Highlights from 2011

Here is a summary of highlights from this past year.

January

• Our darling little angel, Mia Grace Victoria was born on Jan 17th. The boys were so thrilled to finally have a little sister. She is a very precious girl, and is the recipient of a lot of love.

Newborn Mia

The whole family together for the boy's very first visit to the hospital to meet their baby sister

• Grandma and Pop Coombs stayed with us for a few months around Christmas and Mia's birth. What a blessing it was for Ange to have an extra two sets of hands around to help, and for the boys to have some quality time with their grandparents.

• Shortly after Mia’s birth we survived an incredible blizzard where we received 21 inches of snow in a single day. If you watch the cheesy video clips I put together below, you'll begin to appreciate just how much snow we had accumulated.

• Sledding and snowboarding.

June and July

• A summer of fun at the pool: Jordan's initiation with the super-duper water slides, Nathan learning to swim, and Judah's fun on the diving boards.

• Clayton had a serene time with nature (and his computer) at Whidbey Island (just outside of Seattle) writing over 17,000 words in less than a week. After a year of hard work and two week long writing retreats, Clayton is finally submitting the first draft of his dissertation any day now!

• Our third annual week long stay at Green Lake Wisconsin for a "Vacation with a Purpose" (otherwise known as family camp).

A family snap shot out by the lake

August

• Clayton flew to Oxford University for an all expenses paid trip to present a paper he had written which he hopes will be published in one of their journals.

Clayton outside Queen's College where he stayed

September

• Judah and Nathan starting at Clapham School, the miraculous story of provision surrounding this, and the incredible blessing that a classical Christian education has already been in just a few months. Judah's favourite subjects are history and composer study while Nathan's favourite class is gym.

Judah and Nathan's first day at their new school

October

• Angela and Mia traveled home to Australia to be with family for a number of milestone events including Great Nanny's 80th birthday and the birth of our precious niece and cousin Tara Caitlin Coombs. It was wonderful for the family to finally meet Miss Mia, and for Ange to spend some quality time with family. Mia even got to enjoy her very first Aussie beach experience.

Great Nanny's 80th celebration

Our sweet baby niece and cousin Tara

Mia's first visit to the beach. She LOVED it!

• The boys time away with their dad camping out in Wisconsin while the girls were Down Under.

Devil's Lake, Wisconsin (as you can see, a more appropriate name would have been "God's lake")

Judah, Nathan and Jordan surrounded by lots of Autumn colour!

November

• Exploring Washington DC together - highlights included the National Art Gallery and Smithsonian Institute’s Natural History Museum. We then staying with good friends Heidi and Daryl and their four children in Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving.

We had fun drawing together. This is Jordan (and Ange's) picture of the landmark US Capitol building.

Judah was more interested in drawing a construction crane than any of the historic architecture.

Nathan out front of the National Art Gallery.

Riding the subway was a definite highlight for the kids.

Outside the White House - this was as close as we could get!
Mia for president?

Nathan and one of his drawings in the car on the way home.

December

• Clayton and Angela celebrated their 10th anniversary and are grateful for their four children and deepening love for each other.

Clayton and Angela with Mia (taken in September)

The whole clan.

Judah and Nathan's Christmas Program at Clapham School

This is primarily for the grandparents, but feel free to watch. Each boy's class recited a scripture passage, poem and sang a song.

Here is Nathan rehearsing his scripture recitation. He worked very hard on this passage, and I thought that it was worth posting.





Nathan's class at Clapham recites this poem written some time before 1886.

Christmas Eve
By Christina Rosetti

Christmas hath darkness
Brighter than the blazing noon,
Christmas hath a chillness
Warmer than the heat of June,
Christmas hath a beauty
Lovelier than the world can show:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.

Earth, strike up your music,
Birds that sing and bells that ring;
Heaven hath answering music
For all Angels soon to sing:
Earth, put on your whitest
Bridal robe of spotless snow:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.




Isaiah 9:6-7 (ESV)

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon] his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.



Away in a Manger
Sung by Nathan's class and the first grade class.



Judah's second grade class recites "The Lamb" by William Blake 1789
Unfortunately some parts are hard to hear, but you can hear Mia adding her bit :)

Little lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee,
Gave thee life, and bade thee feed
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, wooly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Little lamb, I'll tell thee;
Little lamb, I'll tell thee:
He is called by thy name,
For He calls Himself a lamb,
He is meek, and He is mild,
He became a little child;
I a child, and thee a Lamb,
We are called by His Name.
Little lamb, God bless thee!
Little lamb, God bless thee!



