Ode to my kids

Happy 250th Independence Day, America! 🇺🇸 🧨🎉🎂

It’s a hot one out there for us here in southwest Virginia, but thank the Lord for AC! Let’s keep our European friends in our prayers as they struggle through this hot beginning to this summer.

As festivities have already begun in D.C. for America’s 250th birthday, I listened to the new song United Saints of America by Jon Kahn and Michael Farren.

These verse lyrics struck me:

We’ve got our share of scoundrels, outlaws and clowns
Cowboys and preachers, little one-horse towns
Big city, white collar, bright lights and big shiny cars
We’ve got farmers on tractors that keep us all fed
The north and the south, the blue and the red
They make something beautiful
Man, those colors are beautiful

Chorus:

You can say what you want, you can throw stones
But on your worst day, it’s still home sweet home
You can’t kill the idea that put its roots deep down in dust and blood
Done a whole lot of bending, but you can’t make or break it
Hell or high water, that flag’s gonna wave
If you wanna know who keeps this crazy thing standing up
It’s the United Saints of America

Verse:

From the Bible Belt to the streets with no church
It’s hard to explain it, but somehow, it works
And I dare you to find me a soldier more brave than the ones
Who salute the Stars and Stripes every day

I chuckled about the line “We’ve got our share of scoundrels, outlaws and clowns, Cowboys and preachers…” I don’t think they meant preachers were scoundrels, outlaws or clowns (or cowboys), but it still delighted me that my vocation (at least one of them) was included in that list. And I’ve always wanted to be a cowboy.

I’ve never owned a horse. But I do have a Honda Elite 80 scooter.¹ It’s black, and I’ve named it the Batmoped. Thanks to AI, I was able to jump through a ring of fire on it in celebration of America’s 250th.

Why is this post titled “Ode to my kids?”

Immediately after "United Saints of America” played, Luke Bryan’s song Jesus Bout my Kids played. As I listened to that song, I got teary-eyed, especially with these lyrics:

Chorus:

I used to talk to my kids about Jesus
The same way that my mom and daddy did
I used to talk to my kids about Jesus
Now I talk to Jesus ‘bout my kids

This verse prompted a lot of thankfulness:

You lose your grip the more they grow
They won’t listen ‘cause they think they know
And you watch ‘em going down a dead-end road, and you can’t stop ‘em
Lord, please watch ‘em

We’ve been blessed with two kids - Sam and Adelyn. Sam was born in 1997, and Adelyn in 1999. Yep, they’re last-century chilluns.

Children are a miracle and a gift from God. When Carolyn and I got married, we wanted kids, but we also didn’t presume we’d have kids. In fact, for us, children would need to be a gift from God. Before we were married, Carolyn had already been treated aggressively for cancer with radiation and chemotherapy.² Her oncologist prepared us emotionally for the reality that she may not be able to conceive as a result.

By God’s abundant grace, we were blessed with Sam and Adelyn. It turns out that in spite of cancer therapies, Carolyn was Fertile Myrtle (my nickname for her… not her favorite).

Back to the song…

As I listened to Luke Bryan croon out the words to the song, I was grateful for how the lyrics both did and didn’t apply to us.

I used to talk to my kids about Jesus
The same way that my mom and daddy did
I used to talk to my kids about Jesus
Now I talk to Jesus ‘bout my kids

We definitely talked to our kids about Jesus. He was a constant source of conversation in our home. We wanted our kids to know that Jesus loved them deeply. We also wanted to show our kids that we loved Jesus deeply (and knew that we, as parents, were deeply loved by Jesus). It was our happy conviction that when children see parents pursuing Jesus with all their hearts, they themselves will be oriented to do the same.

Because they were PKs (preacher’s kids), we were intentional about not shoving “church” down their little throats. We simply modeled a love for God and a love for His people. We enjoyed “going to” church - not as a source of religious obligation, but as a destination of encouragement, worship, equipping and joy with other lovers of Jesus.

By God’s grace, Sam and Adelyn are today two young-ish adults (they will love that 😉) who love and pursue Jesus on their own, and now with their own families.

Jeffrey Samuel Noble

Sam was a play-with-me child. He loved our presence. Or maybe it was simply that we delighted in playing with him? I spent many an hour on the floor of his room with Hot Wheels or Toy Story characters or Rescue Heroes. Sam as a baby could watch tractor and truck videos for hours. But most of all, he loved playing. He was a typical first-born, and still today, he declares things into existence by a firm statement. “Montana has the highest population of beavers.” That may or may not be true, but statements like that were relatively normal, and we’d have to correct him on a random false statement that he’d made with earnest confidence. Adelyn eventually nicknamed him “Superlative Sam.”

