The Flog – The Fabry Log

Some of my best friends are books. I was just looking at this photo of me taken a few years ago (I don't sit around looking at pictures of myself, by the way) and I was struck by how many good friends I have lost. If you enlarge the photo below, you will see some of my tastes in reading. Over my left shoulder is The Hardy Boys Detective Handbook. My mother bought that for me when I was a tadpole. On the right is a copy of John Grisham's The Firm along with The Imitation of Christ and The Cross of Christ by John Stott. That's the definition of "eclectic," I think. Down to the left, if this picture were in a better resolution, you'd be able to see my VHS copy of Matewan. Man, I miss going into my office and just staring at the books and videos.

I'm plotting a new book now, going through the mental gyrations that will send me to the keyboard every day for a few months. I had two whole shelves of writing books that I went back to again and again, everything from plotting to dialog to character's names. I really get jazzed about writing by reading a few pages of these books. But they're gone now. Actually, they're not gone, they're just out of my reach for a while. Maybe forever. I don't know. Somehow I feel a little untethered without them, but that may be a good thing. I can't rely on Dean Koontz's How To Write Bestselling Fiction anymore or Dwight Swain's advice to get me through the next few months. I'm on my own for the first time without them.

Books are good friends, which perhaps explains why I spend so much time trying to create a good friend for others. June Bug releases in a few weeks. I can't wait until you get to read it and give feedback. I think this one is going to be a good friend to you.
cf

A friend of ours, Jim Wick, suggested we invite Jack Lousma on Chris Fabry Live. Jack is an astronaut, a fighter pilot, and a committed believer. Since the 40th anniversary of man walking on the moon is in July, I suggested we do a pre-recorded interview for July 3rd.

I spoke with Jack yesterday from his home in Michigan. I knew I liked him from the minute we began to talk because the memories of the Apollo space program were right there for him. With ease he talked about his career, the ups and downs, trusting God for his career and his sense that God was in control.

Jack Lousma was on capcom the night when the Apollo 13 astronauts made the transmission, “Houston, we have a problem.”

Jack Lousma took me through what happened when they discovered the explosion, how the astronauts had to convey the information because transmission of data was nil. It was a great crisis.

And then Lousma said something that clicked with me. He said a lot of people think that Apollo 13 was a failure. The mission was to go to the moon, do experiments, keep the space program running smoothly, etc. Jack said it was far from failure. It was NASA at its best. With the accident the mission changed. It was less about things and more about people. Saving their lives. Helping them return home. And there was no acceptance of failure as an option. Those on the ground would not stop in their dogged determination to save their friends.

And so it is with us. In our life flight, there is invariably some explosion that sends us drifting off course. There is every reason to give up. Every reason to keep drifting. We're powerless in some ways to right ourselves.

But there is someone who knows the bigger picture of our story and will stop at nothing to bring us back home. Even facing death himself.

I don't know where you are with the pain and suffering of some explosion in your life. Admit the problem. Ask for help. There's someone who wants you to come safely home.

On Thursday's program with Joe Beam, we talked about forgiving yourself for something in your past after asking God's forgiveness. An emailer asked me to put up the prayer I suggested from that program.

We were discussing the fact that God does forgive us for our sins when we truly repent and ask his forgiveness. The problem is that we don't believe him and we doubt. So my prayer went something like this:

"Lord, I know you want to forgive me. I'm having a hard time having the faith to believe you're going to do that. Would you give me the faith to believe that you really meant what you said when you promised to forgive me?"

I wrote about fences last weekend, nostalgic for some reason about our house. I didn’t realize why, but I do now. Today is the 9th anniversary of our move to Colorado. Each year we would have some kind of celebration, going out to eat or having a cookout. One year it snowed on June 9, believe it or not.

It was a momentous thing moving from Bolingbrook, Illinois to the promised land of Monument, Colorado. It was a shedding of the old and looking toward the new. It was open vistas, the west, a new baseball and football team to cheer for, new friends, new neighbors, a much bigger house, and the promise of good things.