Judah's class recites Luke 2:8-20. The kids all had to learn to whole passage, but delivered it split in parts.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David ca Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel ha multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.



Judah's class and the 3rd grad class sing this beautiful Christmas carol based on a poem by the English poet Christina Rossetti written before 1872.

In the Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
And a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.

Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air,
But only His mother
In her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.

Judah on Marriage

Was explaining to our boys tonight about how their mother is my best friend.

Judah said: "Dad, I can't wait to get married (7 y.o. - that's my boy!), because then I'll finally be able to decide who my best friend is."

Well said son. Well said.

My purpose

Another beautiful moment tonight. I was explaining to Nathan how much I loved him and how glad I was that he was my son. I wasn't sure if he'd understood when he said, somewhat randomly,

"I'm not just a teddy bear to you."

Actually, I didn't quite know what he meant. But gradually it dawned on me. His teddy bears are important to him—he's even sought assurances that some of the more important of them will accompany us when we move back to Australia—but they are nowhere near as important as the relationships in his family. He did understand what I was trying to communicate: he is far more important to me than all of the 'teddy bear' stuff in my life.

What he said next nearly brought me to tears and I hope that I remember it for the rest of my life:

"I was made to be one of God's helpers, and to grow up to be a Christian [Nathan has given his life to the Lord, but the vocation of a 'Christian' is still something that you grow up to be because I think he means by the term something like what we mean when we say 'missionary.' Since I can't entirely disagree, I've never bothered to correct him on this] and to go to heaven."

I love these moments of profound truth with my kids. Father thank you for giving us the privilege, the joy and the responsibility of parenting your kids for a little while.

...and clean the toilets

Ange asked 3 y.o. Jordan tonight what he wants to do when he grows up. Without hesitation he said:

"I want to be the pastor of a church."

Unsure where he got this from, Ange quizzed him, "Do you know what a pastor does?"

"They teach people about Jesus." he said.

And then he added with a grin, "And I'd like to clean toilets too."

Sounds great right? A 3 y.0. wanting to follow in his fathers footsteps in ministry, and actually getting it about the humility thing to boot. So precious.

Actually, I think he was inspired to be a pastor by listening to our pastor at FBC Wheaton. But yes, he does want to follow in his Dad's footsteps. I still clean toilets for a little extra $ on the weekend...

A time lapse video of Wheaton College.

Wheaton College Time Lapse from Wheaton College on Vimeo.

Mia at 5mths

A friend of mine who no longer uses Facebook mentioned that she's like to see some photos of Mia. Oops. Yes, it seems that I have diverted all of my photo posting to my Facebook page. Honestly, it is just a lot easier/quicker to upload them there. Well, here she is. Enjoy.

She's a sweet little girl. Born with a heap of dark hair that as you can now see, has mostly all fallen out. She has a new crop growing now that is a lot lighter.


She is such a precious addition to the family. She is easy going and a good girl - sleeping like a dream and happy and content most of the time.


Here she is pictured with her Sophie giraffe - whom she loves to chew on. She is starting to try to crawl, and is getting up on her hands and knees occasionally. Like her brothers, she's a bit of a go getter physically.

God's face - Jordan's drawing

So Jordan (3) asked me a fascinating question tonight. He had a pen and paper and wanted to draw a picture. Before he started, he looked up and said, "Dad, how do you vaw (draw) God?"

I responded, "Well that's a great question. Why don't you have a go?"

I know lots of people have tried. In classical art God is sometimes depicted as an old man. In cartoons, he can be represented as a cloud. Of course we can't draw God, and maybe we're not supposed to.

Jordan thought about it and then said, "Well, I'm just going to draw a face."

When he'd finished he came and showed it to me. "Look Dad, JEEsus!"

Now what a wonderful truth that is. Before sin entered the world, Adam and Eve had direct access to God's presence. The bible tells us that they even took walks together. And yet when they sinned, Adam and Eve were banished from the garden, and hence from God's presence. The distance between man and God was perhaps never felt so poignantly as when Moses desired to see God. Even though God considered Moses a personal friend, he nevertheless warned that Moses could not see his face - and live. In Scripture, God's face indicates his presence. There was a limit to the extent that humanity could experience the direct presence of God. I said there was.