Fast forward

Sam is 29 years old this year. He’s the area director of Young Life in Central Virginia. He and Sidney got married in April 2020, in a backyard in North Carolina due to pandemic requirements in that state. Shepherd was born in 2023, and Porter was just born last month!

Sam and Sidney have an ease about them as they live and lead that is joyful to watch. They model a love for Jesus, and their faith has not only impacted middle and high school students through Young Life, but Shepherd already sings and talks about Jesus.

Sam is still superlative at times, but he’s superlative about the Savior more than anything. Whether he’s playing golf or playing with his now “play-with-me” oldest son, he models intentional relationships. He’s fun, grateful and loud. It’s a joy to see him talking with kids bout Jesus, as we did with him.

Adelyn Kay Wallace

Adelyn has always been a teacher. From birth, she had a stuffed “pink baby” that as soon as she was aware of, she began to cart everywhere. She and pink baby were never far apart. Then there was the chihuahua phase (which I eternally regret). Where Sam had a bird and a lizard, Adelyn accumulated furry things. We once found her teaching her hamster to swim in her bathroom sink.

I would sometimes try to sneak by her room when she was playing in it. If she saw me, I was inevitably lured in and was either invited to a tea party (which I was forbidden to leave), or she would “teach” me things on her dry erase easel board. I can’t tell you how long I sat in a tiny chair in her room, listening to her lecture as she pretended to be a teacher. She could (and sometimes still does) make your ears bleed.

She was musical early. She learned guitar, and for a very brief season, thank the Lord, the tuba. It was a joy to later experience her helping lead worship in our church when she was in high school. She was always our perfectionist child. Where Sam would declare things into existence, Adelyn would organize things into existence.

Fast Forward

Adelyn is 27 this year. She got her masters and began teaching high school math. When she got married in 2022, we welcomed Braeden into our family. We were humbled to welcome Braeden onto our church staff in 2025 as our Young Adult Minister, and that December, we celebrated the birth of Ryla with them! Adelyn works in the schools as a data analysis resource teacher (IT/DART). I have no idea what she does, except that she’s smart as a whip about numbers and computers.

Adelyn has always had a tender heart toward Jesus. She’s also asked deep faith questions. Her knowledge of scripture informs not only her own faith but prompts her joyful confidence as she talks to others about Jesus. Seeing her and Braeden also engaged in intentional relationships and vocational ministry together is deeply humbling.

“Now I talk to Jesus bout my kids…”

Yep. I find that prayer is one of the most joyful ways that I support my adult children in these days. They are both busy, with full schedules, and growing families. Yet prayer is a beautifully active way that I can support, encourage and love them. I’m confident that as I talk to Jesus about my kids, that He hears and listens.

Luke Bryan’s experience in song, though, is different from mine. He sings, “You lose your grip the more they grow. They won’t listen ‘cause they think they know..” I’ve found the opposite true. My kids listen to me and Carolyn. They seek us for counsel. They welcome our input and presence. How blessed we are! How grateful we are! (Granted, we don’t always see eye to eye. In those cases, I’m always right. 😉)

It occurred to me the other day that Sam and Adelyn grew up in the shadow of cancer. Words like chemo and radiation and biopsy are not normal words in most kids’ vocabularies. While we protected them from some of the details of Carolyn’s crazy cancer journeys, we told them enough during each episode to invite them into prayer and to increase their confidence that God was in control.

They (and we) may never know just how profound growing up in such an uncertain health environment was. We really don’t know how it impacted their faith and depth. All we can see today is who they are.

They and their spouses love Jesus, love their families (and us) and do life well. They are involved in ministry and in their churches. I’m so proud of them as people. Humbled to be their dad. I know Carolyn feels the same about being their mom. I can’t wait to see how they talk to their kids ‘bout Jesus in the days ahead.

The next generation

Last week, we took Shepherd, our two year-old grandson (from Sam) to Toy Story 5. There was one moment in the theater when I looked over at Shepherd as he giggled at Buzz’s antics and consistently asked, “Where’s Jessie?” and saw Sam at his age in the theater for Toy Story 2 (which came out in 1999). It was a surreal experience and reminded me how some stories continue through generations.

These days, I get to talk to my grandkids ‘bout Jesus, the same way that we did with our kids. Now we know more (and have experienced more) about Jesus than we did. This time around, it will be even more of a joyful adventure! To infinity and beyond!

1. The Elite 80 went into production in 1985 for an astounding 23 years, with 2007 being the last model year, with very little modifications over those years. [Source]

2. You can read more about our cancer journey in my Our Story series on my blog here.