The Way

To help you get into the Christmas spirit I am sharing this from about five years ago. This is worth the watch!

I have always loved Christmas. I like the lights, trees, ornaments, gifts, parties, well . . . not so much all the parties. I like most of the people at the parties, but being an introvert by nature, I like smaller groups and not a whole bunch of hoopla. I realize that I could sound like Ebenezer Scrooge to some. I really do like the people and most of the activity, but I get overwhelmed by all of the "on time". Introverts get that term. It is not that we are trying to be phony, it is that we are trying to be nice and participate, just don't ask us to be "on" all the time. Here in early December, I look at my calendar between work commitments, church commitments, and family commitments and just feel a little overwhelmed. Days are filled with incredible amounts of work, nights are filled with parties, ball games, church related ministry opportunities and family commitments. And . . . all of them are good things. I just struggle bringing balance to all the co...

Many who read this know me pretty well. Others of you have a tendency to know me through conferences, projects, or some even through creeping on me and my happenings via Twitter or Facebook. Some times I write something rather pithy, or report on what has been happening in our family, work, or even some kind of fitness adventure I have embarked upon. There are times that I struggle with what to write, what I want to reveal or even to just ignore hoping that somehow I do not write something that would be offensive; too self revealing; or just plain stupid. The filter that I try to write through does include a lens that I hope will be informative and especially encouraging. I do not always hit that goal, but that is a desire of mine. This post is one designed to point out some of the struggles I contend with practically every day I am alive. At its' root, it is addiction or addictive behavior. At times I masquerade it well and at other times, I am blatantly out in the open with ...

This past weekend I found myself in Panama City Beach, Florida spectating and supporting my buddy, Dave MacNeill, as he competed and completed the Ironman Florida Triathlon. Dave and I work together at LifeWay and over the past couple of years have become pretty good friends. Dave is an Ironman. He has been an Ironman for a number of years and you may recall that back in the Spring, I completed my first triathlon, much to the encouragement of Dave. An Ironman Triathlon consists of these three sports and distances: Swimming -2.4 miles Biking - 112 miles Running - 26.2 miles All of those miles add up to 140.6 miles and a pretty tired body evidently. I had a blast spectating and supporting this triathlon. I really did. I found myself encouraging and supporting people that I have never seen before and quite possibly, never will see again. But that did not really matter to me. What mattered is that they competed to the best of their ability and I wanted to help them do that by ...

I like these guys alot and we have become friends over the last few years. You know I love the great Johnny Cash, so I like what Sidewalk Prophets did here! Enjoy!

Mom, James, Me & Dad I have the best brother ever who turns another year older today. October 29, 1959 (almost 4 years before my appearance on this terrestrial ball) a dark headed, widow peaked little boy was born. I have seen pictures and know that this kid looks much like his dad (my father). James and I have had some incredibly great times together. We grew up playing ball in the back yard (any kind of ball, it really didn't matter); he frequently beat on his little brother (I have the scars to prove it); and we shared a bedroom as little kids where he would say scary things to me and pretty much freak me out. He taught me how to throw a ball; hit a golf ball; kick a soccer ball and how to mow a yard. We shucked much corn together; broke many a green bean; traipsed through all kinds of woods hunting squirrel and rabbit; and fished every little creek, pond, lake, and puddle in Cass County. Oh, so many good times and memories. We grew, he moved out of the house, and I...

I am a little hesitant to even write this post because it could be perceived that I am "calling out" some folks or possibly setting myself up as being better than others. I will have to trust that those of you who really know me will understand that I am writing from a a perspective that is not mean or vindictive. If you do not know me and just happen on this blog, give me the benefit of a doubt. Or, totally disagree. Either way is really okay. Hero Worship is really nothing new. By definition is  foolish or excessive adulation for an individual (Merriam-Webster) There are different levels of hero worship from mild to all out lunacy. Some synonyms would be:  adore ,  adulate ,  canonize ,  deify ,  dote (on) ,  hero-worship , worship  and to be honest, I get that we are wired to worship, make a hero out someone or something. I live in SEC country and it is fair to say that during this time of year (football season) all kinds of Hero Worshi...

