|
Stop that man! He broke into my room! Stop that man!” These were the cries Matthew Downer heard as he climbed the stairs of his dorm with a heavy pack of books and his laptop computer. As his fellow classmates chased the perpetrator down the hall, Matthew circled down the stairs and out the back to give chase and head him off. The large, 6’3”, 30+-year-old man swung around at Matthew, thrust a knife toward him and said, “I'm on drugs. Come closer… I will ---- ---- kill you.” And then he took off running.
Matthew, his pack notwithstanding, proceeded in hot pursuit down streets, past buildings, for 6-8 blocks, while pressing his automatic dial to the Harvard police on his cell phone to give them location and direction of the escaping man who was later identified as a convicted rapist and felon. Matthew chased the man to a building where he decided to hole up as Matthew went around to the rear to  make sure he did not escape out the back. The 30 or so Harvard and Cambridge police surrounded the building, searched room by room, and captured the suspect. It was a great day for so many of you who pray for the safety of our family. By God’s grace, neither Matthew nor any of the other students were injured. When two very large, ominous-looking policemen appeared at Matthew’s door the next Tuesday morning to escort him to the Grand Jury hearing, one of his roommates nervously announced, “Uh, Matt… you have some visitors.”
A few weeks later, as the family converged for Matthew’s graduation, we were thankful for all that God has done over these 22 years in the life of our son and brother, Matthew—including protecting him from a felon who, for whatever reason, broke into a student’s room and had what can only be described as a very bad day. Imagine the great misfortune of running into and then trying to escape the one Harvard senior who has been training for the physical fitness test for Marine Corps’ Officers Candidate School! Matthew’s graduation was a wonderful occasion for us all, and we keep him and his fiancée, Amber, in our prayers as we look forward with so much excitement to their upcoming wedding on July 7th.
Scroll down for more stories
Dearest Family and Friends,
Merry Christmas! We hope this letter finds you well and enjoying this wonderful season. Our family has struggled this year with various fears, failings, insecurities, and mistakes – like most of you. And we are thankful for how the Lord has interceded, forgiven, and given us strength. Like it or not, all of us are watchmen over what and who God has asked us to care for. God says in Ezekiel 3, “I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me.” We are all watchmen over various “houses” – of family, work, and community and at times we have really sensed we are in a battle. As we outline our activities below, know that they have come with all the things I mentioned above, but that God has been faithful in His granting each one of us His grace.
 Susanna has really been stretched this year in a new homeschool class she and Susy attend, taught by a wonderful, godly, and intellectual man, David Bird, together with ten – count ‘em: ten – boys, all but one of whom are older than she is. As a near-14-year-old, the childhood schedule has ended and she is finding herself working day and night on history and literature assignments, preparing speeches, writing papers, and working on the many other projects of her other four days of the school week at home with Susy. Her recent poster project on the persecuted church around the world made all of us more grateful for the privilege we enjoy in this country of freedom from fear as we worship as we choose.
On a recent date, she told me how thankful she was for how God has brought her such great friends. Two of them are a pair of kittens who, after great petitions, oral arguments, and a close decision, were granted the right to occupy Susanna’s room in a home otherwise occupied by allergy sufferers! The cats have been a wonderful audience for Susanna’s practice of speeches, one of which was on the Enigma, the World War II cipher machine.
Anna continues to love and be challenged by her friends and courses at Bryan College and often will call for prayer as she spends sleepless nights preparing for anatomy and physiology exams. I have lived a long time and never had to name all the muscles of the body, but I guess someone headed for nursing school has to know that stuff! Anna continues to be excited about her sophomore class in which she serves as Minister to Women. The highlight of her year was her two-week medical mission trip to Ecuador. She was delighted to observe surgery for the first time and grateful that her Spanish has improved enough that she was able both to translate for doctors and patients and also to present the gospel to the people after they were treated.
