Chris Fabry's Blog, page 8

Questions

Today I was thankful for questions.
All that is unanswered in my life. It’s overwhelming. All the questions about my puny little life. And my children. And our community. Our state. Our country.
All the questions about the future, as well as the past. Answered questions help you make sense of what’s happened, what is happening, and what may happen. But the lack of answers provides despair or discouragement.
Today I let my thoughts wander a little more, a little further down the path than usual, because, to be honest, most of the time I get stuck at the hedge of all my questions. And the brambles and briers get so thick I turn around and wander back to where I feel secure.
No, not secure, back to where I feel more comfortable. The nest I’ve made of the questions I can answer. My little bed with the warm cover that keeps the cold away, at least for the night.So I wandered past the hedgerow and found a clearing and an expanse ahead. Just a glimpse, for a moment, of what might be, what could be if I moved past the questions of my life. And the view, though, fleeting, was amazing. The view filled me with hope.
Until I looked at the questions again.
And that’s when it hit me—the questions are there to propel me, not stop me. The questions of my life aren’t there for me to find every little answer and get everything right. The questions are there to be a catalyst to look to the “Answer,” capital “A.”
One day, and it may be soon, all of the questions are going to make sense. Like arrows on the path pointing, “This way.” And the more uncomfortable I am willing to become, pulling off the cover of my complacency and my need to be warm, the closer to the Answer I will get.
Today I was thankful for questions. 

Inaugural Prayer

O God, help us.

We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son, help us.

For those of us inside churches, God help us to see our sin. Help us root out hypocrisy. Help us to love. And help us be true to your word no matter what it may cost.

God help us. Help our spiritual economy. As we put you first, give us a harvest of hope that we might spread that hope to those around us and that it would reach around the world. God help us.

We need your help, o God, in our politics. In the gridlock. In the weighty issues of the day because some people think one thing about an issue and others think the exact opposite. Would you help us, O God, not judge who is right or left, but what is right in your sight. Help us, O God, to seek justice and truth rather than a political platform.

You, O God have set up the ruling authorities. Help them, O God, understand the difference between truth and triviality. We are one nation under you, O God, but it feels very much like we are fragmented and divided and small minded and selfish.

O God, help us.

You said we were blessed if we were poor in spirit.

O God, help us to humble ourselves, to hunger and thirst after righteousness, to be merciful, and pure in heart. And when others insult your sons and daughters, when they hurl accusations, and persecute, help us to rejoice.

O God, help us. You who were inclusive of all—who revealed to us through your Word that there is not ONE without sin, not ONE who has fallen short of your glory, except the God-man, Jesus. O God, help us to include everyone with that message that only through him can we have reconciliation with you, only through his blood can we be saved from your judgment, which we deserve. O

God, give us your mercy instead.

And grant that we might give it to others who, like us, don’t deserve it.

O God, help our president, help our Senators and those in congress, help our mayors and judges and governors and police officers and fire fighters and all who serve us.

It is said that you give wisdom to those who ask. Help them ask you. Help them to honor you.

It is said that because we elect our leaders, we get the government we deserve.

O God, give us what we don’t deserve. Revive your people. Revive our land. And do whatever must be done for the glory of God to be revealed.

O God, forgive us for the blood on our hands, the greed in our hearts, and our vain imaginations. Forgive us for our unbelief. And show us how dependent we are on you.

O God, we pray in the mighty name of Jesus, help us.

AMEN.