There are all kinds of quotes when it comes to getting older: You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old.   George Burns   Getting older is no problem. You just have to live long enough.   Groucho Marx   Age is a question of mind over matter.  If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.  Leroy "Satchel" Paige and one of my favorites is this one -  “A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age.”    Robert Frost I will let you figure out what age Sondra turns today but here are some things you need to know about her -  She loves Jesus. She loves me with all of my faults and quirks. She loves her girls and her son-in-law. She loves people. She loves rules/guidelines and plays by them. She keeps a checkbook like no other. She can find something in a stack of papers when I cannot even find the stack. She loves details. She loves students she gets to be around at McGavock...

Last week Sondra and I headed out to AZ for the week and had an incredible time. No work, email, little phone stuff and lots of hiking and big fun with the best girl in the world! We hit Tombstone, hiked/climbed Camel Back and South Mountain in Phoenix, Bell Rock in Sedona, laughed alot, saw a couple of movies, and ate alot of oatmeal for breakfast. We enjoyed the pool, the dry air and just each others' company. We both left on Sunday of this week, she for MO to hang with her mom, and me to Texas to the Youth Minister's Conclave. It was great to see so many youth ministry friends and lead a conference. The weather was not the best but they needed the rain. Sondra has enjoyed being with her mom and Bronwyn and I am looking forward to her being home again. She heads back to school on Monday which I am sure she is not totally excited about. Today is LayLay's 21st birthday and I am asking you to continue to pray for the Hollister/Willams families along with Wacey Russell...

A rare political rant by me. Here are my thoughts on our current state of government. 1. If I operated my household the way our current administration and Congress is operating, I would be in jail. 2. The officials that you and I helped elect seem to be less competent than they presented themselves to be at election time. (I am including all parties.) 3. My grandfather would say when we were out of hand, horse playing in his house, "you boys straighten up; act like you got some sense; get up out the floor and get to work." Seems to be pertinent in our current governmental climate. 4. Please open the National Parks. We are going to AZ on vacation and really would like to spend the day at the Grand Canyon (selfish on my part). It would also be very good to put government employees back to work. 5. Remember, just holding a position of leadership does not mean you are a leader. If you hold a political position, be a leader and lead. The whole bunch of ya.

Tuesday night I had the honor and the privilege of being a part of a celebration where no one in attendance actually  thought it was the right time to be celebrating. Early Saturday morning, Lay Lay stepped from this Earth into eternity and met her Savior face to face. Lay Lay was a beautiful, young woman who loved others because she was in love with Christ. It was evident in every area of her life. I was privileged to watch her grow from a 10-year-old girl into a beautiful, young woman. Lay Lay was a special gift. She was a fiery and feisty one when there was a ball involved; she was kind, compassionate and giving where there was a life involved. She was everyone's best friend; every parent's daughter; and everyone's sister. It was just they way it was with her. Jesus had captured her life and He shined through her to everyone. Lay Lay, I will miss you. I remember our last conversation on Friday, September 6. You were excited (in that signature monotone voice of you...

I love being a part of the Royals family during the bad and the good times. Granted it has been painful since 1985 but I am a Royals fan. Always will be. I am having fun this season with them still in the hunt and this video of stealing home last night by Escobar was too good not to share. Go Royals! Your browser does not support iframes.

Today my mother-in-law, Joyce (Trail) Holmes, turns 80. She has relayed to us that she was born about 3am after her mother and father arrived at the hospital on their motorbike. Because it was so early in the morning, they pushed the motorbike away from the neighbor homes before starting it so they would not awaken any unnecessarily that early in the morning. Joyce was born in New Zealand and the best I can recollect, she was born in Wanganui which is about a 3-4 hour drive north of Wellington. I know that she has 3 sisters; Nola, who lives in Atlanta; Rose, who lives in New Zealand; and Betty, who is lives in Guatemala. There was a brother, Jack, who died in an accident when he was pretty young. She married a boy named Bernard (Bernie) Holmes who ended up bringing her to the US via Canada. I have to admit that seeing home movies a few years ago of their move to North America via ship with a stop in Hawaii showed a much less developed Honolulu. It was pretty awesome to see. ...

