Trips to the Carolinas

In less than a month, the Stock family traveled to the Carolinas, both North and South, three times. The first two times were spent up in the lovely city of Brevard, NC where Mandy's parents have a cabin in the woods. Well, its more like a log mansion. While we took in the crisp mountain air, we love to go to Brevard's artsy downtown. They always have something going on and during our second visit, they had their famous white squirrel festival. Fun times!

The talking dragon-snap! "Hello, Lydia! Its a pretty day. Ain't it?"

An artist and model in the making. While Lydia was drawing on this chalkboard, being her cute self, a photography crew came up and asked if they could take Lydia's picture for a travel guide to Brevard. Mommy signed a waiver and a star was born!

Daddy, Lydia and "Whitey" are listening to some hometown musicians.

"Bounce! Bounce!"

Chocolate dipped, vanilla ice cone from Dollys - yummy and messy! 

Hiking pictures! Lydia in the backpack, beauty waterfalls, and "playing" in the water.

Our third trip to the Carolinas was for support raising. We spent Saturday morning in downtown Greenville. One of the picturesque and lively downtowns in the States with a river/waterfall running right through the middle. They have really done some nice work. My comment was "God made it glorious and Greenville made it accessible." 

How could you not smile!

So, we are walking along and we found this awesome tree which one can stand it. Each Stock member expressed their personally.

Lydia - cute and smiley

Mommy- Beautiful and resting
Chicken Noodle - sleeping

Daddy - Exuberant and Wild

Cool the feet off and make some splashes!

Daddy and Lydia couldn't pass up this small water park.

For lunch, we enjoyed a delicious meal with the Johnson family. Lydia warmed up to Lucy and B really quick!

We are all done for now... time to go home! Let's go Mr. Pig and Whitey!

Books for May: Government, Servanthood, True Revival, and the Prosperity Gospel

How Christians Should Relate to Government by Wayne Grudem
My normal response to people about politics is "I'm not policital." Well, really that is not possible. My answer should be, "I really haven't taken the time to seriously think about a comprehensive and coherent understanding of my view of government and politics." As the Presidential elections are coming soon, I thought what better time than to start now. So, I picked up this little introduction to being formulating my view. The short work (81 pages) has been pulled from the author's large work, Politics (625 pages). Grudem seeks to answer the title of his work. He does so by first presenting five wrong ways which Christians have used in the past and then presents a better solution (Christians should influence the government) to the posed question. Overall, the book was persuasive and helpful. I give the book a 7 out of 10.

Servanthood as Worship by Nate Palmer
Ever been burnout serving at church? That is an easy answer. Drawing from experience of burnout, author Nate Palmer gives us a helpful book to promote serving at the church as worship to God. The book seeks to shape the reader's mind and heart with the theological truth and motivations to serve for the long haul. Serving from salvation that God has provided in Christ, not for it, is the key to proper service. The book is short (108 pages) and helpful in promoting a vision of servanthood in the local church written for church members. I could see pastors giving this book as a handbook to their flock. I give the book a 8 out of 10.



Dynamics of Spiritual Life by Richard Lovelace
One year. That is how long it took me to read this book. I started the book on our vision trip to South Asia, read about halfway through it, and then, other needs came up. So, this month, I set a goal to finish and read it. The book is long (435 pages) and dense. Richard Lovelace gives a history of spiritual renewals in light of biblical models. It gathers and recounts the spiritual awakenings from the past. His analysis is grounded in Jonathan Edward's writings on revival. The book seems more to tell what happened (Lovelace is a church historian) than solve or pose solutions. Honestly, I need to read much of it again. I give the book 8 of of 10.



Health, Wealth, & Happiness by David W. Jones & Russell S. Woodbridge
"Accept God and He will bless you--because you deserve it!" This is the message of the Prosperity Gospel and it is rampant through the American church and has been exported all over the world especially to the country were we are missionaries. However, it is no gospel at all. Jones and Woodbridge expose this false gospel for all of what it is worth. This is one of the clearest and straight forward books I have ever read. It presents where (theologically) the prosperity gospel came from, clearly articulates its beliefs and accurate represents the opponents of this false gospel. The book is well written and reads quickly (165 reading pages). I give the book 9 of out 10.

