A Journey from Surviving to Thriving

Several years ago Marilyn and I, as ardent Penn State football fans, were watching an evening PSU football game that was not going well for Penn State.   Normally these are exciting games, but this one was pathetic.   The first quarter was terrible and the second even worse.   In disgust, I set the DVR to record the game and, grumbling, went off to bed.   The following morning, much to my great surprise, I was greeted by a text announcing that Penn State had won the game.   I could not believe it!   Later in the day, I could not resist the urge to see how they pulled off this amazing feat and sat down to watch the rest of the game.   To my horror, the third quarter was not any better than what I remembered the second to be.   I was soon sitting on the edge of my seat, perspiring profusely, frantically pulling at my hair and hysterically biting my figure nails — just knowing we’re going to lose this game.   And then I suddenly remembered — we ...

  A key verse that helps me thrive when I don’t exactly feel like thriving is from 2 Corinthians — “Therefore, we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For these light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17, NLT) The Amplified Bible helps us unpack this same passage a bit. “Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted, and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is [progressively] decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day. For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cea se...

Several months ago I was enjoying some quiet moments sitting on the outside deck of our “get-away” cottage along the Susquehanna River we call the “River House”.   It was an exceptionally hot day made even worse by the fact that I was probably rather dehydrated.   I felt a bit disoriented and lightheaded and retreated to the interior of the house, sat down and promptly emptied my stomach for the next hour or so while the room spun threateningly all around me.   The ambulance ride to the hospital was not much better.   Frankly all I cared about at that moment was to get through this crisis.   I cared little about growth in personal character and had little concern about being a blessing to those around me who were intent on helping me.   My focus was clearly on myself and my vision for the future that day was extremely limited! I simply wanted to survive! The questions remain: exactly what does it mean to “simply survive”? Or better yet, what does it look ...

 That fateful day in the trauma center was not much fun for that sad, old man.  Yet the discovery in those chest x-rays was even more disturbing!  Something new seemed to be on the horizon.  Maybe it’s my entrepreneurial wiring, but Isaiah 43:18-19 has always been intriguing to me —   “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!  Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (NIV)   New things energize me.  I resonate with the challenge of new things thrust upon me.  Was this trauma center discovery truly another new thing?  If so, how will it affect my life?  As the team of doctors pored over my chest x-rays counting my six cracked ribs they noticed something unusual in my lungs.  By the way, those  ribs were not just “cracked”; at least some of them were completely “broken”. When walking I could feel, and thought I could hear, them bumping against one another.  Anyway, those ...

Once upon a time in a not-too-far-away land there lived a rather unusual old man.  One week, in the height of Summer heat this man, rather old and obviously not too smart, set about to paint   a  red tin roof on a nearby garage.  On one particular morning that week, actually quite early in the morning to beat the heat (now only a cool 93 degrees), life changed — and as you guessed, in not too smart a fashion. Fortunately for this sad fellow, his son dutifully painted with him on the other side of that pitched tin roof.  Together they painted amidst a torrential burst of perspiration for nearly an hour, when duly depressed with the foolishness of painting in such a sorrowful state, both this sad   old man and son began winding down all painting operations.  The old man was dispatched to return to the ground while the son finished a bit more painting on the other side of the roof.   In the process of descending the ladder the old man did indeed abr...

About Us: Don and Marilyn Graybill are on staff with The Navigators and have been involved in leading discipling ministries and helping people grow in their personal walks with Jesus Christ for over thirty years.   Both Don and Marilyn, grew up in the Hershey, PA, area and surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ early in life. Don graduated with engineering degrees from Penn State University and the Air Force Institute of Technology and held numerous key positions in field and command assignments around the world. Upon retirement from the Air Force, Don and Marilyn followed God into a full-time staff ministry relationship with The Navigators, building disciples of Jesus Christ.   Marilyn is a trained, experienced executive secretary, medical assistant and discipler.  She is a valued homemaker, grandmother, and actively ministers in partnership with Don.   Don and Marilyn Graybill have four adult children and ten grandchildren and live in the Mount Joy area of Lanc...