But when God sent Jesus, all that changed. Now, because of Jesus, we have access to the presence of God. In Christ, we see the very face of God. 2 Cor 4:6 tells us that we now have been given in our hearts the knowledge of God in the face of Christ.

Of course Jordan doesn't realise this. He just knows how to draw faces and not much else. But what he stumbled upon was a powerful revelation. How do we draw/depict (see) God? Answer: in the face of Christ.

Good job Jordy.

Every night I bless my children with the priestly blessing:

"The Lord bless you and keep you,
the Lord cause his face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you,
the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace."

(So much more to say here about why "the Lord" is repeated three times, and why it is the second one that talks about his face shining...but this post is finished)

Stuff

Thought I'd (finally) share the latest with you all...

Spring has sprung.
The bare ground now has daffodils, hyacinths and tulips springing up. I'm so happy to see my cute little flowers blossoming. And the trees are finally budding and even flowering in some species. Lawns are green again and get this... today I literally saw two cute little cotton-tailed bunnies hopping around. One was chasing the other... (we all know what that was about). I love the Spring time here. I just wish it wasn't so rainy - it's a lot like a Melbourne winter.

God and the GAP
Today, we won a competition for 50% off at Gap (you know that store that sells really nice clothes for the whole family) for a whole year! This is like God's way of saying, "I not only care to provide for you, but I also want to dress you well!" Cool huh? For those of you who don't fully understand how big of a blessing this is, let me explain... GAP is our favourite clothing store. It is good quality, however, it is on the pricey side (for American prices). I like to shop their clearance wracks and just look out for their sales. But to have 50% off for a year, is even better. It's funny, because we had already been talking about how we want to "stock up" on good clothes and shoes to bring home (since it is SO much cheaper over here). And then this happened. They are giving away one of these everyday to one customer until April 30. We had only entered once, and won. This is not the first time that we've blessed with the Gap.... last year I scored a $60 pair of jeans for free for Clay, and we got another pair earlier in the year ridiculous cheap - like almost free!

The kids
Mia is a dream baby. [Oh yeah, I guess that I haven't had the time to blog and mention that we had a baby girl January 17 this year.] She's easy and sweet. Sleeping so good too. We are so relieved that she is fitting into our family so nicely. She's laughing now, holds her head up well during tummy time, is easily engaged and enjoys batting dangly toys. The boys love her so much. Yesterday afternoon I was in the basement loading some laundry when I faintly heard crying from upstairs. I switched on the baby monitor (that we had turned off for my cousin who had been sleeping downstairs), and heard the sound of music playing from her room. While I raced upstairs, I noticed that the crying had stopped. Jordan who had also been asleep, had climbed into her cot to settle her and had turned on her musical mobile. He was patting her on the back, and explained to me that she had been crying. Such a sweet big brother.

Speaking of Jordan, we celebrated Jordan's 3rd birthday with a cute little party for him and his friends. I had invited quite a number of children with their mothers and realised that unless we had the party carefully planned we'd run into chaos in our little townhouse - especially since it was going to be a rainy day. So I scripted a mini Playschool-like concert that Clayton and I performed. We had a guitar, sang songs and acted a little. It was a lot of fun and the kids were captivated. I even made props out of cardboard boxes. The party was a great success, however, I was a little exhausted afterward. The next day we had my cousin from Shanghai arriving, so there was little rest to be had. I should mention that we did have a lovely visit from Esther.

We had a wonderful Easter weekend getting together with friends. The kids enjoyed an egg hunt but didn't forget what it was all about; celebrating our Saviour's death and resurrection. While at church, Judah wrote his reflections on Easter: "Jesus died on the cross for are sins, because: if we died for ARe sins we would'ent be able to come alive again. So we selabrate easter because Jesus died on the cross." I thought I'd include the spelling mistakes for your enjoyment. But he really is doing very well at school. Clayton and I were only tonight looking at his spelling words for the week with slight astonishment with where he is up to with words like merchandise, precise and device. I'm not certain that we even knew the meaning of those words at his age. And he seems to come by it all very easily without really even studying. I know where he doesn't get that from! Before long he'll be correcting my spelling!

