Rev. Ron Lively - Husband, Father, Mentor, Friend

Hi everybody,

My name is Blake Schunk and I am 27 years old from Brentwood, TN. I am writing to you today regarding a dear friend of mine: Rev. Ron Lively.

Ron and I met a couple of years ago at Lifetime Fitness in Cool Springs, TN.

I would consider LifeTime to be our “happy place,” and despite our age discrepancy, the two of us just seemed to click from the moment we met. Something about our interactions just seemed to bring me joy and happiness.

One day, I ran into Ron at the gym, and he kindly and humbly asked me to be a participant in his Biblical Mentoring Ministry.

He explained, “In this program, we would meet for 30 minutes once a week over the phone. Each week’s topic is based on a different memory verse from various chapters of the Bible. And he would be my mentor and trainer through the journey.”

I was at a place where I wanted and needed to explore the Bible further. But I had one problem; I couldn’t afford it.

So, I had to tell Ron I would love to, but I couldn’t, as there was no way I could pay for the program's cost at the time.

To my amazement, Ron smiled and said, “No worries, I don’t charge anybody anything to join this program. I will happily accept any donations, but the price of this program should not prevent someone from studying the word of God.”

I knew Ron was a selfless man of God, but this was the ultimate proof, and from this day on, Ron and I’s relationship has continued to blossom over the last year and a half+.

Since I began this program with Ron, many others have joined the ministry, including my Dad. Ron has taken us under his wing without asking for anything in return.

Every weekly meeting, I can’t help but think how thankful I am for our relationship and wonder how I could ever repay him for all the time and energy he spends on us.

I look forward to those weekly phone calls with Ron, and we hadn’t missed a week since we started until just a few weeks ago…

2 pm on Wednesdays is when Ron and I chat. At this point, it’s like clockwork, Wednesday, 2 pm, time to call Ron. We even play this game; whoever calls the other first is the “winner, " whatever that means, haha.

Well, a couple of weeks ago, it was Wednesday and a few minutes after 2. I was trying to call Ron, but he was not answering.

After a little while, I was concerned because it wasn’t like Ron not to answer his phone. I just had to hope that maybe he had lost or broken his phone and hadn’t replaced it yet.

A day or two passed, and I still hadn’t spoken to Ron, which increasingly made me worry. I heard my phone ringing on Friday afternoon, and finally, Ron was calling…

I answered, “Ron?! Are you okay?”

The moment I heard his voice, I knew something was not okay.

That is when he explained to me that on Wednesday, it was storming and raining hard. He hadn’t cleaned out his gutters yet, so the rain was flowing over the clogged drains and leaking into his house.

That is when our 70-year-old superman decided he would go clean the gutters in the storm before any more water leaked into the house.

We do not know what happened on the roof that day, whether Ron slipped, tripped, or thought he could fly. But either way, Ron fell off the roof to the ground and broke nearly 20 bones in his body.

It was devastating to hear his voice, in so much pain at the Vanderbilt Trauma Unit, not knowing what the future would hold.

One of my favorite sayings is, “God only gives his toughest challenges to his strongest soldiers,” throughout the last few weeks, Ron has proved this saying to be valid times a million. He has surprised us and all of the nurses and doctors as well, as he is recovering rapidly, especially considering his age and the extent of his injuries.

Only a couple weeks later, he got transferred from Vanderbilt to a rehab center in Columbia, just minutes away from his son’s home, Andrew. Ron was even able to make it to Andrew’s wedding just a week or so ago. Such a blessing!

Today, Ron is already back mentoring full-time again and improving his health every day to get back to where he was. The doctors have even told him, based on his incredible recovery so far, he may come back stronger than he was before.

We continue to pray for Ron’s recovery, but as we all know, medical bills are not cheap, and Ron had and still has a lot to be done, including pelvic surgery, which has already been completed and shoulder surgery still to come.

So, I can’t think of a better way to give back to Ron than creating a GoFundMe, supporting his medical bills/recovery, and his Biblical Mentoring Program.

Everybody is in a different situation, so please only feel obligated to donate if you are able, but every little bit can go a long way!

Blessings to Ron and all those who took the time to read, pray and donate.

Ron is hoping to return home in early December.

His website is biblicalmentoring.org.

Again, thank you, everybody, for the support and love.

All The Blessings,

Blake