Best Part of the Trip So . . . how does one celebrate their 50th birthday?! I knew that I was not interested in anything involving adult beverages especially with someone like me who can have addictive behavior tendencies, so I put my mind to work.  I have known of people who run 50 miles on their 50th and that really did not sound like alot of fun to me.Back in the Spring, I entered and completed my first triathlon and found it to be pretty fun so I thought do a combination of running,biking and swimming that would add up to at least 50 miles was my best option. I took off from the Downtown YMCA with a bunch of buddies (Rusty, Mike Whittle, Young Mike, Gordon, Young Charlie, Stubblefield, and David Grant). We ran a familiar 8 plus mile course and then David and I ran almost 5 more to complete the half marathon distance. I ate some breakfast and climbed on the bike and started making my way towards the Donelson Y to swim. On the way I stopped and saw Sondra at her work ...

On Thursday night I got the opportunity to go to the Vandy/Ole Miss game with Michael DiMarco and Ben Williams. I have known Michael for a long time but I did not know Ben before Thursday. We go to church together, but since the church is so big, there are many I do not know. Ben is from New Zealand, loves sports, and is the father of young children. With Sondra's parents being from New Zealand, we had an automatic bond. I enjoyed getting to know him and I always enjoy Michael and the football game was just a bonus. It was a hot and humid night and virtually no defense in the football game so lots of points and lots of excitement. On Friday, Sondra, Morgan and I headed to Bolivar to be with Sondra's mom and Sondra's sister and brother in law and family. It is an 8 hour drive each way but it did not prove to be too bad. We arrived about 11p on hit the bed not too long after. On Saturday we enjoyed doing some work around Joyce's house and my dad came down and spent mos...

Just a few days over 18 years ago, we had a "son". Our good friends, Mitch and Christy Fuller welcomed into the world a little guy named, Graham Mitchell Stephens Fuller. He was born one evening after a fairly grueling day of labor if I remember correctly. Graham became our godson and a brother to Morgan and Shelbi. (Truth be known, him being a boy took alot of pressure off of me thinking I had to produce a boy in our family.) Graham enjoyed the things that boys enjoy like dogs, beaches, music, gadgets and girls. In fact, Graham has always had a group of girls around him. When he was a baby, it was our two girls but when school came along, Graham always had girls around. Well, always maybe a little strong. He entered the scouting program and progressed through merits and badges and last week was presented his Eagle Scout. Rumor has it that he busted through the first steps of scouting quickly and then slowed down quite a bit but made Eagle Scout with just days to spare ;-...

Yesterday, Sunday, August 11th, was Shelbi and Mark's 1st Anniversary. What a whirlwind the week was leading up to their wedding, and what an amazingly quick year it has been since that wonderfully, great day. This past week we were blessed to have Mark and Shelbi at the house for a few days. I have to tell you that it is very exciting to see how the two of them are honoring God in their lives and relationships. Sure makes a dad proud. It also pretty much marks a year that Morgan and Wilson (Wil or Wil P. as I call him) have been officially dating. I am not sure if I have introduced Wil to my blog readers but I guess if Morgan is going to keep him around for a year, I better do some introductions. Wil and Morgan met at Union and both graduated this past May. Wil graduated with a double major (best I remember) in history and I think biology. He is smart guy. He knows alot about alot of things but does not come across as a know-it-all by any stretch. He is his own person which I...

So the last two weeks have included a lot of in the car trips. Since I was driving I got to throw my bike in the back so even though I did alot of driving, I did some a couple of fun rides as well. Morgan and I headed out to Chattanooga for a World Changers project and enjoyed some time together along with visiting some great ministry sites. I host Ben Trueblood and Eric Geiger for some of the sites and really enjoyed spending time with them. Both of those guys are great guys who got to see students in action helping others. It was alot of fun. Over the weekend, our family met up in Rome, Ga for Shelbi's 23rd birthday and we had a great weekend. I got a nice bike ride in over to Berry College and Winshape, we ate cake, Mark and I played a little golf and we attended church together on Sunday. It was such a blessing for all of us to be together! On Sunday, I headed towards the mountains of North Georgia to meet with a great church and help their staff work through some cla...

I have seen this at least 50 times. It just owns me right now. Enjoy!  

Recently, I have found myself trying to listen more and talk less. Shocker to those of you who know me, I am sure. I know the cliche' that we have two ears and one mouth, so listen more and talk less. It is more than a cliche', it is good advice. I have many speaking/training events coming up in the next couple of months so the past few weeks I have been working on what I would say and would not say. To be fair to Miss Teen South Carolina 2007, she got her question just a couple of seconds before she was to answer and then her time to answer was very limited. When someone asks me a question during a talk/presentation, one of the very first things that pops in to my head is this video. It reminds me to stop, collect my thoughts, and not comment on something that I know nothing about. You have seen this before, but it bears repeating.

I am thankful I get to do what I get to do. These past two weeks have been pretty fast and furious. On Father's Day afternoon, after church and lunch, I headed towards Chicago to speak at our World Changers project up there for the week. It was a great week of ministry. The crews that came did all kinds of work in the Chicago suburbs. I enjoyed speaking and getting to know so many. God moved in a pretty big way and there were 7 salvations of those in the area. God is that good. You can see some of the week's highlights here if you are interested. I headed home on Saturday and enjoyed some time with Sondra before she headed out on Monday to go be with her mom in Tulsa. Sondra's mom had back surgery almost 4 weeks ago and she seems to be doing fair, but not great. We are hoping for her to have another MRI to see what is causing the most recent pain. I am enjoying having Morgan home and Jordan is with us this summer. He is a recent Union grad and doing an internship he...

I have long been a fan of the late Johnny Cash. In celebrating Flag Day today in the United States, I am reminded of this song Johnny did years ago.

So why does someone with so much going on not stop and blog about it? Laziness and excuses come to mind. Since I last informed you of the Turner happenings - Morgan graduated from Union University w/ honors. She gets her looks and personality from me but thankfully her brains from Sondra.Wilson, her beau, graduated as well and I think we may see alot of him this summer. That's not a bad thing (for the most part). ;-) We moved Morgan home and moved one of her classmates in for a couple of months for an internship here in Nashville. The housing that had been arranged fell through and we have a spare room. Jordan is fun to have around and doesn't eat much. I have made a few trips but can't remember where I went so I guess it has been too much lag time since. Work is busy! World Changer and P2 Missions projects are up and running after 2 weeks of training. It was my first go around with the training part of getting summer staff ready. It is a very involved and focus pro...

A few months I was presented with a challenge from a co-worker about training for and completing a triathlon. I had toyed with the idea a few times; told Sondra a time or two that I will do a triathlon someday; and then on occassion thought, "That's crazy!  I will run but triathlons sound crazy." Consider me crazy. Some of you do already anyway. I started getting in the pool, got some goggles and earplugs and a short pair of running shorts and swam. Three strokes, breath; three strokes, breath; sounded easy enough but I found it a little overwhelming and challenging. But I am competitive and kept after it. I swam a few hundred meters; spit out water, coughed, gasped numerous times and tried it again later in the week. A quarter mile became and half-mile became a mile became a mile and half. I was considered a somewhat controlled flailer. I always thanked the lifeguard at the Y for not letting me drown. They thought I was kidding and laughed. I do not joke about getting...

I had an experience recently where a person called me on my cell phone and asking me if I was X. I explained that I was indeed not X, but that my name was Paul. She then went on to tell me that it had to be Xs number because someone had given her this number and said that it was X's number. I explained that I knew X but that this was not, in fact, X's number. She insisted that it was but I kindly told her whoever had given her the number she dialed was mistaken. She repeated the number she was given and indeed, it was my number and not X's. She would not have it. I tried to actually give her X's number but she quickly insisted that she was right and hung up. Wow! She was being like me. So many times I insist that I am right and in the process of someone trying to help get me the right information, I insist I am already right and miss the correct answer. I really dislike that in myself. Sometimes I am like that with God. I insist that I am right, and miss the fact t...

