Cabin Vacation: Video Part 3

She has risen!

Cabin Vacation: Video Part 2

(There is a little extra blank space on the end... sorry)

Two Books for March

The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne

Gospel ministry is about people, not programs. It is about making healthy disciples, not growing churches numerically. And yet, programs and structures in a ministry are necessary for gospel growth. In the book The Trellis and the Vine, the authors lay out a simple metaphor of a church's ministry, a trellis and a vine, to help pastors and leaders of churches put into proper perspective ministry which makes disciple-making disciples. The trellis of a church is the supporting structure. It is the "management, finances, infrastructure, organization, governance" of the church (p. 8). Though important, even invaluable, trellis work won't produce disciples nor is it the goal of a church. Growing the vine is. That is, the goal of the church is growing healthy disciples who love Jesus, trust in His Gospel, and follow Him in every area of their lives who make other disciples. This is where vine work comes in. Every Christian is a vine worker. Vine work is "a Christian brings a truth from God's word to someone else, praying that God would make that word bear fruit through the inward working of the Spirit" (p. 39). From this metaphor, the authors present a ministry model which is both biblical and helpful.

The Holy Spirit by Sinclair Ferguson

Throughout the ages, the writings of Christian theologians on all sorts of topics of theology and the like are voluminous. Yet, the word "sparse" describes what they have written directly on the person and work of the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

My guest in why there has been such little attention to the Holy Spirit is that they foresaw Ferguson's work on the topic and said, "What could I have added?" That is, tongue and cheek of course since Ferguson himself is the living ghost of Puritan John Owen, a voluminous writer himself on the Holy Spirit, and that Ferguson's work draws heavily on Calvin, who has been called "the theologian of the Holy Spirit." The book is no less marvelous in all account even if you do not agree with him on every point (which I don't). In fact, I would say that it might be the best theological work which I have ever read on one particular subject.

With all this praise, why is The Holy Spirit by Ferguson so good and worthy of reading? There is the brevity of discussion on all matter important to the Holy Spirit. He explains or concisely touches everything concerning the Spirit. There is the constant exegesis from the Scripture to clear doctrine and articulation of truth. I like books which take larger portions of Scripture and walk their way through them as they explain these awesome truths of God and His world. There is the understanding of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in a biblical, historical and redemptive way. That is, Ferguson takes in consideration both the forest of biblical themes and the trees of biblical texts. There is the Gospel of Christ work by the Spirit at the center of this work. On almost every page gospel themes are proclaimed and loved. And finally, there is the lay out and flow of this work is creative and he is a great writer (at least for a theologian).

Cabin Vacation: Video Part 1

Cabin Vacation: Pictures

Last weekend, the Stock household had a unplanned, yet needed vacation up to Mandy's Mom and Step-Dad's cabin in Brevard, NC. We rested, relaxed, and read. We hiked, shopped the downtown and went to church. The best thing was we had fun, family time with lots of laughter. This was it! If our family was on a reality show, here is what the break down of the scene would have been like: Lydia playing on the floor... Brian is reading in the chair... Mandy is reading in the chair. Next scene: Lydia playing on the floor... Brian is sleeping in the chair... Mandy is reading in the chair. Next scene: Lydia playing on the floor... ok, you get the point. The point of this trip was rest and we got it. Here are a few pictures of us in the cabin:

"Outside in my PJs works for me!"

Daddy and Lydia are learning new words together! "Ant... Apple... Bat"

Mommy and Lydia spot ducks wherever they maybe found!

Here are a few shots from our hike at Triple Falls:

Daddy and Lydia... like two peas in a pod!

Mommy and Lydia are taking a break for a photo.

Lydia is chilling by the waterside.

Lydia takes a quick dip in the water... its cold!

The Stock girls are laughing!

A Family Picture!

Booth Museum

About a year ago, I won four tickets to the Booth Western Art Museum at a Reinhardt faculty/staff event. This is a little humorous since about four years ago, Mandy won four tickets to the Booth Museum, but we never used them. So, two days before they expired, we planned for a trip to the museum. We invited our good friends the Mobleys up and we headed out the museum.

Cartersville has a "cute" downtown with a train and ice cream parlor. But, the Booth Museum is a diamond in the rough. It is a little out of place for Cartersville since it is top-notch architecture and landscaping. The exhibits are well done with some surprises around most corners. On this trip, though not captured in any of the pictures, Ansel Adams, the famous black and while photographer, exhibit was on display. Here are pictures of our trip... and yes, Lydia is the star:

Madam Lydia, your ride awaits (up the elevator).

"P',WJZ" is what Lydia Stock is talking about... can I get an interpreter?

A sweet moment with Daddy riding out West!

Lydia Stock is off to races! Hold on!

Enjoying the day!

There is nothing like a rocking chair and a checker board on a midday afternoon.

Recent February Pictures

February has been a good month for the Stocks. In Georgia, the weather has been fantastic and we have been taking advantage of it. We have learned one BIG thing about Lydia this month: She loves the outside as you can see from the first pictures! Here are some snapshots of this month:

Lydia's favorite place to stand! She watches for birds, cars and everything else!

After work on Friday, while mommy is making dinner, daddy and Lydia are outside discovering God's creation. We are looking at birds in this picture... a Lydia favorite!

