The Flog – The Fabry Log

My neighbor did something I would do. In order to save money, he and his wife bought a load of bricks at a deep discount. Truckload after truckload of bricks. His back yard looks like Home Depot.

Why so many bricks? For a wall. Why build a wall? To keep the critters away. And there are many critters. And there are many walls in this area. Just about everyone has one.

So I watched with interest the past couple of weeks to see the big square pallets of bricks unloaded and put in the back yard. Some were stacked on top of each other on the uneven ground. Others were left in single piles.

A few days ago dark clouds formed over the nearby mountain and there was pelting rain and lightning and thunder. The monsoon was intense. The water began to rush in the wash behind us, surging through new channels it cut between the cactus.

The next day I looked at the bricks, arranged in squares around the back yard, and noticed something strange. One pallet had fallen to the ground and lay in a heap. Bricks lay broken and scattered on the hard ground. Useless. They will have to be thrown away.

Then I looked at the brick walls around us and the many bricks that were still intact after the storm. What was the difference? One brick was strong and doing its job. Another brick was in pieces on the ground.

The difference is that the first brick was placed side-by-side with other bricks, fitted perfectly and with cement around it (or whatever they use to seal bricks these days). The wall is only a single brick thick, but fitted together with others, it forms something stronger than itself.

Bricks don’t have feelings, of course, but if they did, it probably wouldn’t be comfortable for them to go through the process of being made into a wall. It is hard work for the laborers. But the end result is something not only pleasing to the eye, but also useful.

I know God has placed us where we are for a reason. The storms of life are still raging. This process is not easy, but I believe we are going to come out of this much stronger than we were. I believe something good is going to happen.

I don’t know where you are in this process. Maybe your life feels like a pile of bricks on the ground. Man may discard the broken pieces, but God can use them for our own good and for his glory. If the ground underneath you feels uneven and shaky, a solid foundation is available. You were made for the wall.