One of Anna’s greatest joys this year has been the privilege of having friends and family who consistently speak truth into her life. Her walk with God has grown as she has experienced the true meaning of the gospel and what it means to live under grace and in freedom in a more real way this year than ever before. She also loves living close enough to bring friends home – like the group of freshman girls she is mentoring – for a time of fun and encouragement. Her mentoring group spent the night laughing, talking and without much sleep as they walked together as young women challenged – as we all are – with the daunting call to keep our focus on the Lord while we work to serve people.
Paul continues to love his growing and deepening responsibilities with DNA, where he joins me in about half of my speaking engagements. Paul takes about half of our time to relate his point of view and perspectives at couples, men’s and family conferences. During one stretch this fall, he was out six consecutive weekends, although we try to keep his travels to twice a month because of his demanding schedule in the office, editing and republishing two of our books, preparing new materials for speaking, and giving great oversight to the administration of the ministry.
Some of Paul’s greatest privileges this year have been volunteering as a mentor at Red Bank High School, working with the kids at the Community Kitchen, and helping lead a small group at his church. Every time we speak together there are numerous people lined up to talk to Paul about how to relate, befriend, impact, and disciple Quarterlifers – those individuals who are more and more hitting a “quarter-life crisis” at ages 18-28, a subject which has become a major area of study in Paul’s discipleship efforts. He also continues to greatly enjoy his one-on-one time building into the guys God has brought across his path.
Every young person has disappointments and one of Josh’s has been that he was never able to play tackle football growing up. This has been somewhat relieved by the fact that he turned into a walk-on sleeper for his Harvard Intramural team, in one game throwing for 5 touchdown passes and competing for the starting position for the playoffs. He has also greatly enjoyed his involvement with a drama organization that mentors kids from Boston middle schools. He continues to remain on call for First Lady Laura Bush’s advance team on which he served this summer. Josh says that traveling and working with her staff and the secret service was one of the most fun and fascinating things he has ever done. Taking charge of her event sites challenged and grew him considerably. For example, his sub-par attention to detail improved dramatically the first time Mrs. Bush coughed her way through a speech with no water in sight. Josh raved about Mrs. Bush’s gracious demeanor, considerate behavior, and her often underrated political skills.
Josh has loved his studies in government, particularly his political philosophy courses, rooming with a bunch of great guys, joining a club known as The Phoenix, and his Friday afternoon “Life Group” where fellow male students meet, discuss, and pray about the challenge of living a life of character and values on his campus. His sophomore year has presented more numerous and difficult challenges than he has previously experienced, both academically and relationally, but Josh says that he is grateful for the way that they have caused him to seek God’s sustenance more faithfully.
We are going to have a new addition to our family! Matthew has just proposed marriage to a wonderful, godly young woman named Amber Wesley, whom he met when they were both interns at the White House two summers ago. Amber’s wonderful family resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She graduated from North Central University, a Christian college in Minnesota, with a degree in Global Mass Communications and is currently employed fulltime with the Department of Commerce in Washington D.C. Though most of their relationship has been long distance, they were grateful to both spend this summer in D.C. where Matthew worked at the Department of Defense on issues related to the stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan. They plan to be married on July 7, 2007, after Matt graduates from Harvard in June.
Matthew is currently in the process of applying for the United States Marine Corps’ Officer Candidate School. Talk about something that was not on his parents’ planning list! Matthew has for several years felt the call to serve his country and plans to attend OCS in Quantico, Virginia, next October. Naturally, Susy and I expected his interest in Amber to supersede this plan, but now are very supportive and proud of his decision. Amber’s thoughts were that the things that she loves and appreciates about Matthew are among the reasons he wants to serve his country, so despite all the uncertainty of the future, she fully supports this joint calling as well.
Abigail is halfway through her second year at the University of Tennessee College of Law and she would tell you that she is enjoying the second year even more than the first. She has been blessed to be part of two different small groups and continues to enjoy the many wonderful relationships God has given her in Knoxville. She has recently started tutoring at a local middle school Friday mornings and has thoroughly enjoyed the kids with whom she works. She is a part of the leadership of the recently formed Child Law Society at the law school and looks forward to serving in child advocacy in a pro bono capacity in the future. We are thrilled that she will be coming back to Chattanooga next summer to work for two outstanding law firms. She will work for Baker Donelson for the first half and Miller & Martin for the second half.
