Merry Christmas and 2022 Review

To say that I have been remiss in blogging for basically the last two years is . . . well, in a word, accurate. You would think that with the "home time" due to the onset of Covid in early 2020,  I would have found (made) more time to sit, reflect, pontificate, put down in words the "goings on of the Turners." I didn't.

But . . . here we are in the week leading up to Christmas in 2022 and alas, I find myself sitting down, reflecting, pontificating (in my head) and putting down in words the recent (ish) goings on of the Turners. Sit back, grab a cup of your favorite beverage and be ready to be amazed! At least, hopefully entertained! 

For the uninformed, we moved to Rome, GA in June of 2020 after living in Nashville for 30plus years! We left many friends with little to no fanfare because most things were still shut down due to Covid. That was a weird end to our time in Nashville in many ways. I took a role a WinShape and get to work alongside a team of incredible people where we partner with ministry leaders in training college aged young adults to lead bible studies in their context (school, work, church, neighborhood). I have had some pretty great roles in ministry, but this is the most rewarding and fun role that Lord has allowed me to steward. (Call me when you have an hour or so and I will catch you up.)

We live 2 blocks from Mark/Shelbi/Josiah and MacKenzie. Sondra and I having the role of Granna and Babu is so much fun! 

2022 - 

Who can remember all that we have done? It is a bunch.

Sondra continues to be on staff at Hermitage Hills Baptist as the bookkeeper along with some HR duties. Remote work is amazing and she works roughly 15 hours per week.

Sondra's mom and aunt are 89 and 93 and live about 10 minutes from us in a memory care facility. Sondra does an amazing job keeping up with all the things related to them. Truly, watching her serve and love them is nothing short of beautiful. As with any memory patient, there are many highs and lows, laughs and cries and at times joyous and other times agonizing experiences. The Lord continues to be faithful and while Joyce and Nola are both physically very strong for their age, the memory loss issues continue to progress.

My dad continues to live in the Kansas City area and came for a week in June to visit and hang out. He is 82 and really enjoys some pretty good health. My brother, James, lives a few miles from him and checks in on him regularly since he works at the apartment complex that dad lives. All in all, they are doing pretty good. Mom passed 15 years ago this past week and time sure flies and crawls at the same time. She was a good one for sure.

Mark and Shelbi are doing well and are great parents to Josiah and MacKenzie. They do all things little kids do like catch all the latest funk at daycare and try to share it with everyone they meet. Mark is about to begin the Executive MBA program at the UT-Knoxville and continues to work at a financial firm. Shelbi is a big deal at Atrium Health/Floyd County Hospital here in Rome in charge of nurse education.

Wilson and Morgan are living their best life in New Zealand! They moved there in November of 2020 and really have thrived! Morgan does online coaching with Faster Way and Wilson is serving patients suffering from kidney malfunction and needing dialysis. We were able to go to New Zealand in August/September and spend some wonderful time with all of us together. There are just too many stories to tell from this trip in this blog but if you go back through my FB or Insta you will see many pics from our time there in NZ. Morgan and Wilson will be moving back to the States in early May 2023. Let me also add this - Wilson is a tour guide extraordinaire! I love the way got input, planned and executed. One of the other hidden treasures of the trip was to meet so many of their friends how have cared for them while they have been in NZ.

I posted our Christmas pic at the beginning of this post and if you are wondering "who is that  young woman on the right?", that is Addie Grace Trejo who is a family friend of Mark and Shelbi (and the rest of us too). She went along with us to NZed to help with Josiah and MacKenzie. Addie Grace is a recent graduate of the University of Georgia (but not an obnoxious fan), works at WinShape and is getting married in April. When we took this pic (some random lately snapped it for us), we thought "this very well will be our Christmas pic for this year" and it was the best of all that we had. So Addie Grace is "officially a part of the family"!

Our snail mail is 29 Royal Oak Drive NE, Rome, GA 30165 

You can call at 615.403.3138. I probably won't answer if you are not in my phone address book but leave a message and I will call you back.

Come see us some time and if needed, make checks payable to Paul Turner or I can send you my Venmo account too. 😏

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We love most of you, like some and tolerate the others! You can decide where you fit!