Nathan is also leaping ahead with his reading and (experimental) writing and will start real school in August. He has decided that he is going to build muscle. He loves to claim that he is hot and sweaty and walk around topless. He even stands infront of the mirror flexing his biceps! (No joke.) We think he might be our athletic one. Nathan is looking forward to playing soccer again and picking up some basketball too.

The boys continue to work on their break-dance moves. Tonight we again slid the coffee table aside and let them do their thing. Nathan's latest trick is spinning 180 degrees on his head. Judah likes to perform a sturdy and well controlled head stand and then launch backwards. Jordan, just likes to strut his stuff. And Mia is a captive audience. There's never a dull moment with these kids.

Us grown ups
Well, Clayton is still suffering from fatigue so he's taking it slow. Please keep him in your prayers. He had some blood work done today to just make sure everything is okay. He feels that the Lord has reassured him that his health will not fail him. I guess this is just where wisdom kicks in - in terms of setting limits, maintaining a sustainable pace and good routines, adequate sleep, good diet etc. This marathon was never going to be easy - we suspect it was his latest "sprint" that he is paying for. He really will deserve a medal when this is over. He recently taught a series that he prepared from the book of Proverbs. It was really good for him to get back into sermon preparation and delivery. I was encouraged as a listener to enjoy all the meaty stuff that he dished out with such clarity - nice to see that all this study is really loading up his arsenal so to speak. Even more encouraging to witness him flowing in the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Me... well there's not much time for anything on top of keeping the house in order, and the family fed and looked after. Keeping the house in order is a continual challenge, but my job has become significantly more challenging since we decided to go gluten free for Nath. It has added considerable cost, time and labour to meal preparation! But, if it turns out to make a difference, then it's a sacrifice that's worth it. I was recently asked to mentor one of the girls from the college who attends our church. I've met with her only a few times now, but it has been positive for both her and myself included. It has got me thinking more about how I need to be sowing into the deposit that the Lord has given me, by spending more time studying His word. I have to admit that I do find this difficult to do with the busy family life that we have, and the constant demands that there are, but I'm sure that God will work with whatever I can do. We have Logos software on the computer so I'm going to ask Clayton to show me how to use it.

I'll try to upload some photos at a "more godly hour". It's way past my bedtime and I'm afraid that this coach is going to turn into a pumpkin.

eternal security, the unpardonable sin and suicide - a response to some common questions

Recently one of my students emailed me the following:

My friend and I were talking last night, and he brought up the question of how we know we are saved--as in, if you were once saved, but then turned away from God later in life, or died while in the throes of sin (and would suicide count here? isn't it a sin like any other?), would you go to heaven? I thought you would, because God ultimately knows every action and thought and emission of the heart, and he can judge our intentions. But then I was reading Hebrews for a paper I'm working on, and I came across 6:4-6, which says: "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace." I guess I'd just like to know what your thoughts are on the subject, whenever you get the chance.

Since I have come across these sorts of questions a number of times I thought it was high time I formulated a response. Here was my attempt:

What you've asked is a very good question. And a very important question. And a big question. There are a number of issues here, so I appreciate you asking for my thoughts on the matter rather than "an answer" - because I almost certainly could not give a satisfactory one. But since you've asked, I will "think aloud." Here goes:



1. Regarding the effect of God's grace and the effects of sin.

Some people think that when we surrender to the Lordship of Christ; when we ask Him to forgive our sins, he forgives everything we have done to that point, making us "perfect" (if you will) in that moment, and then giving us the power through the Holy Spirit to not sin from that point on. Its almost as if any sin committed before that point is covered, but after that we are on our own. In that moment, God sees us the way that He sees His perfect son. But after that moment, he sees, well, us again. In fact, whether we think that or not, many of us live that way. This means that when we do (inevitably) sin, we are living outside of God's grace and must repent immediately unless we die in that state, which would mean that we would be eternally damned. This, I think, explains a lot of "rededicating" that goes on in Churches (don't know if you know what I mean by this or not, but I'm referring to the tendency for people to "get saved" over and over and over again because of a misunderstanding of the power of God's grace to redeem the entirety of one's life).



I don't think this is how it works. I think this diminishes the power of God's grace. In effect it makes our own actions more powerful than God's. I don't at all want to end up at the other extreme and affirm "once saved always saved" in a way that means it doesn't matter what you do. It clearly does. I just want to be conscious to make God's grace more powerful.