As I have watched our young people pursuing their lives, I have been impressed over and over again with the extreme pressure placed upon all young people today and the difficulty of balancing performance with a need to enjoy the life that God has given each one of us.
Susy continues to work seemingly around the clock, with our busy family and all the opportunities to serve, relishing her homeschooling with Susanna and helping run the office and carry some of the speaking load. She has this fall spoken at the CBMC family conference in Schroon Lake, NY with most of the rest of us, at two church marriage conferences in Ohio and Atlanta with me, and at the HSLDA’s homeschool leaders conference in Nashville. This is such a labor of love – this is not a strong preference for Susy – but she always says that the challenge is worth it, if we can pass on principles that were given to us that have resulted in the Lord healing and enriching our marriage and giving it a depth of intimacy we could never have imagined.
Susy has been working diligently with DNA’s publications, teaming up with Paul in the editing and publishing of two books, ministering to people in various parts of the country, and keeping things running at home in a year that I have traveled more than in any previous year.
One of Susy’s and my greatest joys has been to see two dear people grow old, God’s way. Susy and Susanna have been up to see Rena and Paul, her mom and dad, several times this year and have always come away with the thought that people either become more gentle, soft, and godly as they follow the Lord and seek to serve Him better as Rena and Paul have (now 82 and 84) or people grow more hard, stubborn, fearful, and complex, operating lives alone without receiving God’s grace, forgiveness, and provision.
After the blessings of our family and the joy of being in the care of our Lord, it has been such a blessing for me to see changed lives this year through DNA. Whether in the church ministry at weekend retreats, the military ministry at 3 different Marine bases, or in small group and one-on-one discipleship with men, I constantly marvel at seeing men and women deciding to become watchmen for the Lord by enlisting in His command, receiving the position He has given us, and fighting the battle of life with His weapons of faith, hope, and love.
The key to this for me is recognizing what Jehoshaphat realized in 2 Chronicles 20:15, facing a great army of the enemy, “The battle is not yours but God’s.” Truly the battle to overcome our fears and challenges does not rest in our limited abilities, but in His strength, grace, and always faithful love. Our job is to be the faithful watchmen following His instruction to be willing to lay down our lives for the good of people. It is so much easier to be a faithful watchman when a robber has just crashed through the front window than it is in the daily trials and challenges of being a husband, a dad, and a worker where I need to lay down my rights, my point of view, my feelings, and my selfishness for the good of others. That’s truly being a watchman – looking out for the good of others in every situation. And when we go AWOL and respond in frustration, selfishness, manipulation, or anger, the Lord calls us to confess, receive His forgiveness, and return to our role as watchmen for those whom He has placed in our sphere of influence.
As we begin the New Year, let us rededicate ourselves to this vital and sacred calling which God has given us to be watchmen over the lives and souls of people. We pray this year that we will each one be faithful to our Commander-in-Chief as we stand in our posts every day, and that whenever we find we have gone AWOL, that we will be humble and correctable and eagerly return to our posts.
Merry Christmas and Happy 2007 from the Downers!
OVERDOING IT? Suffering from pneumonia, the doctor at the campus infirmary said Joshua was dehydrated and immediately began intravenous fluid directly into a vein in his arm. They also mentioned his need to slow down, a point that was made even more vividly appropriate when, after finishing one of the bags of liquid and while the nurse was switching to the second bag, Joshua looked at his watch, jumped up, and said, “Please take this IV out! I only have time for one bag. I’ve got an interview!”
BUSTED! Having saved a turtle from certain death on the road while out of town, I decided I was going to take the turtle home “for Susanna” on the airplane. After all, I have seen women with their pet poodles in the pet carrier, so why couldn’t this turtle be a pet? Every pet has a name, so I named this one “TSA” and then began to rehearse for my anticipated oral argument along the lines of equal protection for all pets. Not humored, the attempt sent two TSA officials at the security x-ray machines to the rule book, after which they pointed out that reptiles were prohibited. So, humming “Born Free,” I let the turtle loose on the grassy knoll near the airport.
