Have you ever noticed how much of normal life is spent interacting with others?
We order coffee, standing across a counter from a barista, face to face. We stand on the far side of a conveyor built as the groceries troop toward the scanner and the waiting hands of a cashier, face to face. We check in for a flight, face to face. We can experience the joy of getting a moving citation for driving too fast, face to face.
Our face to face encounters are so ubiquitous they can easily become mundane. In those moments as we go about our days at the store, on the street, and yes, even getting our speeding violations, we become numb to eternity beating behind in other’s eyes. We live our lives face to face and unaware.
But every once and a while we have a meeting with someone that gives us pause. We brush with celebrity, or meet a hero.
Back in college one assignment required for our class was to interview a retired missionary. The teacher handed out names and contact information to us, one by one. I looked at my card to find a name I’d grown up hearing: J. Philip and Virginia Hogan.
I called and spoke with Virginia and set a time to come visit them at their home. The day came and my friend Jimmy and I walked up to their door. I could hardly contain my excitement and nervousness. I was about to meet two living legends face to face!
The Hogans in 1945
Philip and Virginia Hogan
Phil and Virginia had met at the same Bible school I was attending. They shared a passion for ministry. As a child she’d felt God calling her to China. At one point, Phil worried his calling to pastoral ministry and affection could never outweigh Virginia’s calling to the unreached peoples of the East. But as they served in American churches the Lord was stirring his heart and opening a door for them to the far East.
They boarded a westward bound ship in 1947, but before the end of 1949 with their heads spinning, they were on their way back to America. For two years they served the people of China face to face. They loved the people of China for a lifetime.
Closed doors test us. They challenge us, taunt us to react. What would Philip and Virginia do while they waited for the door to reopen to China? They returned to the United States and pastored a church until a new position was created at the sending base in Springfield, Missouri to mobilize the call of God for a new generation of missionaries to reach the unreached around the world. Never able to permanently return to the country of their calling they set their hearts toward reaching all peoples.
Philip Hogan served 30 years as the director of a growing, innovative and vibrant missionary effort across the globe. And here I was, a young college student sitting face to face with a couple that saw millions meet Christ through their lives. It was hard to fathom the influence he’d had on my life. My heroes, like J.W. Tucker and Lillian Thrasher who poured their lives out serving God in Africa, served under his direction. My parents were approved to see Equatorial Guinea transformed under his leadership.
And just as if they were a long-lost aunt and uncle, they invited me into their home. They shared their lives. They shared successes and failures. They’re voices rang with passion for the peoples of China. They openly discussed errors they made along the way. Their generosity and candor were overwhelming.
To this day I remember walking out of their home in the spring 2002 with my heart reverberating in my chest. A few months later Philip went to be the Lord. And now, as I write this in the spring of 2020, Virginia joined him, passing from this world into the presence of their Lord Jesus.
Never underestimate the power of a written record of faith acting as a spiritual time capsule.
- Donald Whitney
A Living Legacy in Time
Donald Whitney said it best. “Never underestimate the power of a written record of faith acting as a spiritual time capsule.”
Philip and Virginia left behind them a living legacy of testimonies and triumphs, of obedient hearts set toward Christ and a generation of men, women and children who shaped the world.
Hogan’s word written in 1972 are prophetic for our time: “We are not the designers of history. You and I cannot choose the moment God would thrust us into the drama of the ages.”
In this 2020 time of isolation and social distance, we’re reminded of the immeasurable potential of life lived face to face. What compares to seeing life through someone else’s eyes; experiencing the rich tapestry of their lives, sorrows and joys colored in tears? Nothing is quite like the unique blessing of life together.
I pray that we can see what an incredible gift this season of silence and solitude can be, if we willingly embrace the quietness of our souls and lean closer to hear the voice of God, where we feel His presence and see Him face to face.
This season can be the reset, a restart where we re-fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. This can be the time we re-orient our drifting and distracted service for God back to Christ-centered worship. This season can be a recall, a reshaping opportunity, to reorganize our opportunities and goals as beloved stewards of Christ’s calling.
Your Spiritual Legacy
Someday we will see Jesus face to face! What a joy for those of us who are in Christ Jesus, redeemed in His love and transformed in His Spirit. Phil and Virginia are already there before the throne. I’m sure they are standing shoulder to shoulder with generations of men and women from China, as wells as countless other tribes reached by their obedient stewardship of Christ’s commission.
Friend, what is your spiritual time capsule from 2020 going to look like? What is the living testimony you will pass on to future generations hidden within the pages of this year? Can you see the men and women you loved through prayer and witness into Christ’s kingdom? Can you even begin to fathom the generations of men and women from every tribe, people and language you will meet before the throne, because of your generous missions giving at your local church?
May we live our lives face to face, aware of the rich potential of every moment. May we see through the mundane to the extraordinary. May we see Jesus and radiate His love into the lives everyone we meet, face to face.