Looking back, I can see the truth about it. I can see the ways the house took life from us rather than gave it to us. It wasn’t the mortgage or the upkeep that drained us, it was the poor construction hiding behind those nice walls and the resultant water damage that caused us to get sicker and sicker, slowly sapping our health.

The children were so young nine years ago. Erin was 15. Brandon wasn’t even born. They say it all goes so fast, that you’ll turn around and the kids will be grown. They are more than right. It’s a blur. Those nine years are a whirlwind of activity and school functions and plays and performances.

I received an email yesterday from a mother wondering about her house and her children who are sick. Her questions point out the struggle I had when first confronted with the mold problem. Here is some of her letter.

“Hi Chris,
My husband and I are in a house that has mold in the basement, a little in our son's closet, and we suspect there may be mold in one of the walls in the living room. My children and I are ALWAYS sick with sinus stuff. We went away for a weekend trip to MI, everyone seemed to get better, we came back and everyone was stuffy again. My biggest concern is the wall. We have absolutely no savings and I have heard it can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $8,000 to fix it. So I have no clue how we would pay for it. We do not want to go into any more debt, ya know? Then I keep thinking that if they do go into the wall and there is mold, we probably should be out of the house during that process, is that correct? I am just so overwhelmed by all of this. I am just scared that if they open up the wall and find stuff that it will cost a fortune…

I identify with the angst in her email. The first reaction I had when Andrea suggested the mold was a bigger problem than we realized was to push it away. It’s like a sweater unraveling. If you pull that thread there is no way to stop it.

However, in my response to her, I gave advice that is much easier said than done. I told her knowing the truth is always best. Yes, it may cost thousands of dollars to fix. It may mean you must abandon the house in the process. It may mean you have to give the house up altogether. I wrote her back and said:

I totally understand what you are saying. You don't know how many times I tried to wish away our problem. The key is, no matter what your financial situation, no matter what has to be done to the house, find out the truth. Here's what you know. You're sick when you're in the house. When you get out you feel better. That's a huge heads up and your children's health could be compromised if you stay.

Andrea recently wrote on her blog what to do if you suspect mold. You can go to http://moldrecovery.blogspot.com/ to find out more.

Last night we walked Colin down to a neighbor’s house where he pulled weeds. He made $6 and you would have thought he had won the lottery. Kaitlyn and Brandon caught a horned frog and made a terrarium out of an old box. I can't remember what they named him, but they were out there until after dark watching him. It felt like a normal night, watching Kaitlyn run back and forth in jeans we just bought that she is outgrowing. Kids doing kid things.

As we walked back home, Andrea looked at me and her voice cracked. “This is the first time in so long that I actually went a whole day feeling good. I had energy and didn’t have to take a nap in the middle of the day. It lets me know how bad I was feeling.”

We’ve only been out of the house since October. We’ve been going through an intense detox that does weird things to our bodies. The toxins are leaving. We are getting better. Slowly, yes, but we are getting better.

Andrea leafed through a couple of books from the library after we got home. A few minutes later she looked at me with eyes betraying some kind of exposure. Just looking through a book that has had some mold or chemical exposure brings a reaction. She had to go to bed.

I wish we had connected the dots long before this. But we did connect them. It took almost nine years, but we finally discovered the truth. That's something to celebrate.

If you'd like to contribute to the new website we're developing, we'd love to have you participate. Find a fence--in your back yard, your neighborhood, or on someone else's property, and take a picture of you and perhaps your family BEHIND the fence. What we'll do is take those images and add them to the banner of the forthcoming Chrisfabry.com.

Send your picture to this email address: chrisfabry@comcast.net. Join the fun, join the backyard conversation. And thanks for your support.

Just a reminder, June Bug, my second novel for adults, comes out in July/August. If all goes well you should be able to buy a signed copy at the new website.