Lydia Sightings

SETTLING IN OUR NEW PLACE

The Internet was just turned on, so Lydia and Daddy decided to try it out with a Sesame Street video. "1, 2, 3, 4" song is a favorite!

"I've got mommy flip-flops on!" Like mommy, like daughter.

BAKING TIME

The Mobleys are coming over tonight! What should we make for dessert? No fear, Lydia to the rescue. "I'll make my yummy Reeses-pieces, peanut butter cookie bars! What do you think Whitey?"

 All good bakers try their creations. "Yummy, this is good!!!"

Bring out the Kitchen-Aid Mixer.

Go mixer! Go! They are going to be delicious!

POOL TIME

... and all my friends are invited (if they have a bathsuit). Looks like 'Mingo will be joining us!

Mr. Pig is all suited up! And look, "I'm wearing mommy's bathsuit."

Its a party wherever me and my friends are!

Books for April: Sexual Assault, Calvin, and Beauty

Rid of My Disgrace by Justin and Lindsay Holcomb
April... isn't this a little late to post? Well, all for good reason. As I was reading Rid of My Disgrace, I knew this work needed a full review. I emailed my friend, Jeff Shaw, who started a hotline for trafficking victims in Atlanta called Out of Darkness, to see if he would post a full review on his website (www.outofdarkness.org). He was gracious enough to accept my offer and I am thankful he posted it. The book review can be found here. Rid of My Disgrace by Justin and Lindsey Holcomb is a tender, compassionate and biblical response to help sexual assault victim. The book is so much better than the review. If you know anyone who has this painful experience in their past, or anyone who helps those who do, this book is the place to start. I give the book a 10 out of 10.

Light for the City by Lester De Koster

There are three streams of Reformed Theology flowing out of the Reformation: doctrinalist, pietistic, and culturalist. Light for the City seeks to explain and expand Calvin's influence from the third.  The author reads Calvin's major work, the Institutes, backwards pulling only from a few sections of Book IV, this work overemphasizes a small slice of Calvin's influence. Calvin is portrayed more as a politician than a pastor, a statesman than a preacher. Calvin (and Calvinism) is a city builder and preaching the Word was his mechanism. Furthermore, it seemed the author reads history backwards as well. His logic is, "Look! There are Calvinist/Puritanical cities all across Europe and America. This means Calvin lived and died to make it happen." The cart before the horse? Or, how Marx and Calvin are somehow best friends? Really? My question for myself is "have I been reading Calvin improperly?" Or, "is this a misguided caricature of John Calvin wrapped in masterful stitched prose?"

There is much in this volume about Calvin's kind of preaching which was outstanding. Here is a great quotation, "At least, for now, this for the preacher: just be brave enough to give vocalization to the Word incarnate in the Bible, text by text--preaching what God through his Word declares and implies. Behavior will follow. Thus Cities can be created. And were" (79). All and all, the 130-page book could have been three good, long chapters on Calvin's preaching. That would have been worth my reading. I give the book a 4 out of 10.

Jonathan Edwards on Beauty by Owen Strachan and Doug Sweeney
The second installment in the Essential Edwards Collection and the topic this time around is beauty. Most people do not understand Christianity, and the God behind it, in terms of beauty. Edwards did. Truth included more than historical events or propositional sentences for Edwards, but seeing God for who He really is and being utterly awestruck through truth. Staring at God's excellencies (Edwards' word) displayed in who He is (being), what He revealed of Himself (His Creation in general and in Christ particularly), and what He reflects to (His Church) like capturing a human smile or taking in a breathtaking sky is the task of the Christian. The Christian is given a "divine and supernatural light" in their very heart which awakens true beauty, the source being God himself. This little book captures a slice of Edwards' vivid works on the beauty of God. Like the first book, it is relatively short and is packed full of Edward's quotation, helpful commentary and application. I give the book a 8 out of 10.