My Dad's Tractor

Christmas at the Fiscal Cliff

With the turmoil about taxes in Washington, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about finances.
My father grew up poor and lived in the coal fields of West Virginia. My mother grew up in a place called Camel’s Creek. They told us stories of how little they had about this time each year, perhaps to curb the greed and avarice of our hearts. My father told one story about a time in his life when the family barely had enough to eat. On Christmas Eve his father and mother presented the children with an orange and a piece of candy. You could see the fire in his eyes as he talked about it.
Once, when my father was in elementary school, he was enamored with the opportunity afforded to those students who could purchase a harmonica. The teacher was giving lessons to any child that could come up with the 5 cents it cost to buy one. My father asked his mother, pleaded with her, but with tears in her eyes she told him they didn’t have the extra nickel to begin his musical career. My father could have been Buddy Greene.
Years later, in hopes that it would stop his telling that sad story, I bought him a harmonica. He laughed and smiled, but there was something sad in his eyes as he looked at it. I don’t think he ever played it.
Through the years, we’ve talked as a family about cutting back at Christmas. Not spending as much. How commercial everything has become. The overspending and the crowds steal the joy and all that. This year, I think we’re actually going to do it. This year, I don’t think we have a choice. There is fear and uncertainty around us. There are questions about the fiscal climate in our country and what will happen in another recession.
When things get tight financially, you’re forced to make decisions. The definition of what you “want” and what you “need” gets more clear. And that’s not a bad exercise to go through, particularly those of faith who believe God is the provider.
Every time we ask people to call on Chris Fabry Live about their most memorable Christmas, I never hear, “There was this Christmas when the presents were piled so high and everybody got a computer and an iPod Touch and all the toys we could play with.” No, they usually begin the story like this: “I remember a really hard year for our family because my father had lost his job and we had to move out of our house and live with some relatives.” Or they’ll talk about losing a family member on top of the financial struggle. And then they’ll mention some kind thing, some generous neighbor, some anonymous person from church who delivered food or a toy that showed someone remembered, someone was thinking of them. They mattered in the world.
When times are good and everyone has plenty, it’s easy to forget the truth about ourselves. We gauge our worth by what we have, what we drive, how much is under the tree. But the fiscal cliff jars us into the realization that we are fragile. Wealth and savings can be spent or taxed or taken away. There are some things that can’t be taken. Some things that can’t be bought. And some things we would never have enough to pay for, no matter how hard we try.
This is the hidden message of Christmas. The lights and trees and Santa obscure it. You and I were so poor, unable to pay the debt we owed. We were spiritually barren, outcast, with no hope of ever having a relationship with a holy God. We had gone over the spiritual cliff.
But someone decided that you mattered. Someone remembered you. Thought of you. A generous, loving God decided to give a gift unparalleled. Himself. God wrapped in human flesh. Human holiness. A child who would live perfection so that he could give himself freely as a sacrifice to absorb the penalty and then give us that perfection. Something we didn’t earn or deserve. A gift.
This is the story of Christmas. We didn’t have a nickel to give God. So he gave everything for us. 

The Empty Chair Doxology

I spoke on the air about the Cowboy Wedding we attended. What an experience. We feel very close to this family and what they've been through the past few years. Instead of focusing on the bride, I wanted to focus on Levi.

Here is a picture of Levi and me from August, 2010.


This was before his heart surgery, when the family had many questions about the future, about whether his little heart could heal, and what life would be like as they moved forward.

I think we're all like that on varying levels. We wonder what "normal" will be like. If there will be an empty chair at the table this time next year.

Levi's family does have an empty chair at their table now. Every night they're reminded of their loss.

But Levi's chair is not, thank God, empty. The empty chair is for  their oldest daughter, Iliana. She married Chance a week ago in an unforgettable ceremony.

At the service the groom and groomsmen made their way to the front. Then came a moment that took my breath away. No, not the beautiful bride, but a tall young man carrying a Bible. It was Levi.


God has a way of replacing the empty chairs of our lives. On Thanksgiving Day, Iliana returned with Chance for dinner.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise him for little hearts that grow.
Praise him for a family's love so rare.
Praise him for the need of an extra chair.

Adapting

I've heard a lot sadness and fear since the election. One man emailed me and told me it was time to overthrow our government. I disagree. In fact, I think November 6th was a D-Day of sorts.

June 6, 1944. A pivotal point in the conflict of World War II. On D-Day, many soldiers exiting the landing craft were slaughtered. Pinned down on the beach by machine-gun fire from above, they scurried for cover. They were forced to adapt to the deadly conditions.

They could have given up. They could have run back to the water to try to find safety. Instead, they changed the plan. They figured out a way to move up the hills and take out the entrenched, fortified positions of the enemy. The Germans did not adapt, they stayed where they were, and were defeated.

I'm encouraged by that story today. I've seen Saving Private Ryan enough times to visualize a little of what they went through. Though they were afraid, they didn't give in to fear. They adapted. They changed their plan, their way of thinking of how the battle might be won.

November 6, 2012 was our opportunity to reconfigure. But I'm not talking politics. The enemy on the hill is not a Democrat or a Republican. The enemy is not your pro-choice or pro-gay marriage neighbor. Or the Affordable Care Act. Or President Obama. Or John Boehner. I may disagree about the policies and politics and morality of my neighbor, but they are not the enemy. And defeating "them," whoever "they" are, is not the point of this post.

When I say "you," "we," or "our" from here on, I mean the Church, the body of Christ. Followers of Jesus. And the battle is not against flesh and blood.