Thank You Dana and Tom - And Thank You God

Recently there have been a couple of our friends who have passed away. I think at times like these, I can quickly do a half-hearted attempt at grieving and not really slow down enough to allow the loss to really sink in. Some of that might be a defense mechanism on my part.

As I reflect on the death of each of these people, some of the first things that come to mind are:

1. What amazing people each of them are. 

2. The immense number of people who credit each of them with having an influence in their life (including me).

3. The similar values that each of them held and lived consistently.

4. The way that each of them is remembered by their family.

5. The fact that each of them had a significant influence in my life yet they never knew one another or even that the other existed.

6. They both loved Jesus well and their love for Him was the reason that they served and loved Him and others so well.

Dana Hacker was a beautiful soul that Sondra and I had the privilege of getting to know back in the early to mid-80s. She taught at the college we attended and lived in the neighborhood close to Sondra's parents. She and her husband, David (a local dentist) were super kind and inviting. Their two children, Emily and John, were young and just fun to be around. Actually John was the ring bearer in our wedding in 1985. 

Dana could pretty much do anything. EVERYONE was important to her. If she didn't know how to do something she would soon find a way to learn it and least have a general understanding of it. The interesting thing is that Sondra and I really had limited personal interaction with her over the years but the way she loved and cared for us as an engaged couple and early marriage impacted us greatly. We kept up with her on visits back to her town and in the last few years of social media kept up with her more intentionally. This past year she started having some physical problems and seemed to be turning a corner. We were shocked when her daughter posted that Dana had passed away. Sondra and I cried. It was punch in the gut. We can easily get our heads that she is no longer suffering and is seeing her Savior face to face but our hearts hurt. And our hearts go out to David and Emily. He son, John passed away a couple of years and we were both struck by the sadness of the passing of Little John, our ring bearer, and the sense of loss that David, Dana, Emily and John's family was experiencing. 

Tom Carter was a friend and a true gentleman. Our paths crossed while we lived in Nashville and we instantly hit it off. Tom was a runner, a cyclist and we would talk about particular races that we had both run but never together. We attended the same church for a few years, served at the same local Christian school in volunteer roles; worked out at the same local YMCA. Tom loved his family and served them very well. His gentle nature, genuine love for people and his desire to serve were intoxicating. He was such a model of grace and love. Tom was one of those guys who was just easy to love. His sweet wife Pam, his daughters and grandkids all knew that he love Jesus and that he loved them well.

Thank you God for allowing me to be influenced by these two people who loved You deeply and yet never knew one another. Because they know You, they both are experiencing You in the fullest way now and throughout eternity. Be with their sweet families as they grieve the loss of their wonderful loved ones. Be their strength, peace and comfort in a before unimagined way for each of them. Thank you God for allowing me to know more about You by allowing me to see two of your servants up close and personal.

You're Doing What?!?

Sondra and I are excited to let you know that I have accepted a job with WinShape Foundation in the WinShape College Program. In this season of Coronavirus it does not seem to make much sense to change jobs and make a move but we have learned that as God reveals Himself it is ALWAYS best to be open handed and obey.

We will be moving to Rome, GA at some point when the current restrictions are lifted. There are many things to be worked out but I will start with WinShape on May 11. We will give you details as we know them. In the meantime, you can catch this video that I did with our pastor, Michael DiMarco and it will provide a few more details.

My three years at Friendship Community Church have been a great season of growth, refinement, learning and pruning in my own life. I am grateful for the people, the experiences and the growth that I have been a part of among this family of believers.

These Are Unprecedented Times

It seems as though all the normal has been turned upside down. COVID-19 is something we did not even know about a couple of months ago. Our normal is no longer and probably comes at a great time in our lives. I have become complacent. I will share more later about some things I have been thinking and praying about but with this being St. Patrick's Day, I wanted to re-share a story I have shared many years before.

From Slave Patricius to St. Patrick

So for many, St. Patrick's day is about green beer and pinching others, but the real story of Patricius is far from green beer and pinching. Today we celebrate the life and work of St. Patrick who brought the good news of the Gospel to the Emerald Isle and her people.