When we come to Christ then and ask forgiveness He forgives us - not just for what we have done, but for who and what we are (Adam's descendants), and hence what we will do in the future. God redeems our entire life, because he sees it all - not just the little bit of it that we can see looking back. I think this is a wonderfully encouraging thought. When we are saved, God decrees over us "not guilty." In that moment we "hear" this in faith - sins forgiven, saved. In that moment, we are so optimistic. We don't know how the rest of our life is going to turn out. We don't know how we are going to disappoint God in the future. In that moment, we honestly believe that we never will. But God actually knows the end from the beginning, and He still decrees over us "not guilty - saved."



Now there is, of course, a sense in which God's decree is (in the words of Jesus) "...neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more." And there certainly is a sense in which the Holy Spirit is given in order to sanctify us and that we are actually and properly (I'm trying to say "ontologically" without using a big word) different from that point on. I'm not sure whether or not that difference means that it is easier not to sin. I think it means that we are from that point on, acutely aware of our sin. We loathe it, and do not want to do it (See Rom 7 for this dynamic - this is, I believe, a saved person) and recognize its sinfulness. It is this loathing of sin that assures us, I believe that we are in fact saved, because it is indicative of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives (more on that later - I think).



2. On the theoretical underpinnings of this discussion

You may or may not be aware of an old debate between "Calvinists" and "Arminians" which raises similar questions to the one you are asking. The essence of the question is this. On the one hand, we believe that God's power to save is infinitely more powerful than our own power to thwart our salvation. But on the other hand, we observe that there are some people who become born again, and then for whatever reason, walk away from this later in life. How do we explain this? The Calvinist would say that the person who appeared saved to us, was never really actually saved (or only appeared to walk away, but continued to actually be saved). The Arminian would say that this proves that we do actually have the (God given) power in our own self will to walk away from Him and thus to thwart his plans for us. It seems to me that both have a ring of truth to them, and both affirm important things (God's power and sovereignty on the one hand, and the reality that we are held accountable by God for the decisions that we make on the other). I would only make the point that while there may be no difference that is visible from the outside, there is an enormous difference between a sinful person who has walked away (or who by walking away demonstrated that they were never really saved or whatever) and rejects God and ceases to "struggle" with sin, and a sinful person who has slid away, and yet is desperately concerned about this and cries out to God to change them and for the power to be different though they may never fully receive what they hope for in this life in a way that would be visible to those observing their life from the outside. the latter evidences the presence of the Holy Spirit (and hence is still "saved"), while the former evidences a rejection of the Holy Spirit. For this reason I often encourage people who are concerned that they are "struggling" (with sin) in a particular area. At least they are struggling! Because of the presence of our adversary and the reality of the Holy Spirit living inside of us, that struggle is pretty much guaranteed. Where the struggle has ceased, there is a problem.



What shall we say then of the person who "falls away?" I'm not sure that we have come much further than the Calvinist/Arminian formulation of this problem. We must either say that the person was never "properly saved" (there's probably a better, more technical way of putting this!) or that they actually were saved, but only temporarily and that they "walked away." But it seems to me (not to others I can assure you - this is apparently a very important question) that it is pointless to speculate about this. The point is, well, not to fall away/walk away/slide away. And I think that it is very helpful in this quest to realize that God has forgiven and redeemed our whole life, not just the bit that we saw when we first came to him (which would be pretty rough luck if you came to him at the age of 5 say. But it is typically these sorts in my observation who struggle with this question). And we can count on that. So when we do sin, and come to God in sincere repentance, we are not moment by moment changing our status from "lost" to "saved" we are reminding ourselves that we are His; we are learning to depend on Him more and more; we are being changed moment by moment from the inside out by the Holy Spirit - the one who convicted us of the wrong in the first place. When we do have moments of "rededication" it is not as if we are "starting again." It may just be that there is an area of our lives that the Holy Spirit now wants to deal with that we may not have been conscious of having not surrendered to Him.



3. On the unpardonable sin

The passage that you mention is often raised by people concerned that they have committed the unpardonable sin. It is a challenging word and should not be lightly brushed aside. Sin is serious. Every sin is serious. Sin sent Jesus to the cross. We should not take the grace of God lightly. It should produce in us the obligation (for want of a far better word) to live in a way that is pleasing to him. However, given what I've said under #1 and #2, I believe that if a person is concerned that they have committed the unpardonable sin (blasphemy/rejection? of the Holy Spirit), that is the evidence that they have not.



