Author Archives: Dr. Philip W. Turner

We’ve probably all heard the phrase “larger than life”  when describing an individual. If you describe someone as larger than life, you mean that they have a very strong personality and behave in a way that makes people notice them.  There can hardly be a greater compliment than to call someone “larger than life.” ThatContinue reading “Larger Than Life”

If you grew up in the Baptist Church as I did, the hymn Softly and Tenderly was sung often.  The hymn was written by Will L. Thompson in 1880.  The familiar chorus reads:  “Come home, come home, Ye who are weary come home. Earnestly, tenderly Jesus is calling, Calling, “O sinner come home”  The lyricsContinue reading “Softly and Tenderly”

As a child growing up, I was not one who could sit still very long.  I needed to be moving or some part of my body moving.  So to sit beside me in church worship was a challenge for my parents.  Even today as a pastor, sitting in pulpit furniture, my legs are in motionContinue reading “Be Still”

Because of the COVID-19 virus, it has been 8 weeks since my church has been able to gather together for worship or anything else.  Stay at home guidelines have been followed in order to keep the virus from spreading.  While I  hate not being able to gather with my church family, I think it isContinue reading “Following Jesus, Yet Leaving the Church Behind”

During this time of the year, it is difficult to walk into stores such as Target and Walmart and not see huge displays of gifts for Valentine’s Day.  Everything from large stuffed animals, flowers, cards, and candy.  At one recent visit, I picked up a heart shaped box of chocolates weighing 5 pounds.  I thoughtContinue reading “A Heavy Heart”

During the season of Advent there is always an emergence of people’s nativity sets in people’s homes.  These nativity displays can be very simple as well as very elaborate. Some are inexpensive and others can be quite expensive.  You also see nativity sets outside during the season; wooden ones, inflatable ones, and even live ones.Continue reading “A Broken Nativity”

I think most people of faith have their favorite Bible verses that they turn to often for guidance, direction, and comfort.  For different reasons, a verse stands out to us, resonates with us, and speaks to us.  We may underline or highlight the verse or commit it to memory. Psalm 121 speaks about God’s presenceContinue reading “Coming and Going”

I can remember a time when I never heard of the phrase “wardrobe malfunction.”  It is a relatively new phrase in our modern language. A wardrobe malfunction describes a clothing failure that accidentally or perhaps intentionally exposes a person’s intimate parts. It is different from deliberate incidents of indecent exposure or public flashing. Justin TimberlakeContinue reading “Wardrobe Malfunction”

Someone once said, “If you want to make God laugh, then tell him your plans.”  The statement suggests that our plans, even our best laid out ones, cannot see the bigger picture of our lives in the way that God does.  Our vision for our lives is so limited. We can only see our livesContinue reading “What’s The Plan?”

If you think about our lives, we spend a great deal of our time making decisions. From the moment we wake until we go to sleep we are constantly making decisions about things.  Some decisions we are conscious about while for others we simply make a decision without much thought.  Some decisions come easy whileContinue reading “Decision Time”

Every day I receive quite a lot of telephone calls on my cell phone.  After being alerted by the ringtone, I can then look at the phones caller I.D. to see who is calling.  If I am friends with the person then the person’s name will appear.  However, if it just displays a telephone numberContinue reading “Caller I.D.”

There probably isn’t a day which goes by, that when I look at Facebook, that I see someone asking me to repost a picture of Jesus.  Usually there is a time warning such as in the next 10 minutes.  In addition, I should post it if I am not ashamed of Jesus.  And sometimes taggedContinue reading “A Facebook Faith”

There are 206 bones in the human body.  The human foot has 26.  I imagine that God knew we needed the extra support.  Our feet do a lot of walking over the course of our lives. The average moderately active person takes around 7,500 steps a day. If you maintain that daily average and liveContinue reading “Beautiful Feet”

This past week the Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka, Kansas came to Richmond, Virginia and staged one of its protests both at the Capital and on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University.  The church is known for its use of inflammatory hate speech, especially against LGBTQ people, Catholics, Orthodox Christians, atheists, Muslims, Jews, Romani people andContinue reading “Love is Greater Than Hate”

I have always been a snow lover as long as I can remember.  I love to watch it fall, the silence of its falling, and the blanket of white that covers the ground.  The beauty of a new snow seems to calm us down although it can send us into a panic before it arrives,Continue reading “Wintry Mix”

For a few weeks now I have noticed the days becoming longer.  The long nights of winter are beginning to give way to the light of spring.  On March 9 we will move our clocks forward one hour.  We enter daylight savings time. Daylight savings time in the US started as an energy conservation trickContinue reading “Spring Forward”

The phrase identity theft was not part of the English language until 1964, oddly the year I was born. Since that time, the definition of identity theft has been defined as the theft of personally identifying information, generally including a person’s name, date of birth, social security number, driver’s license number, bank account or creditContinue reading “Identity Theft”

Thanks for joining me! Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton