My name is George Palombo

          and this is my story....

Hi, my name is George Palombo. I've been a part of Orchard Hill community for about 5 years, but the story of my relationship with God goes back much farther. My interest in God and prayer life began as a child growing up in Hopewell Township with my four brothers and sisters. I was raised in a devoutly Christian home with an understanding of God and a respect for the church. I also grew up understanding the stresses of life caused by physical challenges. My brother was only 6 years old when he was diagnosed with advanced Crohn's Disease. Much of my early youth was spent traveling with my parents to Children's Hospital as they took my brother for experimental treatment for this chronic illness. I am sure my parent's faith in God is what carried them through this difficult situation. I was exposed to a lot of suffering and even death as many of the friends that my brother made during his lengthy stays at Children's Hospital never got to go home.

Although I was raised in the church, I still had many questions about God. I am skeptical by nature and want to investigate the facts. Not everything I was taught when I was young added up for me and I started to become disillusioned and frustrated with "God" and "His church". As a young adult, I took a job opportunity and moved to Virginia Beach and stopped going to church all together. Since not going to church only made me feel guilty; and since I couldn't seem to elude my dad's voice in my head every Sunday morning reminding me of my OBLIGATION; I tried going back. I felt like a million dollars because I was fulfilling my obligation and the Sunday guilt seemed atoned for………..at least temporarily. But something was still missing – something wasn't right. Gilbert Chesterton once quipped that, "A man can fall from many angles, but he can only stand upright at one." I had fallen, stooped and crawled at every angle except for zero degrees, but I was about to try that one too.

I got married, moved back to the area, and attended the Deputy Sheriff's Academy at Dickinson Law School to become part of law enforcement. I was thrilled when my son was born and felt like life was moving down the right path. But after only 3 years of marriage, my wife decided she wanted out and I was suddenly faced with the trauma of divorce. My life was shattered. The agony only multiplied when she moved my son to Atlanta – he was suddenly hundreds of miles from me and contact with him was made difficult. I was angry and bitter against God for this situation. I wanted answers but I wasn't getting any. Anxiety and depression mounted as my anger boiled.

I specifically remember the evening that my depression had reached its pinnacle. I went from house to house, searching for a friend to comfort me, but time after time no one was home. I distinctly remember sitting in a downpour at 1230 at night in front of a friends' house, with a gun in my hand ready to end it all. At that defining moment, something from my youth – a story from the Bible came into my head……I even tried to block it out- but I suddenly remembered the story of Paul and Silas in prison crying out to God and praising Him for their circumstances. I started yelling to God, at first with extreme bitterness – telling Him how awesome He was – how sovereign He was…..the sarcasm absolutely dripping from my lips……Well I can't totally explain how or what happened, but what started as derisive ranting turned into a sincere proclamation. There in the middle of the rain and in the depths of my pain I experienced the life changing transformation of Jesus Christ in my heart. I was still a sinner, but now instead of finding myself running towards my sin, I was running from it. I learned that the last angle before one can be made upright is zero degrees and humbly prostrate before the cross.

God suddenly became real to me and, in that moment, I became a new man. Even my co-workers couldn't help but notice the immediate change in my life. My actions and my words were much different form the past. I started to pour into the Bible on my own and soon became reconnected at church – seeking to know more about God. I talked about God to every one I knew - every inmate who got into my squad car heard about God's love and how their life could be changed through a relationship with Him. I was on a mission to transform the world and I had a particular heart for those who were prisoners of anger and despair, or had honest doubts about the historic Christian faith.

It would be nice to say that everything was great from that moment on, but life continued to bring me both joyful experiences and difficult challenges. I remarried, and though anxious to start a family, we found we were unable to have children. We looked into adoption options and chose to take classes for adopting special needs children. We were thrilled the day our first adoptive son was born only to be dashed of our dream when he died from blood complications when he was only 1 day old. Although traumatized, we did not give up and nine months later, we adopted 2 brothers. Within 2 weeks of that adoption and much to our surprise, my wife became pregnant with our daughter who was born the following year.

Life was on a positive swing when it took another brutal turn. Exactly 2 years after our first adoption, I was involved in a head-on collision with an 18-wheeler. I was trapped in the vehicle for two hours hanging onto my life and was evacuated via life-flight to the trauma unit at Allegheny General Hospital. I was told I may never walk again. I spent a year in and out of the hospital undergoing surgeries and rehabilitation. Through much perseverance, I recovered exponentially beyond their expectations. I was finally able to return to work on the one year anniversary of that accident. On that very same day, we were notified that we could adopt 2 more boys – these boys were natural brothers of our adoptive sons whom they had never met. We were thrilled and eagerly accepted the opportunity but nothing could have prepared us for the hardship that would follow. The boys had severe issues that required 24 hour vigilance. Over the next 8 years we struggled as a family to keep it all together. In another valley of life, my wife and I separated under the strain and I am now facing another impending divorce and shared custody of my 5 children. This is not at all what I wanted for my family and I am unable to change the course we are on. But despite this intense pain and difficulty, I still know and understand the presence of God. I know that He is faithful and trustworthy despite the trials that I face personally. He has shown Himself faithful in the past; so I wait.

My experiences at Orchard Hill over the past 5 years have helped me to grow in that faith. I have formed a network of support to help me through these difficult times. I meet weekly with a group of 12 men and together we learn and grow and care for each other. It is the single most authentic and genuine group I have ever been a part of –These guys have become genuine brothers to me to celebrate good times and agonize through the difficult times.

If I were to simply describe my relationship with God in two words, I would say striving and surprising. Striving in the sense that I have Job's attitude, "Though He slay me, yet shall I serve Him" and Peter's attitude, "To whom shall we go, Lord", since He has the very words of eternal life. And surprising in the sense that whenever I am searching for a place of contentment or happiness when facing trials, I never end up at a place that makes me happy, but I always end up at a person……the person Of Jesus Christ. He is always teaching me that He is sovereign and He has bigger purposes than I can think or imagine. I have a tendency towards being a slow learner. I assimilate God's law and commands easily enough; it is the application that seems to elude this sinner. But I am thankful for my faith and grateful for what God has given me to persevere in this world.

I am a real guy with real hardships that really hurt, but thanks be to God through Jesus Christ I serve a real God, who really exists and who extends real love through real people and real grace when I really need it. I have decided to persevere in trusting what God has in store for my future. My name is George Palombo and I am somewhere in my story……………..