Meet Job Version 2.0

Back in May 2020, I introduced you to a very good friend of mine, Chris Hogg. I mentioned that I didn’t think I had ever known anyone else who has had so many things go wrong, none of which were self-inflicted. Here is the list of woes I mentioned:

·       His mother was an explosive bi-polar, and his father was a narcissist who constantly berated him.

·       His only sibling is a brother who was estranged from the family for years. Chris has a college-aged niece he only recently met.

·       Right before we started getting together, Chris’ wife of twenty years unexpectedly left him for another man.

·       His ex-wife did all she could to turn his children against him. He spent many thousands of dollars and almost two years battling to get custody of his then-school-aged son.

·       On January 30, 2018 Chris came within inches of being crushed to death when another driver performed an illegal U-turn right in front of him, causing a nearly fatal T-bone accident. Chris suffered a traumatic brain injury, major vision damage, significant pain, and multiple other injuries. Most of these problems remain five years later.

At the time, I stated that if there is a “Society of Job” in heaven, Chris will be a shoo-in once he arrives.

Since my last post about Chris, his credentials for joining the “Job Club” have only increased:

·       When Chris had to reign in his father’s reckless spending and take his car keys away for his own safety, his dad reported his to state Department of Family and Child Services for alleged theft and elder abuse.

·       On top of their full-time work responsibilities, Chris and his second wife had to assume nearly-full-time caregiving duties for both his parents as their health declined. Both parents recently died within a few months of each other.

·       Chris’ children and stepchildren have suffered significant personal and health issues, nearly bringing the family to the breaking point. One of his children has a severe medical condition from which she may not recover.

·       Chris’ own health has steadily declined to the point where he can only effectively function for a few hours a day. And he has to be in near complete darkness because of severe photosensitivity, an after-effect of the accident. What’s worse, there are days when he has trouble even getting his words out because of the traumatic brain injury.

·       About two years ago, Chris’ high-end camper was destroyed in a freak accident when the building it was stored in burned to the ground.

·       Last December, Chris contracted a mysterious eye infection which resulted in additional scarring and has further compromised his vision.

·       Besides the direct physical fallout from the truck accident, Chris has other ailments including a torn rotator cuff (brought on by his decades as a building contractor) and kidney cysts. He recently had a knee replacement and said he has never experienced this level of pain before, even from the accident. That’s quite a statement from someone who has suffered as much as he has.

A couple of months ago, I heard him complain for one of the first times. If it were me, my complaint undoubtedly would have included the entire list of everything mentioned above.

But what was Chris upset about? “I’m afraid all my physical needs are stealing my wife’s life from her.” Unbelievable! That was what was weighing most heavily on him – not his personal pain, not his reduced ability to work, not a sense that God was being unfair to him. He was most concerned about the impact of his needs on his wife!

When Annette and I visited Atlanta in June, I had the delightful experience of spending two hours over bagels and coffee with Chris. His genuine smile in this picture reflects his peaceful trust in Jesus despite unimaginable hardships. As he walked to his truck, Chris’ parting words to me were, “I’m super thankful, and I’m so blessed. This isn’t my permanent condition. Eternity will be a whole lot different and a whole lot better.”

I hold him up to you as one of the most incredible people I have ever met, not to make you feel guilty if you aren’t as upbeat as he is, but as an inspirational role model. He exemplifies trust in God, faithfulness, and humility like few I know. Next time you are tempted to complain about your rough circumstances or doubt God’s goodness, think about Chris and ask God to give you just a fraction of the grace he has blessed Chris with.

My Story - Part 3 - My First "Jesus Moment"

Here’s a recap of the first two parts:  I had almost no religious input in my early years and was raised in a dysfunctional, emotionally abusive family. During my sophomore year of college, because of my flirtation with the paranormal, I attended a program that discussed whether contact with dead people was possible. To my surprise, the answer was “no,” but the program also included an entirely new “take” on Jesus’ life, death and resurrection – the fact that he did what he did to address everyone’s sin problem, making a vital relationship with him possible. Even though I didn’t fully understand what I was getting in to, I eagerly accepted the speaker’s invitation to commit my life to Christ.

One of the last things the speaker mentioned was that those of us who had just begun a relationship with Jesus should expect to see God begin revealing himself to us in the coming days. Again, I didn’t know what that meant, but that sounded pretty intriguing.

Let me provide some context for what happened next by explaining my roommate situation. Even though Art and I were pretty good friends during our freshman year, living together proved to be our relationship’s death knell. He was hyper-neat and, to say the least, I was not.  He was also a hypochondriac and was on a first-name basis with the entire student health clinic staff team. We quickly got on each other’s nerves, and I started complaining (loudly) to the other guys on the floor about what a kook Art was, even to the point of posting unflattering comments about him on our dorm room door. I know. That was very mature of me.

About three days after the program where I heard about a relationship with Christ, I was heading back to my dorm after class. I planned to take a quick shower before dinner, and as I approached our room, I saw that Art had posted a nasty comment about me on our door for all the world to see. I was furious! How dare he do that!

I ripped the note from the door, grabbed my towel and headed to the bathroom, fuming. The steam from the hot shower paralleled the steam boiling up inside me as I plotted how to retaliate for this public humiliation.

But then something happened.

In the middle of my anger, a new thought popped into my head. I realized I was the one who had begun the public “war of the door signs,” and Art was just following my example. So really, I was the one who brought this embarrassment on myself.

Then I had another very odd experience. I don’t know if technically it was a vision or just some kind of visual impression. I felt like I was up in my parents’ home’s attic rummaging through some old boxes of junk when I glanced up at the inexpensive metal wardrobe where we stored coats. It was up against one of the walls, and in my vision, I noticed that it was actually covering up a doorway that was barely visible behind it. I had never noticed this door before. In my mind, I pushed the wardrobe aside, opened the door, and discovered a large room behind the wall that I had been totally unaware of.

My very next thought was of the speaker’s comment from three nights prior indicating that if we trusted Christ to enter our lives, he would begin to show us things about ourselves and give us the ability to live in ways we never thought possible. “I bet this insight into my blame over my roommate feud is an example of what that guy was saying,” I thought. Jesus had just brought me into a previously unknown “room of my soul” and revealed one of my deficiencies. And, even though I had to face an unhappy truth about myself, I was delighted knowing that I could move on from here and that this whole Jesus thing was real.

That was fifty years ago, and since then, there have been hundreds and maybe thousands of instances where God has nudged me with specific ideas, insights, and promptings, all designed to make me gradually more like Jesus in ways I could not have dreamed of. Once in a great while, these experiences are fairly dramatic, but the vast majority are rather “ordinary.”

Please understand, I have a long way to go, but I can say that I bear almost no resemblance to that cocky, insecure, pseudo-intellectual high schooler from so many decades ago. Praise God! And I wanted to pass along to you my story as a testimonial about what God can do.