4. On suicide

A ticklish question. I hope you can see from the above why I do not think that suicide automatically damns a person just because they have not had a chance to repent after doing it. There are probably good reasons for believing that it does. But I just don't. Suicide is always tragic, undoubtedly sinful, and probably terribly selfish, but I'm just not sure how helpful it is to those who do battle with or who have done battle with this desperate thought for those of us who have not (I have had many battles - not this one. I do not presume that you either have or have not struggled with suicidal thoughts, and would not judge you either way) to speculate about it. Here's at least one reason why. If (let's say for example) a Christian person is struggling with suicidal thoughts, what they desperately need is to cry out to a God who hears and a God who cares and a God who saves. But if all that they can see from this God (reflected in, interpreted by and spoken by His servants - which so often is the way that we "hear from God" and understand God's word) is that He is with them but only up to a point, and that if they make this decision they do so on their own, then all this person hears is judgment. And this is the kind of thought that is more likely to drive them towards the act rather than away from it.

Pledge

I pledge allegiance to the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and to his Kingdom into which that name alone admits, one true Church under Christ whose Incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension provides salvation, purpose and hope and for all who believe.

And since one cannot serve two masters...

that is my only allegiance.

That's assuming that "allegiance" is all about essentially "Lordship" - who I answer to. If its simply a matter of whose side I'm on in the event of war, it probably makes a big difference that my Lord is the Prince of Peace. If allegiance is about my obedience to civil authority I render this without hesitation as an act of obedience to Christ, to the fullest extent that that is possible given my primary allegiance (in other words, in all things that do not contradict God's Word).

Forgive me, this is just something I need to process.

A few portraits taken in October

Jordan 2.5 years:

Nathan 5 years:

Judah 6.5 years:

Christmas Letter 2010

Since it has been a ridiculously long time since we posted anything on here, I thought that this Christmas letter might help fill in a few gaps.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Dear family and friends,

It would probably make sense to have the writer of the family prepare this letter, but since he needs all the time and focus he can muster to keep chipping away at his 100,000 word dissertation, I figured that I’d give it a go. As I type this letter, we have around five weeks to wait for the birth of our fourth child. We are all very much longing and waiting with great anticipation to meet this new addition to our family. I can only begin to imagine how Mary felt; pregnant with her first born son, knowing that she was carrying the Son of God! It is such a precious time for us to be celebrating the birth of our saviour, and expecting our own little one’s imminent arrival.

So for the Coombs family, we look back at yet another year living in the States, and are thankful to God for His love, His generous provision and unfailing faithfulness. I know it all sounds very cliche, but we really do feel incredibly thankful for the life that we have, and for the lives that we have been entrusted with. There is something wonderful about children, and we are enjoying having them in our lives.

We can hardly believe that Judah will be seven in just a couple of months. He loves school and has a wonderful first grade teacher who takes great delight in him. This year his reading has really taken off and he now enjoys reading chapter books. He is an avid Lego creator, likes to draw, break-dance and play outside with the neighbours. During the summer, his favourite activity is swimming and racing down water slides at the local pool, and now that we’ve entered the winter months, he is taken with zipping down hills on a snow sled. In typical first born fashion, he is diligent, responsible, helpful and protective. We are so very proud of Judah not only for his accomplishments, but more so for his heart. He’s our quality-time guy, and with life travelling at the fast pace that it does, we have to be mindful of taking the time out to just sit and play chess or Monopoly together from time to time.

Clayton junior, oops, I mean Nathan, who is five, is our budding philosopher/theologian. This is not something that we have projected on to him, but in all seriousness, the kid asks HUGE questions and ponders the mysteries of God and the universe. Having said this, Nathan is not ALL serious. He is the wacky one in the family, and loves to goof around. He has a very tender and generous heart that we have to be careful to protect and not trample on when we are in a hurry (I continually seek God for more patience!) Nathan is creative and can spend hours at the kitchen table drawing. He like Judah, also takes pleasure in break-dancing and playing with Lego. He also enjoys riding his bike, playing soccer and playing with his best friend Lilyanne who lives next-door.

