EASTER MORNING, 2014
His worldly possessions in a handful of trash bags, his divorce less than a day old, Chuck Crumpton arrived alone to his empty new apartment and wondered, How did I get here? Wasn’t I walking the perfect path in building my career, my home, my family? Where do I go from here? Chuck’s path was never a straight line. Raised picking tobacco on a family farm in North Carolina, Chuck’s journey would take him from a young adulthood struggling to reconcile his faith with a fundamentalist Christian community, to a successful, all-consuming career, culminating in founding and becoming CEO of a multi-million-dollar healthcare consulting firm. As Chuck walked out of that lonely apartment to rebuild his life, he vowed to heal from his failures, learn from his imperfections, and devote his time to the little things that matter most. In The Jagged Journey, Chuck chronicles his life’s responsibilities and relationships, gains and losses, adversity and growth. He finds a path forward in understanding, thankfulness, healing, transparency, and vulnerability. Through Chuck’s tears of joy and pain, we can learn more about our own path. Because his story offers hope. Though our journey may be jagged, it doesn’t always end on a sharp curve. Sometimes the sharpest curves reveal the most profound new beginnings.