Be An Encourager

I am at the core of who I am a child of God. I like that and most of the time I believe it and live that out. There are times that I get liquored up on my own press and fall into that "isn't God lucky to have me working for Him" mentality, but thankfully that happens less and less. (Lots of stories I could share here about how God has reminded me it is Him and not me.)

I enjoy encouraging people. I feel it is one of the gifts that God has allowed me to steward and I feel most of the time that I use it to His glory. I do have a confession to make too . . . sometimes I get so frustrated and annoyed with people in position of leadership who are "above encouragement" from others and choose to be self-reliant and in no need of others.

I find myself in a couple of those kinds of relationships periodically and run the gammut of backing off a little while and trying to encourage from another angle or just get judgmental and say, "to heck with them, let them figure it out themselves." I have to admit that in most of these circumstances it takes me a little while to get to the point of praying for my attitude and praying for the other person.

I find myself presently in a tough spot in a couple of relationships with leadership. It is not that I do not love the people, it may be that I do not agree with the direction or lack of direction they exhibit. I am choosing to pray and encourage. Not because that makes me right, but because it is the next step of obedience I feel God is calling me to take.

I ran across this blog post from Perry Noble about 5 Lies that Leaders Believe. It made sense to me and says some things that I cannot say to a couple of people right now because I feel as though I may not share it in the right spirit and/or they might not receive it as intended.

I Love Hope

What a great sight to see young Kiki, a Haitian boy who had been buried under rubble for 7 days due to the devastating earthquake that happened last week. Arms outstretched and eyes wide open. Rejoicing that he had been found. Now it seems that other children have been rescued as well in the last few hours.

Still there are many who have died, are dying and will die but all is not lost. Many are praying, giving, donating, going and responding in other ways to help the victims of this terrible tragedy.

In the midst of all of this, there is hope. A promise of something better. I have often heard that faith is the belief and action of going through today because there is hope of something better.

My faith wavers at times, but my hope in the Lord is sure. Through calamity, sickness, death, trials and challenges, my faith gets goofy at times. My trust wanes, but my assurance of a future hope of God's goodness and grace not only sustains my weak faith, it provides a solid hope for tomorrow and beyond. It is more than a wish of mine, it is an assurance because God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do. I am sure of it. Help me to walk faithfully today because of the hope that is mine in Him.

A California Week

Seems like this past week has gone by quickly in some ways and painfully slow in others. The earthquake in Haiti was and is capturing the media, and rightly so. There are so many dead, displaced and many others will die if things do not change soon. We have friends who are adopting a daughter, Tia from Haiti and please pray that they will be able to get her out. Mike is still there with Tia and they are working frantically to get back to the USA.

I traveled to San Francisco on Tuesday and was in the air when the news from Haiti started coming out. Twitter was my first inclination that anything had even happened. I began praying immediately and then started trying to get the word out about Mike and Tia. Katie, a girl who lives with Mike and Melissa Wilson was in Carrefour, Haiti at the orphanage when the earthquake hit. Katie is now back home in the US and that is great. Here is a link to the video of Mike and Tia in Haiti.

On Wednesday I was at Golden Gate Seminary teaching an Intro to Youth Ministry class with my friend, Dr. Paul Kelly. It was good to be in the classroom and the students were great. I helped teach Weds and Thurs and then made my way back home on Friday arriving in time for DCA basketball games. The Lady Wildcats won by about 25 and the guys lost by a handful in a closely contested game. Fun to be playing Ezell-Harding again.

Nice to be back home in time to do my 18-miler on Saturday on the greenway. Very hilly course and picked it on purpose to try to get my legs and lungs ready for this race coming up in April. I was pretty spent at the end of that run for sure. Had some good Big Bad Wolf brisket for lunch and then played Mexican Train with the Fullers. My first time to play Mexican Train. Sort of an interesting game for sure. I pretty much stunk at it.

I have included a pic from my phone of the view from the seminary. If you look hard you can see Alcatraz and the city in the clouds. Pretty nice view when you are working in San Francisco.

18 Years Ago

Has it really been 18 years ago that we were sitting at dinner with good friends of ours (about 7 folks we were pretty close to) when Sondra excused herself from the table and hollered for me and then quietly instructed me "to bring me some towels, I think my water broke." Me being the calm, cool collected individual that I am, and this was our 2nd child, mildly panicked and got some towels from our friend, Barry (we were at his house) and thus began the late night out for the birth of our Morgan.

Sondra and I farmed Shelbi out to some other friends and made our way to Baptist Hospital where we settled in for a night of rest. WRONG! I flopped around on the floor like a fish out of water while Sondra laid in the warm bed hooked up to a monitor and other stuff they hook delivering moms to. After the nurses kept coming in to check on the progress and to really just keep us from resting, Sondra progressed rapidly and the nurse called our #1 doctor, Richard Presley (always joked w/ him about being Elvis' brother) who was not on call but came to deliver Morgan because he is just a great dr. and good friend.

Early that morning (January 11, 1992) at 309-312a.m (somewhere in there, I can't remember exactly) Morgan came into the world crying like . . . well, a newborn baby. What a beautiful child and one who has brought us much joy. Eighteen years ago. How crazy is that and how quickly time flies. I know it sounds cliche', but it really does go all too quickly.

