Well it just goes to show you, it's always something!

You may recognize the title as a line from Gilda Radner’s portrayal of Roseanne Roseannadanna in the old Saturday Night Live shows. I was not an avid SNL watcher but I’ve seen her routines many times and I believe she was a very gifted and genuinely funny person. Her exaggerated funny stories that typically involved life’s peculiar challenges reflect on the plight of our human experience. In essence, it really is always something.

We really don’t know what each new day may bring. Some believe the Book of Job was preserved to help us deal with the sudden unexpected trials that come in life that literally take our breath away. Many believe it to be a fictional account written for instructive purposes but I actually believe it to be a real account of a real man facing real tragedies. I don’t think Job’s text was preserved primarily for us to compare our sufferings to his, and to somehow draw consolation from his being greater. I think there’s much more to Job’s great poem and I’ll comment more on this later in this blog.

Part of living in this sin cursed world is its unpredictability. While having resources enough for food and clothing may distinguish us from those who starve to death each day, wealth, fame, and unlimited resources does not make anyone immune from hearing the doctor’s alarming report or receiving a fateful telephone call. Sure, resources may make it easier to respond but often the impact is the same especially in the event of a tragedy.

I am proud to say I was associated with a one-of-a-kind senior executive who was beloved by all who knew him. He was the son of a Greek immigrant who ran a grocery store in the Chicago area. His parents sacrificed to send him to college and once he finished he took a sales job with the world’s largest computer company. After working there for five years he decided to start his own business with $5,000 of his own money and $5,000 borrowed from his dad. Within twenty years his company had grown to become a 2 billion dollar enterprise.

Knowing this fellow was a privilege. He was likeable from afar. One on one he could make every person he spoke to feel special. In a business world filled with protocols, starched shirts, and pin striped suits he was a larger than life, gregarious ‘Anthony Quinn’ fellow who would seal the deal with a huge outburst of laughter and a handshake.

In the fall of the year he went in for gallbladder surgery. While running the battery of tests typical for this surgery it was discovered that he had a spot on his liver. More testing was called for. Specialists were called in. Experts from all over the world were consulted. Sadly, the results confirmed that he was suffering from advanced liver cancer with very little hope for recovery or cure.

After a number of radical types of interventions, this giant of business, the following spring, at 53, passed from this life to the next. I remember hearing his son who was a company executive lamenting the passing of his dad. He said they had the plane and could have taken his dad anywhere. They had access to money and no amount would have been an issue. Yet, he said they found that there was no place to take him, and no one who could help him regardless of their resources.

I happened to be in the offices of the company he founded the day he died. People were literally bawling. Some were at their desks. Some were embracing each other. Grown men were leaning against walls crying unashamedly about the loss of this gentle giant who had meant so much to them. It was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had in my corporate life.

So, what does this have to do with dealing with those gut-wrenching difficulties that come to each of us? If you read Job’s poem from beginning to end you will discover that in his case it turned out that he never learned any reasons for why, only GOD! No trite little sayings to help ease his pain. No great revelation as to the causes behind his calamities, just God. When Job came face to face with his Maker, the perplexities of his long ordeal melted away as he bowed in awesome wonder. Some people say they will be glad to get to heaven so they can find out exactly why things happened the way they did in their life. Perhaps not. It could well be that, like Job, being in the presence of God is enough.

We can’t know what each day will bring but we don’t have to wait to know the One who brings each day. Are there unanswered questions concerning tragedies and challenges from my own life? More than you might imagine. But as the lyrics to one of my granddad’s favorite songs put it, “Many things about tomorrow I can’t seem to understand, But I know who holds tomorrow, And I know who holds my hand”. More later…………………