Six Years: One Face

This Sunday, May 13th (which also happens to be Mothers' Day this year) marks Brian and my 6th anniversary of wedded bliss!

Yep, 6 years ago I said yes to this face. 

Well, maybe not exactly THAT face...he was looking a little different on our wedding day. Surprisingly, it wasn't only his stunning good looks that drew me in love with Mr. Brian Stock. 

You see, Brian is funny. He made me laugh. He never laughs at my jokes (which I think are funny) and his are not, but he still makes me laugh...usually when he's not trying to be that funny...or when he's laughing himself. He's the first one who made Lydia laugh (by singing and dancing) and so at least we agree. 

Brian is diligent. I know he wants to spend more time preaching and reading and doing ministry. I know he wants to write more. Yet, he works to provide for us. He does what he is doing now well. He looks ahead but does not become entranced with the future. 

Brian is constantly seeking to be better, do better, love God better, enjoy Him more...he's a man on a mission. I love that he is never stagnant, though not a busybody like I am prone to be. 

Brian is self-aware. When there is a problem, he looks to himself first to root out sin. He assesses situations with grace and clarity. 

Brian casts vision. For a gal who gets so wrapped up in the small stuff, it is a relief and a joy to have a leader who can actually LEAD and see what is ahead...or at least a little further than I can see. 

Brian loves the Lord and loves his family. I have no doubt in my heart or mind (because I have seen it in his actions and plans) that Brian will always seek to provide for us. He will serve us so we can flourish and nurture our love for God as He comes to the Great Gardener to be pruned himself. 

Brian is frugal. Brian is punctual. Brian is a planner. Yep, those are the minors but when they match up to my minors it makes a major difference. 

Plus, I still think he's pretty good looking!

Six years isn't a very long time by some standards; in some ways it feels like we've been together my whole life and in some ways it feels like we are just beginning. At our wedding we danced to "Depths of Mercy", which truly describes how I feel about Brian. I do not deserve him. I do not try to, so I thank God for His deep mercy that calls me into this sweet covenant of marriage with my best friend. 

Our engagement photo. You may have seen it in the Sumter "Item" newspaper...

However you slice it, I hope to have sixty more years with this one face. 

This Momentary Marriage

You can find This Momentary Marriage by John Piper here.

Evelyn Grace Heilman, Child of the Covenant

Yesterday, our good friends, Chris and Sarah Heilman, welcomed Evelyn Grace Heilman into the world. She arrived at 3:56 a.m. after 50+ hours of labor. She weighted in at 8lb. 6oz. We had the joy to see her last evening. Lydia got to touch her hand. I got the joy of holding her for a bit.  Mandy did as well, yet we hadn't yet pulled out the camera. Though, Evelyn did spit up on Mandy. Mandy said that was better than a picture. She felt honored!

Sometime around September 2011, we heard the news that Sarah was pregnant. We were SO overjoyed since they have tried so hard and longed so much for a child of their own. Well, the week that we heard, I was also studying Psalm 113. The Lord reminded me how great He is especially to barren women! The Lord and Giver of Life!

Psalm 113

Who Is like the LORD Our God?

1 Praise the LORD! 

                  Praise, O servants of the LORD, 

      praise the name of the LORD! 

            2       Blessed be the name of the LORD 

      from this time forth and forevermore! 

            3       From the rising of the sun to its setting, 

      the name of the LORD is to be praised! 

            4       The LORD is high above all nations, 

      and his glory above the heavens! 

            5       Who is like the LORD our God, 

      who is seated on high, 

            6       who looks far down 

      on the heavens and the earth? 

            7       He raises the poor from the dust 

      and lifts the needy from the ash heap, 

            8       to make them sit with princes, 

      with the princes of his people. 

