A Journey from Surviving to Thriving

At the time of this writing, my wife and I are about to leave warm, sunny Florida for less-than-warm-and-sunny Pennsylvania.   It has been a great two and one-half months in Florida relaxing, reading, reflecting, talking, praying, walking the beach (Marilyn), and joy-riding the scooter (Don).   Sitting by the pool wasn’t too bad either!   To top all this off, we had the fun of putting together nine puzzles (most had 1000 pieces) with the help of lots of visiting family and friends!   We (or at least some of the puzzle team) worked endless hours laboring deeply over those puzzle pieces. As I write, I’m watching the last of these puzzles being torn apart and being put back into the box. The Futility of it All That’s when it hit me … We had lots of fun enjoying the challenge of putting each puzzle together — watching the picture piece by piece slowing come into focus.  We spent countless hours laboring through the day and part of some nights seeking the right s...

In my last two posts, I discussed our process of grieving after the untimely death of our grandson.   I shared the feelings of “living in a fog” and of a sense of “disconnectedness” from God.   But I also shared how the concept of being deeply anchored in Jesus (Hebrews 6: 18b-19) held us steady during this time.   In the last post, I specifically shared of the importance of “prior emotional and spiritual preparation” before a crisis hits — and how this carried us through grieving.  I also shared of learning that feelings must not define me.  I want to follow in this post with two more lessons which I believe God prepared us to learn and appreciate.  It has been said that it’s in our pain that we learn our most valuable lessons.  We’re learning! When I Can No Longer Walk, He Will Carry Me Frankly, my frustration was that when I needed God the most I seemed unable  to connect with Him.  Where is He? Why isn’t He here to comfort us in our g...

In my last post, I shared about the intense grief we experienced after the untimely death of our grandson and of the feeling of living in a fog while experiencing a sense of disconnectedness from God.   But I also shared how God revealed a key verse that has been a source of great comfort and stability for us and has become our banner verse as we’ve sought to make sense out of this tragic loss of life — Hebrews 6:18b-19.     “Therefore, we who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us.  This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.”  (Hebrews 6:18b-19 NLT) This verse will be the common thread woven throughout what follows.   The fateful crash that took our grandson’s life occurred on December 11, 2022.  We are now in Florida, over two months since that date, where we can take the necessary time to talk, pray, reflect, grieve, and try to make sense out of what has happened — and see...

What holds you steady and on course when the chaos of life becomes unbearably harsh? Or when the perplexing questions of one’s heart simply don’t get answered?   Here’s what we are learning.   I candidly shared during a previous post about our experience walking in the “fog” following our young grandson’s untimely, intentional death.  During this time we hurt deeply and were extremely busy caring for the deep needs of family members while still seeking to process our own grief.  In the fog and feeling somewhat disconnected from God, I found it difficult to focus on most things — including, surprisingly, my usual time alone with the Lord (which I’ll eventually explore more deeply with you). If you’ve been following these posts, you know that they are generally about moving from a state of “simply surviving” life to one of “enjoying thriving” in life as we live a fulfilled life in the midst of chaos. My present question to myself is: but can I thrive in the midst of ...

It’s been said, “ The love of family and friends is the glue that holds your heart together. ” (Unknown Author)  I believe this to be true and clearly see that our friends and family are a gift from God — just as James 1:17 tells us,  “ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ” I truly believe the magic of life lies in relationships.  Everyone needs a cause, a purpose,   a defining motivation. But even more important than that cause or purpose in life, everyone needs relationships.  I wonder why this is.  Could it be that God put a relational chip in our human DNA that causes us to need one another?  Scripture would seem to suggest this in that there are at least 59 “one another” references throughout Scripture that make it clear we deeply need each other.  We’ll get to more of that in a moment.  But first I need to share with you how this gift...

      I wake up most mornings thanking God for another shiny new marble and look forward to the day ahead!  And most of those days are good. Unfortunately, on occasion the marble is a bit cloudy — and the day simply doesn’t go right.  This post is about making that cloudy marble shine again. Obviously a quick back story is warranted here.  As shared in an earlier post (Post #3), about eight years into this medical Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) journey, I read of a man who studied the actuarial tables and determined by those actuarial standards how many days he had yet to live.  He then purchased a large glass jar and a number of marbles equal to the number of his remaining days and placed that glass jar with the marbles in his basement workroom.  Each morning thereafter he’d go down to his basement workroom and remove a marble from that glass jar, thank God for that day, and ask God to help him use that day for His glory.   In m...