This was Lydia's first "outside" play day with mommy and daddy. You can't see it in the photo but she having fun kicking a little ball.

When Lydia is inside, she loves to read books!

Eating and having fun are what I like to do!!!!!

I am ready to go outside again!

A New Plan

Since January, we have neglected to update this blog and the readers on an important event in our life. After the aftermath in January settled down, we have reschedule our vision trip. Through our correspondence with our team leader and parents to watching Lydia, we have booked our trip from May 11th to 21st, 2011. South Asia here we come! We have applied for our visas and await their approval. We ask for pray for this major aspect of our trip. We also have a greater wherewithal on the importance of this trip. If the trip planned for January brought excitement to us, this trip adds a weightiness too truly count the cost of being missionaries in another country. We ask for your prayers as we prepare (again) for this vision trip and see where Christ to calling us to take up our cross and follow Him.

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UPDATE: We have just received word from the Consulate that our visas application have been approved and we will receive them in a few days! We give thanks to the Lord for He has opened doors for His salvation to be known to all peoples!

ANOTHER UPDATE: our trip is actually May 11-22. I hope Brian is with me for that last day. :)

A Song For My Sweetie

Valentine's Day does not turn boys into poets and song writers, a girl does. Here are the lyrics to my feeble attempt in writing a song for my wife on Valentine's Day.

A Day in January

A little while back on a January day

I saw a young lady and asked her play.

As the time went by my love grew bright,

She was my sunshine, filled up my life.

The leaves turned color and I asked her, “will you?”

A little while later, on a bright spring day, we said, “I do?”

On this (that) day, I said “I do!”,

I began to truly love you

I said, “I will never leave you!”

Or let you go

A little while later on another January day

Our hope and dreams hit some gloomy days

We were both without jobs and our marriage began to fight

But on a day in March our “I dos” stayed bright

We walked through hand and hand our ups and downs

And we kept together with love sealing us bound

Five years later and January comes

This time with our little Lydia in our hands

A new adventure with joys and laughter we have seen

As our family has growth from two to three

For mom...and all the other Lydia fans

So, my (Mandy's) mom is in Afghanistan. That's right. My 50-something, knitting, Grandmother-of-Lydia mom is strapping on body armor everyday to walk from her apartment in Kabul (surrounded by guards with big guns) to the "Green Zone" where she works on the military's human resources stuff for 12-18 hours a day. She will be there (and a few other middle-eastern countries) for about 6 weeks. Needless to say, this isn't a glamorous vacation. I can't imagine what "war-torn" really looks like, but I suppose it's not very fun to walk around in.

Anyways, we miss her. And I know she misses us (especially Lydia). So, here we are posting this video of Lydia just having fun on a Tuesday afternoon...dancing, crawling, waving bye-bye, etc. Hope this brings a little light to a dark place, mom.

Valentine's Day Prep

Love stories always have their "really" moments. [You should read the "really" like the SNL newscaster does on weekend update]. This post explains one of my "really" moments with Mandy. It begins great and ends up, not with "at least my sweetie tried", but "really?". And Mandy is not the only one saying this, but I am as well.

Here is the following true story:

It is our first valentine's day as a married couple. I knew I had to plan something good and so I have been thinking about the evening for a couple of months. Cultivating romance is a life long quest and so I have been taking notes on Mandy's delights. I read a book about how to love one's wife well. The author explains how the husband needs to study their wife, listen to them, and then plan according. The husband studies when the wife has that twinkle in her eye, that excitement in her speech, and that spark in her step. Then, the husband makes notes of what he observers. All of this is great and every wife would love for her husband to passionately pursue her with the things she likes and loves. Husbands, we are called to love your wife and the things she loves. The husband loves to love what the wife loves because he loves her. The typically example of this is, "If the wife like to go antiquing, then the husband like to antique not because he likes to antique (and who really does), but he loves her."

Back to the story...

So, as I have been studying Mandy and her delights, I want to give her something that I knew she would surprise her. I had two things to plan: a date with dinner. Valentine's day fell on a weekday so I decided to stay home. This limited my options but this wasn't a problem. The date part of the evening was simple: a girl, romantic chick-flick. The dinner was the part where the surprise was (suppose) to happen.

Mandy's dad lives up in Cincinnati. The city is known for many thing, but most importantly, Cincinnati chili. Mandy's loves Skyline Cincinnati chili (you can already see where this is headed). I mean Mandy really loves Skyline to the point where when we visit we have to go there at twice if not three times on a couple day visit. For myself, I love it as well. I could go there almost everyday. This is one of Mandy's "twinkle in her eye."

Being the good husband, I noticed this and planned that our dinner would be Cincinnati Chili Cheese dogs [Really?]. I went online and bought the Skyline chili packets (they are expensive) and went to the store and got shredded cheese, hot dogs with buns, and oyster crackers. All of these ingredients are necessary for a Skyline experience. Then, on Valentine's day, I prepared the meal before Mandy got home and awaited her arrival.

I won't bore you with all the details but lets just say chili dogs and Valentine's day do not go together. Actually, I found out that the Skyline Chili packets make Mandy sick to the stomach. I don't even think we made it through the movie. It was a"really" moment of our romance. Hers is one of the lessons husbands should learn:

So, to all the husbands out there, yes, study your wife, but really... think before you act so that you won't have a "really" moment.