Here is a quick open letter to Morgan -
I just want to tell you how much I love you and how proud I am of you. I apologize for giving you my bushy eyebrows, my nose and chin, but you also got some of my better qualities. You and I are scary together at times, reading one another's minds and not saying anything but communicating by just looking at each other.

I love your sense of humor; your easy going demeanor; your desire to do the right thing because it is the right thing to do and it honors God; the way you lead and influence others without having to have a position of leadership to do that in. Of course, your memory is like mine too in that we know there are things we need to get done but are easily distracted and forget. You are happy in a crowd and are good to go if you are by yourself. I am thankful that you are who you are and choose to not let others influence you when you know that it does not lead you to a good place.

Thanks for bringing your mom, sister and I so much fun and laughter. You might be the "baby" of the family, but you have taught us much.

I love you. I am proud of you. I am most honored when someone knows me because I am your dad. You and Shelbi are great blessings from God. Thanks for letting me be your dad. I know you did not have a choice initially (of course you didn't) but you gladly accept me as your dad now. I am honored.

Happy Birthday Morgan. I love you.

Dad

1st Week of 2010

Hard to believe that the first week of the new year has come and almost gone. I rung in the new year in bed early on new year's eve. I was fighting a cold and after a nice dinner at Rose Pepper's with Sondra, Shelbi and Morgan, we came home and just hung out.

The weekend was pretty quiet but pretty cold for sure. I ended up doing my Sat. run on the treadmill at the Y.

Monday I headed to New Orleans Seminary for Youth Ministry Institute and did a presentation on using social media in ministry. Focused mostly on 2 Tim. 4:1-5 and the importance of staying true to the call and using social media as a tool and not the message. It is easy to get caught up in all the technology and waste time and not fulfill the ministry God has called us to do. I am always challenged and encouraged by my friend Dr. Allen Jackson who has done a great job in training youth ministers at NOBTS for 15 years. I got up on Tuesday and did my run workout which included 9 miles and 5x800s mixed in. It was much warmer down there than Nashville but it was still pretty cold.

We have been having highs in the 20s and lows in the teens here in middle TN and today we got a little snow that just made the roads a little slick and now we are experiencing black ice. Should be fun driving in to work tomorrow. Today's run was outside and 8 miles with one another guy that I seldom get to run with. He is not a believer so it was a good time for us just to talk and for me to be able to share Christ with him. Pray for Steve.

Lots going on at work but it is all good. I am preparing to help teach an Intro to Youth Ministry class at Golden Gate Seminary in San Francisco next Tues - Thurs. Get to spend time with good friend Paul Kelly at GGBTS. Paul and I used to work closely at LifeWay a few years ago. He is just very good for me to be around.

Sondra and the girls are doing well. Morgan turns 18 on Monday of next week and we are having a birthday party for her and who knows how many of her friends tomorrow night here at the house after their DCA high school basketball game. Speaking of basketball, Morgan had a great game Tuesday night against Riverside in Fayetteville, TN. She ended up with quite a few rebounds and 8 points. It was fun to watch her having such a good time.

Happy New Year

I just realized that I have been remiss in blogging this past week and can only chock that up to being lazy. No excuses on my part. I have been on vacation and guess that has translated into vacating from blogging.

The past week has been very good and Christmas was great for us. We hosted a couple of families who families live out of state for a Christmas Eve meal. Both of the wives were pregnant and could not travel. One of the ladies, Trisha has had her baby since that time and Olivia is doing well and you can catch up with them here. The other lady is due mid-January. We had a great time with them and their little guys who are 2 and 1.5 yrs.

Christmas morning was just the Turners and we enjoyed ourselves very much. The girls pretty much knew what they were getting for Christmas because they had picked out "all" of their presents. At least they thought they had picked all of them out. I pulled a little surprise with a North Face backpack each that they had been wanting for quite awhile. They were totally surprised. Sondra had bought all of her own presents from me too so I surprised her with a workout shirt. I was the only one who really had very little idea what I was getting. The best present I got is right here though. They shot many pics and put them in a collage frame for my office. A great present and wonderful surprise.

Morgan and the DCA Lady Wildcats played a couple of games this week and won both of them. One win was over Goodpasture (Morgan reminded me that she has not lost to them in her high school career) and another win over Montgomery Central. District play starts this next week.

Sondra is doing well and has some new workout shoes so watch out for this gal in 2010. What an incredible lady and the light of my life. She is simply the best.

Shelbi is home all month since Union University does a J-term and she is not taking a course. She has a boyfriend who seems to be a pretty good guy even though he is a Yankees fan. I have to tell you I can overlook many things, but the Yankees thing may be a deal breaker for me. ;-)

We are headed over to some friends this afternoon to eat and watch some football. Should be good times. The Tennessee and MIZZOU loses yesterday were ugly. The only good thing happening for me in football this year is winning the LifeWay SMP Fantasy Football league.

On a running note, Boston Marathon training started for me on Monday and my total mileage for the 2009 year was 1812 miles. Down a little from the past couple of years but I think I am learning to run a little smarter.

Happy New Year everyone!