What we have in any life change (or non-change) is opportunity. But we can only seize that opportunity if we have the vision to adapt. And the adaptation is much bigger than businesses trying to figure out how to live in this economy, with these health care laws and the social and political realities of 2012.

The biggest adaptation, the very core of this reconfiguration, comes in my own heart. It is a spiritual one. Get this right and you can't lose. Get it wrong and you'll miss what God is trying to do in and through us.

You and I were put on the face of this planet at this time in history for a reason. And though I would love to see America embrace biblical values in every sphere, I ultimately don't have the power to make that happen. But I do have the power to choose something other than fear.

Peter, in a tumultuous political world, spoke to believers who were suffering under Nero. They were being persecuted. Peter encouraged them to live blameless lives. He encouraged them to live what they said they believed in the face of great opposition.

Do not fear what they fear or be disturbed, but honor the Messiah as Lord in your hearts.

This army moving forward will change the world by changing hearts. Find your place in that army and do your duty. Work at it with all your heart. Show the world what love looks like. Show the world what it looks like to have peace in the midst of a storm. Show the world what faith and hope can bring when it's placed in God.

Whether our economy flourishes wildly in the next four years or we go off a fiscal cliff, whether social changes restrict abortion or cause it to increase, whether marijuana or marriage laws swing in a way that dismays or encourages, allow this time, this current situation, to embolden you and focus your soul on the truth. And the truth is, we have some really good news for people who are perishing.

The Church, Christ's body, never loses an election. The church is victorious because Christ was and is victorious.

We don't serve a dead ideal, we serve a risen Savior.

So adapt. Allow God to reconfigure your heart. Don't give in to fear. And do this for the glory of God and his Kingdom.

As you adapt, stay involved. Pray for our president. Pray for our leaders. Pray for wisdom and discernment. Pray for the poor. Pray for the widow and the orphan. And as God leads you, roll up your sleeves and get to work in issues of justice and mercy. Pray that God will mobilize his people to adapt to his Kingdom principles so that whatever happens, people will see us living out what we believe.

Some will say this is giving up. That's the irony. When you adapt and reconfigure to God's Kingdom, you don't just survive. Something comes alive inside. You realize outside forces don't have the power to hold back the truth. When God penetrates the fear in your own heart, he will show you how to thrive through the power of Christ. And when we thrive, we begin to gain a vision of strongholds we couldn't see. We discover new battles on beachheads we didn't know existed. We help liberate others and provide a avenues to true freedom, something that can never be given by any human government.

This is what must motivate our lives. This is how real change happens. Allow God to reconfigure your heart. Then we can move up the hill together.

Elsie's Birthday

What I Saw Out My Window

There I was, minding my own business, writing at 11:11 AM Pacific Time, when out my back window, what to my wandering eyes do I see...or is it wondering eyes? Oh well, whatever the wonder/wander, I saw this above the Rincon Mountain Range. It's flying over Tucson in honor of Gabby Giffords. Pretty cool way to end the morning.

Teddy and the Reds

Here's a picture that says it all. Brandon Phillips looking back at Teddy as he ran to the dugout. We talked about this on Chris Fabry Live. Have you ever seen anything as great as this?

Photo from The Enquirer/Jeff Swinger. To see the full set of pictures, click here.

Contrails of Faith

Got up early to take Tebow outside. If I ever get the book completed that I'm working on, it will be because of his weak bladder.

Not a cloud in the sky. The moon was a crescent and above it some planet. Venus? I made the left to go to Tebow's favorite morning spot (he would kill me if he knew I was telling this) and in the sky I saw the strangest cloud I'd ever seen. it looked a lot like this:
I watched the cloud swirl and morph and with the rising sun, I thought I was watching some cosmic sign. Things have been tough the past couple of weeks. Could this be a message to my heart? And if so, what kind of message? I drew a picture of the cloud in my journal when I returned, in case I see that particular shape in the future and need a reminder.

Then I heard the news and looked it up online. From the Associated Press (which also published the photo above):

The contrail was from a Juno ballistic missile that was fired at 6:30 a.m. MDT Thursday from Fort Wingate near Gallup, N.M., a spokesman for the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range said. The Juno missile was then targeted by an advanced version of the Patriot missile fired from White Sands.The rising sun backlit the Juno missile’s contrail and provided a spectacular morning sight for early risers across the region.Message received. Keep working on what you're working on and others will do the same.