Who was this man Patrick, and what were his great accomplishments that so many should celebrate him more than 1500 years after he left this earth? Like St. Nicholas, whose identity has been utterly changed into that of a child's Christmas fantasy, the name of St. Patrick is now more generally associated with parades, "Kiss Me I'm Irish" buttons and green bagels than with the great work of evangelization that was his life's work. But Patrick was, as Nicholas, a real person.

Many details about Patrick are lost to us, but there is agreement on several key facts. Patrick was not Irish; he was born on the island of Britain possibly to a Roman family in about the year 387 AD. Raised in relative comfort, his name in Latin was Patricius. At the age of 16 years, he was kidnapped by a party of marauding Irish raiders, carried to Ireland, and sold into slavery. He was sent by his Irish master to tend sheep on the misty hills of Ulster. Miserable and alone, he turned increasingly to prayer. He served this solitary exile for six years until in a dream God told him to flee from his captivity. Walking a great distance to the coast, he found the ship that would take him back to his family.

The reunion with his family was only temporary. In another dream, he described hearing a call from the people of Ireland to come back to them and walk among them. Patrick understood this as God's call to missionary service to go as a Christian witness to the Irish. In answer to that call, he traveled to France where he undertook studies for the priesthood. He was eventually ordained by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre.

Pope Celestine I eventually entrusted to Patrick the mission of evangelizing the Irish, who, on their isolated island, were a pagan and warlike people having never been conquered by the legions of Rome. Fulfilling his youthful dream, Patrick, now a bishop in the company of several disciples, returned to Ireland in March of the year 433 AD. He was almost 50 years old.

Not a great deal is known of Patrick's preaching, but he and his companions were certainly fearless to approach such a fierce, unfriendly population with faith their only protection. However, one story endures. It is that of his use of the simple three-leafed Irish shamrock to illustrate to the high king at the capital at Tara the nature of the Blessed Trinity - Three Persons in One God. It is significant that the shamrock, the metaphor for God Himself, has come down through the centuries as the symbol of the Irish people.

Thomas Cahill, author of "How the Irish Saved Civilization," points out that one of the most remarkable things about St. Patrick's evangelization of Ireland is that it was peaceful. Christianity had come to many other nations in Europe at the point of a sword, only in the bloody aftermath of Roman conquest. Not so Ireland. In those other cases, the conquered nations had accepted Christianity. But in this case, Christianity had accepted Ireland. The evangelizing work of Patrick and those who helped him and came after him was completely successful.

Another of Cahill's observations is that this universal conversion fortuitously came just in time for Christian Ireland to become the repository for almost 200 years of the culture and civilization of Christian Europe, which at that very time was falling into the shadows of barbarian invasion. In due course, Christian missionaries came out of Ireland bringing back to Europe that which had lain beyond the reach of the invaders who had destroyed the Roman Empire. It is not by accident that Ireland has been called the Isle of Saints and Scholars.

From the days of St. Patrick, who died on March 17, 461, down to the present, the Irish have been steadfast in their Christian faith. As a nation, they have suffered much through the centuries. Perhaps the greatest sorrow is that so many have been forced to wander far from the island to which Patrick came to bring them spiritual life. It is not surprising then that when the sons and daughters of Ireland celebrate who they are they do so on the feast of their great spiritual benefactor.

Source: How Now Shall We Live, Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcy and http://www.tothesource.org/3_13_2007/3_13_2007.htm

Heartbreaking New Zealand News

Many of you know that Sondra's parents were born and reared in the beautiful country of New Zealand (NZed). To be honest, I was so geographically ignorant that I did not even know where NZed was until Sondra and I started dating in 1984. But since then, I have grown to love NZed and the people who live there.

The news that usually comes out of NZed revolves around the beauty of the country side and the amazing number of sheep that call NZed home. There are also reports at times of the devastating earthquakes that can happen in that region of the world known as the "Ring of Fire." Every time that NZed is in the news,  I can tell you that the Turners focus in to hear and know what is going on. 

But when we hear NZed in the news, we see peoples' faces. Faces of family and friends that we have grown to know and love. So when the latest news came out of NZed this past weekend, while we wanted it to be news of the beauty of the islands and its' people, the focus was on the evil of one who decided that "this quiet little place was the best place to show how fragile our security really is." 