Jordan, is the sweet and charming, yet tough two year-old who we all simply adore. He has brought so much joy to our lives, and continues to be a very easy-going child. He’s a big talker and has had become quite confident at expressing himself. The youngest of three boys, Jordan is keen to grow up and be a ‘big boy’ experiencing all of the same things that his older brothers enjoy like riding a real bike. (Actually, he rides a toddler two-wheeler balance bike—one that is without pedals that he can sort of scoot around on). Probably the most significant thing that happened to Jordan this year, was that he gave his heart to the Lord. It was a very precious moment that quite honestly took us by surprise. It was a real privilege to take part in this and it was a great reminder that the Kingdom of God really does belong to such as these.

Clayton has continued to work hard. Having earlier this year completed the course work component of his PhD, he has been working on writing his dissertation/thesis. Facing the enormous task that this represents, he has had to establish some rather disciplined habits and daily practises. He suspects that writing this ‘beast,’ is as least as much about developing life-long habits of a writer as it is about the actual written content itself. So I guess it’s true of this process, that it is more about the journey than the destination. The staff at the local Dunkin Donuts that he walks to at 5:30am each morning, now address him by name, and know his ritual order for a black half decaffeinated coffee with a plain multi-grain bagel. Aside from writing, Clayton has taught several classes and even enjoyed teaching a series at church. He recently presented a paper at a theological conference that was held in Atlanta and looks forward to travelling to Oxford next year to do the same. He has had a paper that he wrote on “Pentecostal hermeneutics” published earlier this year and hopes to have one or two others published before he is done. But the thing that most impresses me about this man, is that with all of this, he still has his priorities in order. Devoted and whole-hearted follower of Jesus; present, involved and tender loving father and selfless lover. I couldn’t ask for more. Apologies for gushing, but yes, we are still very much in love—I guess I shouldn’t be apologising for that.

I suppose that this letter would not be complete without me sharing a little about myself. It goes without saying that during this season of life (that being motherhood), each day is filled with the mundane: changing nappies, serving meals, cleaning, driving children to school and so on. But each day is accented with moments of sweet pleasure and from time to time, reflections of the reality that God’s eternal purposes are presently being forged in the mundane. A favourite Christian singer/song writer of mine, Steven Curtis Chapman sings of how as parents, we are “changing the world one little heartbeat at a time.” I have been encouraged as I watch my children grow and mature that giving my life to raising my kids is exactly where God wants me. In the past, it has been tempting at times to be impatient and wish for this intense season of motherhood to all hurry up and be over, so that I can get back to getting on with the life that I had before, but I’ve woken up to the fact that this is REAL life, and that raising these precious children, should end up being my greatest contribution to the Kingdom of God. A year ago, on the way home from a women’s retreat, I talked with friends about the sorts of things that we hoped to accomplish once we had more time to ourselves. I shared about how I would like to become a lifestyle photographer. I later realised that there was no reason to wait, and that these things simply didn’t happen overnight, so I just began taking photos. I figured that I could just learn as I went. It has been fun and I have already taken a number of photo shoots for families, church and will this week be taking photos for Nathan’s pre-school. Getting heavier into this pregnancy, I am shifting gears and have taken up knitting. Call me old fashioned, but there is something magnificent about knitting for your unborn child while they are being knit together in your womb.

Earlier this year we moved into a townhouse just walking distance from Wheaton College. It has been wonderful to live again in a community with a couple of other young families and has reminded us a lot of our time at Fuller Seminary. It has been tremendous for the boys to have friends to play with outside around the little playground that we have on the property and to have other parents to share life with. Our community has not only been a great source of love and support, but it has also presented us with many opportunities to live and give outside of our comfort levels and we are thankful for that. It has been wonderful to see our children grow in acceptance and affection of others who they would not naturally be drawn to. There has been an older Vietnamese widow that we have had a lot to do with this year. To start with, Jordan would say to me quietly, “But I don’t like her.” And he was not alone. Hoa was loud and inconsiderate, pushy and demanding. And her face and hands, which were severely disfigured by a house fire in which she lost her granddaughter, were unnerving to our two year-old. But Jordan would slowly learn that Jesus loves Hoa, and so would he.

Thank you for slowing down and taking the time to read this letter. We would love to hear from you, so please do drop us an email and let us know how you are doing. To those of you who have faithfully supported us during this time of preparation and foundation building, we thank you for your commitment and generosity.
Wishing you the gift of faith, the blessing of hope and the peace of His love at Christmas and always.