            9       He gives the barren woman a home, 

      making her the joyous mother of children. 

                  Praise the LORD! 

Dancing in the Minefield

I need to listen to this song every couple of months:

I was nineteen, you were twenty-one

The year we got engaged
Everyone said we were much too young
But we did it anyway

We bought our rings for forty each
From a pawn shop down the road
We made our vows and took the leap
Now fifteen years ago

We went dancing in the minefields
We went sailing in the storm
And it was harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for

"I do" are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end
But to lose your life for another I've heard
Is a good place to begin
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/a/andrew_peterson/dancing_in_the_minefields.html ]
'Cause the only way to find your life
Is to lay your own life down
And I believe it's an easy price
For the life that we have found

And we're dancing in the minefields
We're sailing in the storm
This is harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for

So when I lose my way, find me
When I loose love's chains, bind me
At the end of all my faith, till the end of all my days
When I forget my name, remind me

'Cause we bear the light of the Son of Man
So there's nothing left to fear
So I'll walk with you in the shadowlands
Till the shadows disappear

'Cause he promised not to leave us
And his promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos, baby, 
I can dance with you

One more step

Transition. Yes, this is our living room.

One more step. 

Moving blankets = Crib for baby and Lydia

One step closer to being on "the field". Closer to the unknown and unfamiliar and uncomfortable. Further from comfort, ease and the routine. This week we are moving. Part of my heart is aching for the simple material comforts of what has been our home for six years. This little Cartersville townhouse became "ours" the day we were married. We spent our first summer "setting up house": painting, cleaning and bringing home wares from IKEA.  I love the color of the living room. I miss my chalkboard which I planned the weekly menu on. I look out to my beloved garden and know what will sprout this summer (where, what color it will be, when I planted it...). There are so many things Brian hung up on the now-blank walls "for me". 

Most of that stuff is gone, sold or given away. I am simultaneously saddened and happy. God blessed us with a great "moving sale" last weekend. And let me tell you about it. We sold just about everything. We made a good bit of money. We had numerous friends come over to play with Lydia, to help haggle, to help Brian move out the furniture and boxes of stuff into our yard and even make us lunch!

Making "deviled eggs" 

Empty living room means more room to ride the power wheels!

This Saturday we'll pack up a U-Haul with what remains: books, clothes, our bed, Lydia's furniture and kitchen stuff. We'll move into our temporary home, a house just a bit south of here, owned by our friends and faithful supporters. They are moving out and allowing us to live in the house as they get it ready to sell and put it on the market. It's amazing generosity; the gospel lived out. 

We have been blessed with so many things: selling our house, selling our stuff, having a place to move into, etc! We have been blessed with friends who help us move, clean, love Lydia, make us food and care for us! Yet, why am I so scared? (to quote Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music). 

This step...little compared with moving our family overseas to do ministry...is great, needed, but very real. I'm leaving home. I'm getting closer to leaving friends, family and all the scenery and backdrop I've ever known in being a wife and mother. It's quite scary; I have to admit. 

The reality of God's call on our lives is sinking in a bit more. Oh, how I pray for grace to embrace Him for all the wonder and joy He gives!

Books to Sell

ALL BOOKS are in good to like new condition. All prices include domestic shipping. If you need international shipping, we can discuss the shipping price. The link will take you to amazon.com for a picture.

If you would like to purchase any book, please email thestocks.ga@gmail.com. I will continue to add books in the coming weeks.

