Pure Religion

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." 

James 1:27

Yesterday, Bryan Turner, a pastor and missionary passed.  

He was not someone I was close to. However, he was close with many people I love! He was my brother.

We now have the GIFT to care for his wife!  

One of my best-friends, wrote several blogs and I got her permission to share them with you. (well, really I only got permission to share one-but she won't mind) 

The BEST is an emotional one: On Grief 

I am re-posting as I know we are too busy to follow links to good stuff sometimes. 

Grief makes you feel stretched thin. It makes your heart heavy. In its thickest fog, it is blinding. You cannot pull over and wait for it to lift. Your life goes on. The world feels like fiction, like walking around a movie set. Nothing seems real. Time sits still.

Then it fades. You get caught up in something else, and you have an instant when your loss is not on your mind. It is like playing in the ocean as a child. You get caught up in the moment with your friends, and you completely forget that waves are lapping at your back.

That's when it happens. An enormous wave overcomes you, out of nowhere. You find yourself coughing, sputtering, and gasping for air. Your eyes are burning. You can't breathe. You weren't expecting it at all.

I remember a specific moment like this after we lost our son. I had been to the grocery store a week or so after losing him. I was driving home. Ephraim was chattering away in the backseat. The thought then occurred to me that my second little boy would never be sitting back there with him. I wept. Chris Tomlin's "Amazing Grace" came on the radio. "...my God, my Savior, has ransomed me..." I wept. My shoulders shook. My lungs heaved with breath. I was overwhelmed. I was not prepared. One cannot be.


This has been a hard day. My husband had to say goodbye to a friend. My heart is just shattered for his family. Fortunately, I also know what this family is all about... or who. The Turner family loves Jesus. Bryan lived his life in passionate pursuit of our God. His family did and will continue to do the same.

Our God will envelope his wife, lift her head, sustain her, give her unnatural peace and irrational hope. Our God will hold her close when the unexpected waves crash over her. Our God will be her husband, her love, and her comfort. Our God is her all in all. Our God will cover her boys in His fatherly love. Our God will be glorified through Bryan's death, as he was in every moment of Bryan's life. Our God will be lifted high.

I know that God's glory was Bryan's highest purpose. I know his family will find comfort in glorifying God because it is what Bryan would want them to do. I know that his wife and children will be strengthened, comforted, and brought close to the Father. I know that God draws near to the brokenhearted. I know He is in their midst.

I know that grief is hard.

I know that we can help.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I am going to beg again for financial help for the Turners. I'll warn you in advance that this won't be the last time.

Imagine yourself in this situation. You are a mother with 2 young sons. Your family's primary breadwinner has been taken from you, and it was completely unexpected. You are devastated. And on top of the crushing emotional grief, the reality of finances weighs heavy. Please join with me to lift this part of the burden from her shoulders. She has enough to carry.

This is pure religion.

Please donate to the Bryan Turner Family Fund at Community First Credit Union. If you cannot make it to the bank, you can mail your gifts to Community First Credit Union, Post Office Box 2600, Jax, FL 32232. The check must be made payable to the Bryan Turner Family Fund.

(I will be brainstorming some creative fundraising ideas in the coming weeks. Tell me your ideas, and join with me.)

Then there is: Rubber Meets Road

Those of you who've known me awhile know that I don't mind asking for money when it's for a good cause. I've got a good cause for you.

Bryan Turner.

He is his family's primary breadwinner. Momma friends, I know it is really difficult to even imagine the financially dire situation most of us would be in if our husbands were hospitalized and unable to work. Well, this isn't imagination. This is real life. Please help take the financial concerns off Joy's plate. She should not even have to give this aspect of her life a second thought.

Acts 2:44-45 - "All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need."

Acts 4:32-37 - "All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet."


This is the body. This is our job. 


There is an account set up at Community First Credit Union, The Bryan Turner Family Fund. Please give. Make a sacrifice and help this Momma.


John 13:35 - "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." 


Love is a verb.


So let's not just PRAY for Bryan, let's PAY for Bryan. And may God receive all the glory for His people doing what He's called us to do, bear each other's burdens.


Thank you, thank you, thank you!