Saw this recently on a plane and thought it was worth drawing some attention to those who read this blog. This is just a good reminder that kids want their dads in their life. Matt Lauer does a little documentary on the back side of this video about a PSA that he was doing. Enjoy!

The past couple of weeks have been busy with travel, conferences, training, and senseless bombings in Boston. Last Monday I was leading a group of youth ministers here at LifeWay and my phone started going off with text messages from all sorts of people. All of the texts had basically the same message: "Are you OK?"   For the first few minutes I had no idea why I would be getting these messages then one of them included that there had been a bomb at the Boston Marathon. A couple of things raced through my mind, but more importantly, people came to mind. People I knew who were in Boston running the marathon. I have run it four times and every time it has been an amazing experience. I thought of Charlie and Ron Kramer who is a part of the Boston Athletic Association who puts the race on. I thought of Jim and Herb also who were running. And I felt conflicted in many ways. I was concerned for the safety of the ones I knew were there and I was thankful that people who know I ...

I love college basketball. I am somewhat frustrated with the way the game is becoming more about the strength of the players rather than the skill and art of the players in the game, but I thoroughly enjoy the game. My heart is with the MIZZOU Tigers and I am a North Carolina Tar Heels fan as well. Not split allegiance, just really admire Dean Smith and what he did so long at UNC. I also respect Roy Williams very much. I wish that MIZZOU would go after coaches that had character and knew Xs and Os but right now that does not seem to be priority. All that said, I wanted to share the One Shining Moment video from CBS. It has been a tradition since the mid-to-late 80s the best I can remember. Enjoy. And congrats to Rick Pitino and the Louisville Cardinals. Pitino has proven to be an incredible coach and seems to be overcoming some poor personal decisions in the past.

Throughout history, April 9ths has come and gone. 0715 - Constantine ended his reign as Catholic Pope. 1865 - At Appomattox Court House, Virginia, General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate Army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. 1866 - The Civil Rights Bill passed over U.S. President Andrew Johnson's veto. 1912 - The first exhibition baseball game was held at Fenway Park in Boston. The game was between Red Sox and Harvard. 1913 - The Brooklyn Dodgers' Ebbets Field opened.  1928 - Mae West made her debut on Broadway in the production of "Diamond Lil." 1940 - Germany invaded Norway and Denmark. 1942 - In the Battle of Bataan, American and Filipino forces were overwhelmed by the Japanese Army. 1947 - 169 people were killed and 1,300 were injured by a series of tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. 1950 - Bob Hope made his first television appearance on "Star-Spangled Review" on NBC-TV. 1957 - The Suez Canal was cleared for all shipping...

The last few weeks have been somewhat of a whirlwind for the Turners. I somehow thought it was a good idea to cram my schedule so full of "good" stuff and forgot that at some point I was going to need to rest a little. If you have kept up at all with some of my travels you know that I overextended. I love what I get to do but even too much of a good thing is still too much. All of my weekends were involved in training youth leaders or encouraging people coupled with a week of teaching at Midwestern Seminary, a quick trip to Alaska (which was awesome and encouraging), to attending one of our World Changers Spring Break projects in Birmingham and then a weekend of training in Kentucky. It was crazy. Sondra went on a mission trip to Guatemala with our church, Hermitage Hills, and did construction (I know, right?), worked with kids, taught a women's Bible study based off of our friend's (Hayley DiMarco) book, The Fruitful Wife, and even did some sewing. To say the lea...

