Disclaimer: This blog has been written by Matt’s college pal Andrew Singer.
“Andrew, I’ve got a favor to ask of you,” Matt began.
I froze. In an instant, I quickly weighed the circumstances and all possible outcomes in my head. Waves of unbridled selfishness washed over me. “Do something for someone else for free? Not likely,” I thought. After all, I had better things to do like watch Netflix and chew on the skin around my fingernails. However, I quickly realized I couldn’t simply decline to help out a friend who’s doing the Lord’s work overseas. The guilt would just be too much, and I wasn’t comfortable doing that to myself. Still, nothing about this seemed kosher. Well, perhaps that’s not quite fair. The favor part seemed pretty reasonable. People ask each other for favors all of the time without becoming maimed, dead, or stranded in the Mojave Desert. It was the Matt part of the equation that didn’t sit quite right in the nebulous prospects of the situation.
My father is a wise man of many adages, some quirky and some straightforward. Perhaps my favorite of his is, “No more lawsuits in Laredo.” Now, this one being a favorite of mine isn’t on account of a deep sense of agreement due to shared experience. After all, A) I’m about as far away from ‘lawyer’ as you can get on the career spectrum, and B) I’ve never even been to Laredo. Maybe I should think this a blessing, given my father’s aforementioned motto and the fact that Laredo just sounds like the sort of place where improper lawn care merely amounts to an excessive accumulation of tumbleweeds. It also sounds like it could be the name of an annoying CMA artist, but that’s not exactly an argument I can make, seeing as I hail from the town of Sugar Land. But I digress. The reason I’m a fan of my father’s motto is because of the sense of mystery and intrigue it generates. “What happened at the last lawsuit in Laredo?” it brings people to wonder. “Could it really have been so bad for this man to have made a dictum out of it?”
You’re probably wondering what I’m getting at here. Well let’s just say that I have a motto with similar properties: “Don’t sign Matt Turner a blank check.” This doesn’t refer to a literal blank check, though I’d steer clear of that as well, not because I worry Matt would in any way take advantage of me financially, but because he would likely find some arbitrary thing to make fun of, like my handwriting or middle name. Rather, this refers to signing him a figurative blank check. Allow me to provide an example.
“Yes, Matt, help yourself to snack from our kitchen,” on one day might lead to him emerge shortly with a cheese stick. On a completely different day, however, he may just emerge after ten minutes with a fully cooked steak. It’s the unpredictability that inevitably keeps his friends and loved ones on their toes. I firmly believe that if Forrest Gump’s mother were alive today, her quote would have been as follows: “Life is like a Matt Turner… You never know what you’re gonna get.”
Flash back to real time. The cogs in my brain rotating at blistering speeds, I opted to pull out one of my favorite strategies for fostering a habit of poor commitment: ask what was needed without offering my assistance. You see, there’s a big difference between answering the ‘favor’ question with, “Sure, what do you need?” and simply, “What do you need?” This becomes especially useful in dealing with Matt Turner, when one day the follow up question might be, “Can I come hang out at your place during my work break?” but on a different day, it might just be, “Will you come help me put pudding in all of Cody’s socks?” You never know what you’re gonna get.
“What do you need, Matt?” I replied.
“I’d like for you to write a guest blog post for me.” (You ever see a dubbed scene of a Japanese movie where the character speaks for a solid 30 seconds, but the subtitles read something way simple like, “How are you?” That’s effectively what I’m doing here. This point was made in no less than 500 words.)
I winced in pain. This blog post will most definitely eat into my Netflix and finger skin chewing time. With every ounce of strength in my body, I mustered up, “No problem, dude. I can definitely do that. What should it be about?”
“Anything you want, man.”
Boom. And just like that, Matt Turner had written Andrew Singer a blank check. We all have a little bit of that Turndog Conundrum unpredictability within us, and I saw the opportunity to let mine loose. Would Andrew cash a blank check to the amount of ‘dramatic monologue of how he acquired said check?’ You bet he would.
PS – The rest of the conversation included Matt’s only real request of the matter. “I’ve got the perfect title for you though – ‘Method to the Matt-ness.’ Eh? Eh?” You ever see the name of something that you’re convinced was created before the actual thing it represents? I remember feeling this way about a program in a church named ‘Change for Change’ where they take the kids’ offerings all year long and donate it all to a person seeking to go into ministry, or something like that. I couldn’t help but think about how it felt like someone had a stroke of genius with that name then thought to themselves, “Oh man, I NEED to make something to use this great name on.” I’m convinced that’s what Matt did here, as much as he may try to deny it. I forget how the conversation progressed as such, but he also mentioned how annoying certain nicknames are that people can try to use for him, such as Turndog. So you know I just had to use it in the title as well. There you go, Matt.
PPS – It would be remiss of me to not actually say something nice of Matt and beneficial for their cause, so let me do so really quick. Of everyone I knew well leaving A&M, Matt was the very first person I knew. He is a great, longstanding friend of mine, and I significantly doubt that time or distance will ever be driving us apart. I’d seriously do anything for him (as contradictory as that is to my monologue, most of it is embellishment, because the absolute truth wouldn’t be nearly as much fun). I’m so proud of all the great work he is doing through World Race. It was a very bold move to make right out of college, and I’m confident he’s following the Lord’s will for his life. The decision and its reaped experiences will only continue to bless his life and those around him. Continue to stay immersed in prayer for Matt with me as he finishes up the last few months of his journey. Pray that their efforts fall upon good soil and that the Lord continues to direct their paths to do the work he has prepared for them.
