America - Celebrating Flag Day

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.

Whole Lotta Stuff Going On!

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 process. It was great to spend time with almost 80 summer staffers. I learned much and hope I passed on some information and wisdom as well.
• I also hosted about 12 youth ministers for three days here at LifeWay. We call it Student BETA and help youth ministers think through ministry and try to be a resource for them in their mission of making disciples through their local church. It is a great time and fairly tiring but I love spending time with these men and women.

The next few weeks will be very busy with work. I will be speaking all next week in Chicago and then have quite a few trips planned for the next 6 weeks with World Changers. It will be fun.

Sondra's mom had surgery on her back and seems to be recuperating very well. Sondra will head to either Tulsa or Bolivar to spend some time with her in the next few days. We are thankful for successful surgery and are praying for healing and a fix to the terrible leg pain she had been experiencing. We are grateful to Bronwyn and Phil and their kids for the way that they have been caring for her.

I Am a Triathlete?

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 out of the water alive. I also began to climb on the stationary bike at the Y. 20 minutes turned into 40 minutes turned into an hour. Soon I was riding an hour and running for 30 min. I knew how to run but the transition from the bike to running was a little wobbly the first few yards but it got better. And I got a nice bike from my friend, DiMarco who had one hanging in his garage for a few years because he had blown out his Achilles tendon a few years before. I still owe him some money on that bike too.

Fast forward to last weekend. After about 5 months of training, I put it all together at an event called the Iron
Nugget. It consisted of a .5 mile swim (in open water), a 17 mile bike ride, and a 3.1 mile ride. It took place at Montgomery Bell State Park just west of Nashville a few miles. It is somewhat of a demanding beginner's triathlon but not totally unfair. The weather was perfect. Mid-50s and overcast and the water temp was about 68 degrees. Burrrr. But Mike Harry let me borrow his wetsuit so I was not very cold. (I did a practice swim of a couple hundred yards the day before in the wetsuit just get the feel for it.) I was nervous as a cat but excited to see if the training that I had done had properly prepared me for the event. I swam okay, I transitioned slowly from the swim to the bike, I biked about what I thought I would do and I ran. I ran pretty well. It was the one part of the event I had a lot of confidence and I pushed it a little. My goal in the run portion was to pass some people and not be passed. Mission accomplished. I had set an overall goal of 2 hours or less and I finished in 1:53:40. I was pleased and much to Sondra's demise, I was hooked. I can see my self doing more of these kinds of events. I do not see a full Iron Man any time or actually ever, but who knows. It was a great experience. I am glad I did it. And, I am thankful for a guy named Dave MacNeill who challenged me to try doing a triathlon. There were actually 5 of us from my work area who participated.

On another note and an important one - on Saturday, May 11, Sondra and I celebrated 28 years of marriage. She was there at the triathlon encouraging and supporting me just like she has for our whole married life. She is the best. Period.

Wanting to Be Right So Badly that I Miss Getting the Right Information

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 that He is trying to help me get it right (because He knows). I spend alot of time trying to be right instead of surrendering to the truth. I am praying that God will stop me in my tracks and continue to teach me to trust Him. He can be trusted. In all things.

Dads Matter

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!

Trying to Make Sense

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 run cared enough to check on me.

Within a few minutes I had heard from those I knew were there and they were okay, but there were many who were not okay. From the deaths of three individuals to so many people who were injured by the blasts. I became angry. I felt like my own "family" had been attacked. I am a hacker runner, but a Boston Marathon qualifier and finisher and those people are my people.

As the events unfolded this past week, a thought kept running through my mind. Christ died for those effected and for those who caused the chaos and terror. And I felt conflicted. I prayed for those families and individuals directly effected and I prayed that the perpetrators would be found and that there would be no more harm or injury. And, I prayed that God would capture the hearts and minds of those who did this evil thing. Not because I arrived at that by myself but I am learning to ask God to allow me to see people as He sees them. I am thankful that these two are not in a position to inflict pain and terror any more. I know one of those brothers is now dead and every indication is that he did not know Christ. I cannot rejoice in that. I am praying that God will capture the heart and mind of this 19-year-old. I believe he needs to be brought to justice according to our national laws and I am praying that He will allow Christ to become real to him.

I once was an enemy of Christ, but through His grace, he brought me from death to life.

NCAA Basketball Championship Tournament

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.