Theology
B. B. Warfield Ten-Volume Set (B003MJQXX4)  $130.00
The Sovereignty of God by Arthur Pink $6
Paul: An outline of his theology by Herman Ridderbos $25
Lectures on Calvinism by Abraham Kuyper $5
Praying Backwards by Bryan Chapell $6
The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God by John Frame $15
A Quest for Godliness by J. I. Packer $13
Worldly Saints by Leland Ryken $14
Vintage Church by Mark Driscoll $10

Commentaries Set (All sets are complete and in good condition)
John Calvin 22 Vol. Set (0801024404) $139.00
Hendriksen/Kistemaker New Testament Commentary 12 vol. set (0801026067)135.00
Martyn Lloyd Jones Exposition of Ephesians 8 vol. set (0801057930) 127.00

Single Commentaries
Martin Luther Commentary on Galatians - Modern English $10
Gleanings in Joshua by Arthur Pink (old binding) $6
Exposition of Hebrews by Arthur Pink (0801068576) $15
Galatians: NIV Application Commentary by Scot McKnight (0310484707) $10

The Bible Speaks Today Commentaries $8 EACH
Stott Sermon on the Mount
Stott Acts
Stott Romans
Stott Ephesians
Stott 1 Timothy & Titus
Stott 2 Timothy
Clowney 1 Peter

Books for March

Jonathan Edwards Lover of God by Owen Strachan and Doug Sweeney

The writings of Jonathan Edwards define the definition of difficulty. Anybody who has sat down and read his work knows that when they finish they felt like they had been running 400 meter intervals rather than sitting in their reading chair. Is there any cliff notes? Better... Enter Jonathan Edwards: Lover of God, the first of five books in the Essential Edwards Collection. This book is a brief introduction of the life and thought of one of the greatest thinkers and theologians America has ever produced. It is short, clear, and helpful. Within each chapter, the authors drive between large quotations of Edward's writings and their insight commentary. After each chapter, the authors seek to apply Edward's life and idea to the reader's world. My reading of the book wet my appetite to read more of Edwards reminding me of his God-entranced vision of all things and joyous piety for the Lord. I give the book 8 out of 10 stars and look forward to reading others in this collection.

Disciplines of a Godly Man by R. Kent Hughes

I love this book. It whacked me like a pinata, inspired me to pursue great things, encouraged me as I have failed, and brought me to a clearer understanding of the disciplines of godliness in the grace of God. The author, R. Kent Hughes, is known for his expositional preaching at his local church. With years of exemplary preaching, Rev. Hughes packed this book full of solid biblical teaching, true-life stories, and practical advice as he sought to apply Paul's command in 1 Tim. 4:7-8 holistically, "Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." Great book for any man (or boy who wants to be a man) especially all Christian men. I give the book a 9 out of 10 stars.


The Church Between Temple and Mosque by J. H. Bavinck
Unintentionally, this month I found myself reading two books on the relationship between the Christian faith and other religions. Often was the case where I thought to myself, "Didn't I just read this" yet I was thinking of the other book. Actually, it made for a greater understanding on the topic since each book approach the subject differently. The Church Between Temple and Mosque surveys the topic through sociology and theology. Bavinck argues for five magnetic points which are found within a fundamental unity in man: (1) I and the cosmos; (2) I and the norm; (3) I and the riddle of my existence; (4) I and salvation; and (5) I and the Supreme Being. From these magnetic points, the author shows where the Christian stands both in community with, and over against, other religions. The book is full of information on Hinduism and primitive religions which I gleaned from willingly. I give the book 8 out of 10 stars.


The Gospel in a Pluralist Society by Leslie Newbigin

On the flip side of the same topic, I read the philosophical work, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society. In this classical work on the subject, the premise of the book is a treatise on understanding and living Christianity in an age of pluralism, and his primary argument is that the Christian faith is both contextual and relatively understood as well as universal and intended as truth for all. He bases his argument in a comparison with science, arguing that faith and science are both ways of knowing that have their own fundamental assumptions. One does not have to agree with every point to benefit from this work (and I had a few major disagreements). Newbigin's critique of doubt and pluralism "it's true for me" argument were helpful. Revelation in history as the Christian's starting point and the congregation living out the faith as a witness were also very helpful. If you venture to read this book, you must also know that half the book is chapters on epistemology (the study of knowledge) which if you are not expecting can get a little dry and/or overwhelming. I give the book 7 out of the 10 stars.