DEMOTED! As Josh drove the six Downer kids and Amber down the mountain on a family outing over Thanksgiving, our oldest, Abigail, queried, “Why do we have the fifth oldest sibling driving? And after Amber joins the family, he’ll be the sixth oldest!” Then Susanna, who is currently child number six, piped up with, “Does that mean that every time one of you gets married, I will keep getting demoted?”
BOUGHT WITH BLOOD. During family devotions over Thanksgiving, Anna shared how excited she was that she had discovered she could earn money for Christmas presents by donating her plasma to the local blood bank. Her twin’s response: “You’re buying my present with your blood? Gross!”
WHICH ONE DID YOU SAY WAS THE EXPERIENCED TRAVELER? Having traveled my entire professional career, you’d think I would be pretty good at it – you know, prepared for anything and being able to hold on to my gear. But traveling with a young man in his first year of full-time ministry, our son Paul, I sometimes forget who is the experienced one. Like the day I left my briefcase in Eddie’s car and began frantically looking for that wonderful old leather friend that contained so many of my most precious possessions. Undaunted by my frazzledness and the unexpected delay, Paul calmly took a seat on the curb, pulled a can of chili out of his pack, opened it with a hand-operated can opener, and dove into his impromptu meal with a look of deep contentment as I continued to stress over my oversight. Now, which one of us was trained by the Marines to always be prepared?!
AN ASTUTE POINT. Faced with the challenge of the inevitable difference between couples – one favoring more heat, the other favoring cold – Susy, sitting next to me in a rental car, sweltering on our way to a conference, having made every adjustment possible, finally blurted out, “Phil, I need you to turn down the heat—there is only so much a person can take off while driving!”
PAPAS FRITAS – THREE YEARS OF SPANISH PAYS NO DIVIDENDS. When Josh began calling me “Papas Fritas” it just sounded like the old country – you know, Papa. And that warm feeling struck me every time he would greet me on the phone, “Hey Papas Fritas, what’s up?” Every name, even a nickname, needs to be tailored to the person tagged with it, and after brushing up on my Spanish, I had to admit that although it was not exactly what I had understood it to be, the nickname probably did have a degree of appropriateness, when I understood its translation, “French Fries.”
DAD’S CONFUSED. In the middle of a deep conversation with Paul, while talking on my cell phone, I suddenly exclaimed, “Paul, I’ve got to call you back – it’s not in my pocket. I’ve lost my cell phone!”
FLATTERED? NOT SO FAST. I was frankly a little impressed that Charles was willing to cancel a doctor’s appointment to meet with me, but Susy couldn’t help but laugh when she learned that the appointment he had canceled was a proctology exam.
REAL MEN NEED REAL FOOD. After the crisis of discovering that the Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal had 79% less sugar than normal, Josh exclaimed, “Everything in this house is no fat, low cholesterol, 50% less this and that – isn’t there any real food around here anymore?!”
I’LL HAVE ONE CULINARY MISNOMER, PLEASE… The Downer family has long been known for making the process of ordering at a restaurant rather less than simple. Last year we learned that there are at least eight different ways to order water. This year, Paul took this regrettable family idiosyncrasy to a whole new level when he ordered “a large bowl of Five Onion Soup—with no onions please.” The resulting outburst of laughter and looks of disbelief from the family were unanimous, but nothing could compare to the look of stunned incredulity on the server’s face. Paul stuck to his guns, however, and went on to explain that preparing such an order actually had more to do with the skillful use of a ladle than anything metaphysical. Unimpressed, the server headed for the kitchen at a rate of speed that seemed to say she was worried about being asked for an order of fries, hold the grease! We tipped her well.
Paul wins P. A. Boyd Character and Influence Award
Each year the Bryan College faculty votes for one person in each of the freshman, sophomore, and junior classes to receive the endowed P.A. Boyd Character and Influence Award. They gave the 2003 award for the sophomore class to Paul Downer. Paul said he was very humbled and encouraged by the honor.
Click Here for more news. |
