Bible says that The Lord knits us together in our mother's womb (Psalm 139:13). What a gift. What a tremendous gift life is. Not only to the baby, but to the adoring parents as well. I've said it before, and I'll say it again... being a dad is far better than I had ever imagined it would be; and I had high hopes. I love my wife and I love my son. I praise the Lord and thank Him for His continued love and kindness to me. Praise God from who all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost!

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. (Psalm 103:2-5)

God bless,

MjR

February 2009

Once again, my busy life has prevented me from updating this blog for tooooo long. Well, better late than never. Right?

The Short Version:
1. Our baby boy is coming soon!
2. One crazy semester.
3. What comes after RTS? Graduating in May.

And the Long...
As many of you know, our due date is March 11. Today the doctor told us that we will probably see March 11 come and go before we see our little guy. It's pretty normal for the first baby to come a bit late and Hana's mom gave birth to her first child two weeks late! We'll just have to wait and see. The good is we have everything we need. Bunches of baby showers, generous friends and family, and our perfectly faithful God have provided in ways we never thought possible. Thank you to all who have given things to us. Our little guy will be riding in style and wearing pretty cool clothes! He's already got more Polo shirts than his daddy! We're so excited! We can't wait to meet him.

This is the craziest semester I've ever had at RTS. Since I left at least one class off my schedule each semester (in order to keep my schedule manageable so I could work at UPC), I am taking 8 classes this spring. It's pretty nuts. I have absolutely no idea how I am going to get everything done. What I do know is that the Lord always enables me (miraculously most of the time) to get everything in on time. Still, once again, all my classes are excellent and it is going to be a great semester. I can't believe my time at RTS is coming to a close! What am I going to do?

Good question. The answer is, I have no idea (yet). I'm in the process of sending out resumes and looking for churches with job openings. This is an exciting time. Sometimes we worry a bit, but most of the time we are very excited. Where will the Lord call us? Florida? Minnesota? Africa? Wherever He calls us, we'll go. One of the reasons we aren't worried is because God has always taken care of us. I remember when we packed up everything we owned into a UHaul truck with our Camry in tow and drove down to Orlando. Hana didn't have a job yet. We rented an apartment not knowing how we were going to pay the rent. Perhaps we were foolish. But we really felt the Lord calling us to come. Hana got a job the third day we were here. This apartment has been an absolute blessing. And everything has been great. I say, if God calls... go. Don't worry about the details, He'll take care of everything!

Well, that's it for now. We would appreciate prayer for a safe delivery for Hana and our son. We also welcome prayer for the Lord to provide me with a job. And please pray that I will survive this crazy semester!

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:25-34)

God bless,
MjR

October 2008

Finally... we can announce the biggest news since our wedding day. WE'RE PREGNANT!! Hana is currently 5 months pregnant with our first son!

The short version...

1. It's a boy
2. Semester half over
3. Katie (Hana's sister) gets married!

And the long...

1. It's a boy. Five months ago Hana arrived at church about a half hour before youth group started. She said that we had received a letter from a friend in Africa who asked if we were going to have a baby. Odd. Then, Nathan (a youth ministry volunteer) told Hana she was glowing. Interesting. She was glowing, I'll never forget it. When I got home that night she had taken a pregnancy test (ok, two). I walked in and she was sitting on the couch with a look of unbelief on her face. She told me the news and I started jumping around like a monkey. I couldn't believe it. She said she wanted to take another test... just to be sure. We went to the grocery store and bought a couple boxes of tests. We used all of them. Give us a break; we're new at this!

We made an appointment with the doctor our good friends used when they had their baby. They scheduled an ultrasound during the 9th week. We didn't know he was a boy yet, but we knew he was alive and well. His little heart was beating 173 times per minute. When I saw it on the screen, so was mine. I looked at Hana, and she was smiling big. The Lord had indeed given to us a child. The funny thing was that on the way their Hana had said (a number of times), "What if we get there and there's no baby in there?" I kept saying, "Babe, there's a baby in there!" As I held her hand and looked at the screen displaying the pictures of our baby I said, "See. There is a baby in there." We were given a print out of a couple of the pictures the technician took. We couldn't wait to post them on facebook!


On the way home we started talking about names (both boys and girls). I can't believe it has been so long since that day. Just over a week ago we went in for our 20 week appointment. It's amazing what happens in ten weeks. Now our boy looks like this...

The technician moved the thing around until she had a good shot of a distinguishing body part. She said, "Can you tell what your baby is?" I said. "Is it a boy?" She confirmed my suspicion. Once again, I was holding Hana's hand and I looked over at her. She had a tear in her eye. We were overwhelmed. We had brought a CD to download the pictures to, and once it was done we were out of there. Once again, on the way home, we talked about names. We're leaning toward Poyschamfunda. It's an old name from the northern region of.. ok, I'm just kidding. I made that up. We don't know what we're calling this little guy yet. "Baby Ryman" for now. We'll keep you posted. Please pray for him, and for us as we prepare to bring a child into this world. He is a gift from God and we are excited to raise him to know and love our Savior, Jesus.

2. I can't believe we're half way through this semester. And, I can't believe I'll graduate in May. My goodness! Everything is pretty much up in the air at this point. UPC doesn't know if they'll have the money to bring me on full time. I'm going to be sending out resumes soon in case they can't. To be honest, though, I hardly think about it. My mind is more on my boy, and the excitement of being a father. I know the Lord's in control anyway, so why worry about tomorrow? Tomorrow will worry about itself, right? (Matthew 6:34)

3. We went to Katie's wedding on the 18th. It was one of the nicest weddings I've ever been to (when I say 'nicest' I mean 'beautiful,' but I didn't want to sound like a girly man). Everything went to plan, except for the photographer arriving 30 minutes late. A seemingly big problem, that is, until later that night we realized that since he was late he was going to be there an extra half hour, which meant he'd be there for the cutting of the cake! God's got that stuff under control too. If we'd just trust Him!

Well, that's about it for now. Lots of stuff coming up: Turkey Day in Palm City, Christmas in Minneapolis, New Years back in Palm City, Baby in March, graduation in May, new job in June... pretty crazy. I just thank God that He has not only promised to always provide and take care of us, but has shown us that He always will. An example of that would be the fact that we've received enough maternity clothes from people we know that we don't have to buy anything. Not a thing. God is good.

"The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace" (Numbers 6:24-27).

God bless,
MjR