This past week I had the privilege of teaching The Minister of Youth class at Midwestern Seminary. A former colleague at LifeWay invited me this past summer to consider becoming an adjunct professor. I went through all the vetting process and somehow passed the test. I developed a syllabus and created projects with homework and everything. It was a good process for me to go through. Monday-Thursday we met from 9a-330p. Seven of the most fun and entertaining people/students have been around. I am pretty sure that I did not fit their idea of a prof. We learned together and I am grading projects and they have one more big project to finish in meeting the requirements of the class. It was a great experience. On Thursday afternoon, I climbed on a plane and flew to Anchorage for Avalanche which is their annual youth event. It was great to spend time training some great volunteers and leaders. That was followed by preaching on Sunday morning at University Baptist Church in Anchorage. It ...

Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with Allen Jackson and Ben Trueblood and have a short discussion on  pastor/youth minister relationships. While not definitive, I think we raise some good observations and provide some helpful ideas for student ministers who are wanting to be in good relationship with their pastor and other staff members. You can find more videos like this one at Ministry Grid - LifeWay's new online training tool

prep·a·ra·tion    /ˌprepəˈrāSHən/ Noun The action of making ready or being made ready for use. Something done to get ready for an event or undertaking. Some of you know that I am training/preparing for a Sprint Triathlon in May. I have been a runner for many years but a few months ago was challenged by one of my friends to do a triathlon. You know I am stubborn (I like to think of it as "disciplined") so I took up the challenge and the preparation that goes with trying to complete a short (very short) triathlon. A couple of events have happened in the last couple of days that have made me think about preparation/training in a little different way. Our oldest called this week, sharing with us that as a nurse, she lost her first patient. It was a traumatic death and one that shook Shelbi to the core as you might imagine. I will spare you the details, but I did remind Shelbi that God had been preparing her for a long time to work with patients and that there would c...

I learned some things this week/weekend. 1. Boise, Idaho is a long way from Nashville. 2. There are some really crazy Boise State Broncos fans. 3. The blue football field at BSU is unique and birds mistake it for water and many end their lives crashing into "water" that is really turf. 4. Training for 6 hours makes for a long, rewarding day. I spent a day with 12 youth leaders from AZ, NM, UT, ID, ND, SD, and AK. (I hope I didn't miss a state.) TeamWest 5. People think I have an accent. I do. Everyone has some kind of accent. 6. My wife is an amazing woman. (Not something I just learned but was reminded.) 7. God is incredibly good. He does an awesome job of making a big deal of Himself. 8. The Delta Airlines free upgrade from Seattle to Atlanta was a nice gift. 9. I don't really need much snow in the winter. Got a little snow in Boise but it was nothing like my hometown of Independence that got 10+ inches this week (with more forecast this next week). 10. Y...

So many times I realize that I can be such an arrogant jerk. You might be thinking that sounds like I am being too hard on myself (or in full agreement), but I have a window on my heart that is usually closed off to others. As I write this, I am on a regional jet flying to Salt Lake City. I am crammed into an exit row seat sitting next to a guy who is taking his seat and about a third of my seat. He's nice enough but HE'S TAKING MY SPACE. And my arrogance and "rights" rise to the front of my brain. "I am being cheated out of what is rightfully mine" is playing over and over in my mind. And here comes the flight attendant who is serving us, a bunch of travelers, who "deserve to be respected and served with the utmost service because we paid for those peanuts and soft drinks." And then I open the presentation I am doing this weekend that talks about serving and honoring others because that is not only what Jesus talked about/taught, but what H...

This past weekend, Sondra and I headed to the "mountains" of Georgia to lead a youth leaders' retreat for a local GA church. It was good that Sondra was with me. Lots of travel lately so spending time in the car together was awesome. The more I am around her just helps me to realize how blessed I am to be married to her. One of the major tasks of the weekend for the youth leaders was to make sure they understood their purpose and to make sure they were pulling toward the same goal. It was a great time and they are a really strong team of volunteers. Their youth minister is doing a great job of leading them. It was fun to help them evaluate and affirm much of what they are doing. They arrived at a couple of things that they do, which are good things, but things that can be strengthened with a few tweaks. They were willing to question methods, evaluate and make changes. It was healthy and fun and I was honored to be a part of the process. It reminded me the importanc...