The Flog – The Fabry Log

I spoke today with the wife of a military member in Georgia whose husband is in big trouble. Their military housing, they believe, is moldy. They have symptoms consistent with mold exposure. But his superior officer has ordered him to keep quiet about the mold and move his family back into the housing unit.

I won't go into more detail than that, but you can see the pickle this military man is in. He's sworn to obey his commanding officer and serve his country. But when his family's health is at risk when given that order, what does he do?

On Thursday, there will be a court proceeding. Would you pray for wisdom and clarity and that the truth of this situation would come out?

All three puppies came home tired at the end of the day, but made it through the entire day at school. There was some consternation about not having the right supply list, but that was remedied last night. Colin's blood sugar ran higher all day, hopefully because of the excitement and stress and not any chemical reactions from the new environment. Today his numbers were much better.

Andrea drove away alone today with them and she had her laptop with her. I'm hoping she'll get some alone time and some tea. That type of morning has been non-existent for a few years.

Thanks for keeping up with the progress of the kids!
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It’s difficult to not live in the past. It’s tough to just look at today and not put a template of fear over your life.

My mind is spinning with memories from years ago when the first day of School was in August and fall was in the air in Colorado. Andrea would draw apples with chalk on our front porch, symbolizing the kids going back to school. Those were exciting days filled with new clothes and backpacks and anticipation of the year ahead. In 2008 those days came crashing to a close.

Today, July 18, 2011, the kids go back to school for the first time since 2008. They’ve been taught at home in our safe environment for the past two years. Safe in the sense of toxins, chemicals, and odors from the outside world. We created as perfect a bubble as we could.

Last night, Andrea drew three apples on the front porch. These are desert apples. It’s not even close to fall. It was above 100 degrees yesterday. But the feeling of anticipation and excitement is the same. The kids were up before 6 AM, getting ready, putting on their new clothes. Getting backpacks prepared.

I do not know if this will last. They may come home this afternoon with bloody noses. We’ve had an air purifier in the classrooms over the weekend and have done everything humanly possible to prepare the teachers and administration. Now we take a step into the unknown again.

There’s something about the 18th that feels right. Andrea and I were engaged on the 18th. We broke up on the 18th. We were married on the 18th. None of our children have been born on the 18th, but I think that’s an anomaly. Through our dating and married years, pivotal things happen on the 18th. An offer on a house. A book contract signed. Some milestone with the children. The 18th has held a special place for us, and it does so today.

At the same time I look at this beginning, this step of faith, I think of my father and a childhood friend who are slipping from our lives. There is no talk of going back to school for my friend, Mike, who is now in hospice. There is only talk of a pain-free life, that he is resting comfortably. How can life go on when his family is in such pain? And my father has come out of another hospitalization, confused, unsure of where home is.

Perhaps there are apples in each of our lives, drawn with chalk on the front porch of our lives, signaling something new, something good that feels terribly wrong. Seeing those drawings takes faith. Stepping across them takes will-power.

I don’t think we’re stepping across them alone.

It’s time to give you a final update on Almost Heaven. Many of you prayed for this book as it was being released. I wanted to let you know some good news. First, some anecdotal evidence that the book is having an impact. Here is a little from an e-mail I received yesterday, 7/11.

Dear Chris,

This is my last day of our family vacation. I took your book, Almost Heaven, with me. I thought it would be a fun read. In some ways it was, but more importantly, God used it in his process of healing my soul, which took me by surprise.

As I was reading the chapters of Billy's last weekend with his mom before going to the nursing home, I'm at the pool weeping and drying my eyes with my beach towel. I could relate to so many of his feelings. I loved when the puppy barfed on his mom and you wrote, "perfect end to a perfect day." I was grieving my parents' failing health along with Billy.

Then, towards the end you bring up Billy's past issue and his need for counseling. God was speaking to me about how, as painful as (our trials) have been, they are part of a healing process that he is doing in me. I don't understand the process, Chris. I don't understand the role of tears and pain and grief in soul healing. Somehow God uses it and he used your book this week in that mysterious process.

That letter did a lot to encourage me, and it confirms my suspicion that there was more in those pages than just me trying to tell a story. When I first suggested the plot of Almost Heaven to my editor, Karen Watson, she took a deep breath. She said she trusted me with the subject and that it would come out redemptive and healing, even though it was about an obscure man and the angel who watches him. I think she was right, and those who prayed and read were part of that process.

