The Way

I have the privilege of knowing Jimmy Bradford, who is a friend of mine from the Downtown YMCA. I have known Jimmy Bradford for about 15 years and was reminded again this morning of what it looks like when people genuinely care for one another. This story is about 17 minutes long but actually the story is much longer than that. I will tell you that you will want a Kleenex close by as well. It will be time well spent and is a great example of people loving and caring for one another.

Here it is January 13th (Friday the 13th for all of you superstitious folk) and I am finally getting around to another blog entry. It was a great holiday break and I really have no excuse for not blogging, I just didn't. Sometimes I feel like writing and at other times, I don't. It was a season of good times but no writing. This past year, for those of you who have kept up, has been a good year for the Turners. We enjoyed a family trip to New Zealand with our kids in March (we shared a bunch of pics of that trip). Shelbi and Mark are still in Rome, GA and are doing great. Shelbi took on a new assignment at work as a trainer for new nurses; continuing education for nurses; and got her Masters. Mark still runs WinShape ;-), well at least the operations part of the boys' camp. Morgan and Wil made a move to Jackson, TN where Wil is pursuing a nursing degree via fast track and Morgan is an enrollment counselor for Union University. They are doing great and we are blessed to...

Sylvanus - reaching Nepalese in NYC I have been blessed in so many ways in my 53 plus years of life. Today I am sitting in a coffee shop in NYC doing some writing, prepping for meetings with some of our partners in P2 Missions and reflecting. Maybe it is the Christmas season. Maybe it is that time of year when 9 years ago my mom was running towards heaven as she battled cancer. Maybe it is just that I am a melancholy sap at times. Whatever the reason, I find myself sitting at a table for 6 with 4 other people I have never met before and likely will never see again. Some will engage in conversation while others drink their coffee, scour their cellphone for information or connection, and others simply have other thing on their minds or jobs to do. People from around the world are here. Glancing through the coffee shop I see Colombians, Nepalese, Chinese, Persian and many others who my untrained eye cannot really identify. All people with stories, families, jobs, hobbies, hurts and...

Wow. Let me start by saying that I did not see this outcome prior to some of the exit polls on Tuesday evening last week. I actually thought that Mrs. Clinton would win with about a 3% margin (48-45ish). Actually it looks like she has won the popular vote but obviously was defeated in the electoral college. That has happened before where a candidate has won the popular vote and lost the election due to the electoral vote. And just a reminder that the US is a Republic and not a democracy. The simple explanation of the differences is that a republic is a representative government ruled by law (the US Constitution) while a democracy is a government ruled by the majority.  Here is a list: 1824 - John Quincy Adams 1876 - Rutherford B. Hayes 1888 - Benjamin Harrison 1960 - John F. Kennedy (disputed) 2000 - George W. Bush I am not a political expert. I decided early on in this presidential race that I was going to abstain from making political comments on social media....

I signed up to work with little kids at church once a quarter almost 5 years ago. It was a little bait and switch because the once a quarter materialized as once a month but I digress. At first I was a little intimidated by these 3-5 year olds but now I am just resigned to the fact that they have it figured out for the most part. Sure they are young; they at times don't think through the consequences of their actions; they might have an accident in their pants; they might be challenged with a "mine" attitude, but THEY TEACH ME SO STINKING MUCH! Not actual kids in the Owl class. Sunday morning was the final day of our church's Disciple Now and Sondra and I hosted 7 young ladies that were a joy to have in our home for the weekend. I "helped" serve pancakes to the entire youth group (if you count trying to convince students to eat crazy amounts of pancakes as help that is). During our church's worship hour I headed to our Owl room which is made up of...

Actually the title is just a clever attempt to say, "I have been remiss/lazy in posting a blog post." I have good intentions, honestly, I do but then, well, I just don't blog. Our family is doing well. We have had the opportunity to spend time with both sets of kids and that is always delightful. Morgan and Wil have moved back to Jackson, TN (2 hours west of us) for Wil to be in the accelerated nursing program at Union. Morgan took a job as an enrollment counselor for Union and she is enjoying that work. She has traveled to Texas and Colorado the past couple of weeks working college fairs and Wil has been fortunate enough to be with her part of the time in both locations. Wil is also working part-time at Starbucks so we have been the recipients of some good coffee. Shelbi and Mark are doing well. Mark is training for Ironman NC that races in about 3 weeks and has come down with some kind of lung funk but hopes to be on the mend soon. Shelbi is in DC this week as part...

The cities of Cleveland and Philadelphia are probably grateful for the amount of dollars that were spent in their cities the past couple of weeks hosting the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. And I am grateful that there were no major incidents of harm to people in the cities. I was not able to watch all of the speakers but did catch some of each Convention and heard almost all of the speeches of Trump and Clinton. Here are my observations: 1. Both conventions resembled the Hunger Games. 2. Comic Con and the conventions have much more in common than I would have imagined. 3. America is a great nation and I am not even close to the mainstream of the views expressed at both conventions. 4. Facts are squishy at best and in most cases are not so veiled attempts to just deceive. 5. History repeats itself. 6. After hearing the respective platforms, I am not able to vote for either of the major party candidates. 7. I will exercise my right to vote and am grateful f...