A man who chose evil over love, killed 50 people who were gathering in their mosques to pray. Children, men, women, husbands, wives, sons and daughters were heinously gunned down as they prayed. One of those men shot (and as of this post still alive) is a neighbor of Sondra's cousin. His wife and children were out of the country and he was at the mosque to pray. Another young man who was killed was a soccer teammate of another of Sondra's cousins. A young man who was at the mosque to pray. Another of Sondra's cousins was in his car close to the mosque when he stopped to answer a phone call preventing him from being outside the mosque as the shooting was happening.

The land of the "Lord of the Rings" movies is a beautiful land full of beautiful people.
People who need to know that we support them and love them. People who need genuine prayer for healing, strength and comfort. People who need to know the transforming love of Jesus Christ.

Jesus reminds us of what He is about in Luke 4:18 - “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,"

May we be faithful to love those in NZed and also those who live next door to us. People whom God has given us the command to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Everyone is created in the very image of God. People who need Jesus. Even people who choose to do evil.

What About Evil?

I shared this with our students a few months ago after the massacre in Las Vegas. In light of yesterday's school shooting at Marshall County High School in Kentucky, I was reminded once again of the urgency of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.

I am praying for those families who have been directly impacted. May God provide peace, comfort, strength, grace, forgiveness and mercy.

You are welcome to use this very short, non-exhaustive look at evil and the believer's role in prayer and action. (This is designed as a conversation piece, not a full on presentation.)

Even biblical writers complained about pain and evil:

• Evils have encompassed me without number. Psalm 40:12
• Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Jeremiah 15:18
• We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  Romans 8:22

God did not create an evil world – Genesis 1:31

Evil is here, it is real, and it is also temporary. Rev. 21:4-5

We see how evil exists but cannot fully understand why God allows evil. Isaiah 55:8–9; Romans 11:33

What Can We Do?

• Pray, empathize and comfort.
• Speak out about evil and injustice.
• Take a stand when others are oppressed.
• Always have hope – Remember God is a promise-keeper.

Praying for the families of Bailey Holt and Preston Ryan Cope

Merry Christmas

This has been a great year for us as a family.

Morgan and Wilson are still living in Jackson, Tennessee. Wilson just graduated with his BS in Nursing and starts a new job at Jackson General in January. He just finished his job at Starbucks so no more discounted coffee for us. Morgan is still working in enrollment at Union University and travels some which brings her our way at times. They are very active in their church and small group. They have proven this past year that anything is possible. We are incredibly proud of them.

Shelbi and Mark are still living in Rome, Georgia. Shelbi is a nurse educator and Mark is still running WinShape Camp for boys. (He actually is the operations guy, but believe me, organizations do not run smoothly without a good operations guy. Thus, he runs it.) They recently bought a new house, moved in during a snow storm and are enjoying all the joys and challenges of home ownership. They also are co-owners of a new escape room in Rome set to open Dec. 28. It is called Colosseum Escape Rooms and if you find yourself near Rome, go see if you can escape. And, oh yeah, they are expecting their first child! He is in the picture above and is expected to make his appearance in late April. We are a little excited about this as you might expect. :-)

Sondra is involved in the financial office at a local church and enjoys working there. The church is going through a financial systems change this year and it has been fairly daunting but she has excelled as you might imagine. She does a great job of caring for her mom in so many ways. After 32 plus years of marriage, I continue to be amazed that God graced me with her.

Joyce, Sondra's mom, is doing pretty well and still lives just a few miles from us. She "never wants to be a bother" and rarely ever is ;-).

Charles, Paul's dad, is doing well and stays pretty active at church and following the Royals. Still working on getting him to wear a hat when it is cold outside. ;-)

Early this year, God led Paul back into local church ministry full-time. He is enjoying the rhythm of being in the local church again. He still loves being outside and completed another Ironman in October.

Paul and Sondra went on mission in July serving people in Guatemala. They also enjoyed a few days of rest and relaxation with Sondra's aunt and uncle and cousins. They took Joyce along and she enjoyed being with her sister while we joined the mission team a few miles away.

We are grateful for God's goodness and we are thankful for each of you. May God bless you and your families and may you find the joy and peace of Christ to be all you need now and in the coming new year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!