If you didn’t hear, Almost Heaven won best fiction for the past year by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. And last night, it won the Christy Award for Stand Alone novel. I’m excited for Billy, that a little of his heart has been told. I’m excited that you were part of this. Thank you.

Chris Fabry

P.S. I have a novella coming out this Christmas with Dr. Gary Chapman titled “A Marriage Carol.” My prayer for that book is that the story will help save a marriage. And in February, my next big novel, the one I think will capture a lot of attention, will be released. It’s called “Not in the Heart.” More about that in the coming months.

Brandon Fabry shows perfect form in the bean bag toss. Chris Fabry stands behind the target, watching in anxious anticipation, bedecked with his favorite Ohio State hat he bought at Walmart for $5. Andrea Fabry, who blew away the competition, reacts to the action with one arm akimbo, the other in a clear signal to her partner, illegal in most states. Not pictured, Colin Fabry, blocked by Chris Fabry.Background courtesy of Southern Arizona and the Lindsey family farm. Cow pies optional.

1. Failure is frightening, success can be terrifying. Both will try to stop you from doing what you were called to do.

2. Love is patient, love is kind, but it’s also messy and really hard. A good man will let it change him.

3. A free phone, a free month, and a free horse are never free.

4. It doesn’t take much to encourage someone. And it takes even less to discourage them.

5. It’s a mistake to base what you do on your worst critic, your biggest fan, or a focus group. Be who you were made to be, not who someone thinks you should be.

6. There are three things that are too wonderful for me, four that I do not understand: A good dog, a loving wife, children who obey, and an honest mechanic.

7. The goal of my life is not perfection, it’s participation.

8. Love means never having to admit that your wife was wrong.

9. Those who suck on the straw of life get a lot more out of it than those who blow into it.

10. Sometimes the worst thing I could have is to get what I want.

11. If you have to buy the protection plan, don’t buy it.

12. Drive the speed limit and you’ll never worry about how much the speeding ticket is going to cost.

13. Struggle is not the sign of illness or death, it’s a sign of life.

14. Left to itself, the human heart will always settle for something less than that which will truly satisfy.

15. There is no problem, no diagnosis, no hurt or pain or mountain that is bigger than God.

16. Invest your time, don’t just spend it. Saying no to something will allow you to say yes to something later.

17. Faith is not understanding everything God is doing. Faith is trusting that what he is doing is good and will result in glory to him.

18. Love is a lot like living in the desert. There will be times of rain and cool. But most of the time it’s hot and your garbage stinks.

19. Life is not about reaching my dreams and goals, it’s about discovering God’s plan and purpose.

20. Time with your children is never wasted.

21. Loss and pain force you to choose between bitter and better.

22. When I work to control my life, I get further behind in following Jesus.

23. The key to the abundant life is forgiveness. It’s a choice to make every day.

24. It’s a good thing to cry. It shows you’re human and connected.

25. It’s okay to let people down, make mistakes, and fail because it proves you’re trying. Life is not about getting everything right.

26. Loving someone doesn’t always mean you make them happy. And being loved doesn’t always mean that you’re happy.

27. God doesn’t need my ability. He desires availability. My greatest mission is submission to him.

28. God doesn’t want to resurface my life and make it smoother. He wants to dig it up, make it new, and change directions.

29. Money and possessions are like weeds in life’s garden. Give as much away as you can.

30. Sometimes progress looks like death.

31. Humility and self-deprecation are miles apart.

32. If Jesus never hurried, I don’t have to.

33. Making your kids do what is right is not parenting. Training them to choose what is right is.

34. Doctors don’t know everything and neither do I.

35. I have no relatives in England or Africa who have died and left me money.

36. Beware of these three words, spoken to you on the street, after dark. “Excuse me, sir?”

37. Invest in people not things.

38. A coward uses his wife as the reason for making a decision.

39. Monogamy is the most sexy thing you can do.

40. A good marriage can look like a bad marriage for awhile.

41. The people who wound are wounded themselves.

42. The end of the chapter does not determine the end of the book.

43. There will be no homeowner’s association in heaven.

44. I cannot live my life for another’s agenda. My greatest test will be to discern God’s agenda from my own.

45. When I feel blue in my soul, it’s because I have not understood that prayer is the breath of the Christian.

46. If you live by fear, you will never rest. But if you live in freedom, you’ll have constant rest and your worries will pass.

47. You will never appreciate real peace until you’ve gone through a big storm.

48. Real men do dishes.

49. Ninety percent of getting anything worthwhile done is showing up.

50. It’s hard to hang onto a smooth rope. God puts knots in our cord so we can have a place to hold on.