David Turner Blog

The mind is a curious thing. From it we dream and think, we imagine and create, and it is in the mind that we often fight our hardest battles. 2020 has been a year where many of us have struggled with that inner battle, and the stats back it up. In 2014 I was diagnosed with depression. I knew those words were coming, I had been in that place from about a year before, but to tell anyone or to admit it was one of the biggest battles of all. It’s why I’m sharing this with you now, because I know that many of us would rather suffer in silence, even to dangerous levels, rather then admit the darkness we’re fighting. That’s how I would describe what I felt back then, just darkness seeping into every thought and action. Something as simple as getting out of bed took all my energy and made me want to end it all. I’m better now. At least better then I was, much better then I was. Thanks to the doctors, medication, and support of my wife, as well as changes in circumstances and behaviours, (and ...

Uncertainty and fear are on the prowl. A group of people who are used to meeting and being together are forced to separate because of a threat to their life. Rather then stay together they retreat to be by themselves and with their families. Anxiety and fear dominate this new terrain. This description of events could describe what is happening across the world right now, but it could equally describe the state of the disciples at the time of Jesus death. We read that John is the only one present at the cross, Peter is off denying Jesus in different places, and when the disciples do come together at the discovery that Jesus is alive, we hear that Thomas is not there. There is of course evidence that the disciples remained together, or at least had time together, but fear and panic had struck, to such an extent that Peter could not remember Jesus’ prediction of denial, and denied him all the same. We too, the local and global church, have been forced to disperse. Panic and anxiety ...

We have to be careful what we show our boys on TV. They are 4 and 2, and whatever they watch they copy. If it’s something with animals in they become the animals, as do their toys. If it involves some kind of rescue they are rescuing their teddies from impending doom. If there is a catch phrase they learn it, a song, they sing it. And if the program includes fighting... you guessed it, they want to fight. Children love to imitate, and so whatever goes in, comes out. It’s why we have to be careful what we say, as sure enough they will repeat it at the worst possible time (as a Pastor this is usually at Church!). But we grow out of it, don’t we? I’m not so sure, I think the same principle applies to us as adults, whatever goes in, comes out, it’s just a lot more subtle. I’ve realised during the current “lockdown” that I have gone back to some unhealthy habits which leave me feeling pretty meh, and frustrated. A few months back I read a book called ‘The Ruthless Elimination of Hur...

Everything has changed. And nothing has. This is the constant loop I find myself in, especially as a follower of Jesus. The world is changing, Coronavirus has it’s grip on the nations and it doesn’t appear to be letting go any time soon. But I also worship a God who is unchanging. The song I chose for my baptism on my 18th Birthday declared that he is the same ‘yesterday, today and forever.’  It is easy to get caught up in the panic, the madness of people’s response to this threat, which ultimately in the West is just revealing humanity’s fragility. When we thought we had it all together, along comes a virus to reveal we are not as “secure” as we thought. Even as an asthmatic I can take my health, and healthcare for granted. For years health epidemics have been in other nations, and we have been able to show concern from a distance. We can watch comic relief, maybe shed a tear, and donate, only to turn it off, our Netflix on and watch the next series with a tub of P...