May 30, 2025 • 46 mins
Take me back to your childhood. Take me back to that moment when your mom or dad or grandparent pulled you up onto their lap, held you close, and read you a story. What was the book that was read to you? And is there a story you're reading to your children or grandchildren? Your rich recollection might encourage someone else. Don't miss the childhood reading memories on Chris Fabry Live.
Resource mentioned:
Until All Hear radio special, airing May 31, 5-7pm CT
May thank you gift:
Home is Right Where You Are
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:05):
Today at the radio backyard fence a perfect Friday conversation.
I think some of our best programs deal with remembering
recalling a scene from your life. So I want you
to take me back to your childhood. Take me back
to that moment when your mom or dad or grandparent
pulled you onto their lap, held you close, and read
you a story. What was the book? Who read it
(00:26):
to you? What was the feeling you got when that happened?
What's the feeling you have today? Remembering that moment in time.
And is there a story you're reading to your children
or grandchildren now? There is encouragement ahead on today's conversation
at the radio backyard fence. Something you shared today might
be just what somebody else needs to hear. Let's get going. First,
(00:46):
thank you to our team. Ryan McConaughey doing all things technical.
Trish is our producer. Amy's in the chair today. Anthony
will be answering your calls. And since it's Friday. That's right.
It's time for the fabulous fabric Friday. So here's what
it does one. We oxygenate your blood. Two, we get
your endorphins going. Three, we raise your serotonin level. Four
we promote lymphatic drainage. And five, we stimulate your parasympathetic system.
(01:10):
That's why we call it the five love languages. We
also stimulate your vagus nerve. We help you release acetylcholine.
And don't you dare forget what it does to cortisol dissipation.
Take in four seconds of air through your nose right now.
Hold it four seconds, and then as you release that
air through your mouth, push on the left side of
your rib cage to get rid of all that bad
carbon dioxide. Give a sigh today for that story in
(01:31):
your memory. The little engine who could. Mike and the
Steam Shovel Winnie the Pooh give a sigh for the
connection you felt with your parent, who took the time
to read to you for the voice that resonated in
the chest of your parent, and you felt it through
all your senses. Maybe it was a Bible storybook. Maybe
it was something from Little Golden or Disney, from Goodnight
Moon to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, from Green Eggs and
(01:55):
Ham to The Velveteen Rabbit, give three sighs for the
little Prince for Narnia. Heidi Horton Hears a who! To
Pippi Longstocking. 80 years old this year, the fabulous Fairy
Friday is brought to you by good books to connect
your heart with your child. All rights reserved. Okay, I
want to do something before I have you call us today.
I want to model what I'm talking about. And the
(02:19):
beautiful children's book that we've been sending anyone this month
who supports us is titled Home Is Right Where You Are.
It's by Ruth Jo Simons. And I realized we talked
with Ruth earlier in the month, and we talked about
the story and inspired by Psalm 23, but we didn't
read it. And so I asked, we asked the publisher today, hey,
(02:40):
we won't show pictures on the radio, but can I
read this? Can I read the text of this? And
they said, go for it. So I'm going to do it.
So sit down here beside me, get a little. Just
get real close. I'm going to open this book. I'm
going to read it to you again. Inspired by Psalm 23,
and I want you to imagine a mom and her son,
(03:02):
a dad and a daughter, reading this together. It's called
home is right where you are. Listen close. My sweet child.
To this one thing I know. Let's walk together. Hold
my hand as we go. The Lord is your keeper.
(03:22):
So all you need is yours. Like the peace that
he offers and the rest he secures. He knows the
way to all that is true. He's forever your home
and always with you. When you feel empty inside. Or
there's an ache in your soul. The Lord draws you
(03:43):
close and makes your heart whole. Sometimes you'll journey on
paths so unclear. You'll think you're too small. And tremble
with fear. Look up my darling in the dark of
the night. The Lord guides your steps and keeps you
in sight. Some days will be hard. You'll be troubled
(04:07):
and blue. When others don't recognize God's wonder in you.
But God fills your cup with his comfort and care. Hope,
joy and peace will spill out everywhere. Child, never forget
your redeemer and friend. He's all that you need. And
(04:29):
his love has no end. Someday your journey may mean
we're apart. You'll fly from this nest here next to
my heart. God's goodness and mercy will follow you there.
You'll never outrun his grace and his care. Wherever you
(04:50):
go and whatever you do. Here is a truth I
can promise to you no matter what, darling. This one
thing I know. The Lord is your keeper. Wherever you go.
So follow him bravely for all of your days. He
keeps you close. You won't lose your way. You'll always
(05:14):
be near me. When miles take you far. For when
God is with you. Home is right where you are.
I know some adults who needed to hear that today.
How about you? What happened when you listen to that?
When you heard that? What might happen inside the child
(05:34):
or the grandchild you read that book to? It reminds
me of I'll love you forever a lot. But there's
something about it. There's something about. There's even echoes of
Psalm 121 in there as well. Um, today's the last day.
We're offering this as a thank you. So I wanted
you to hear the text of it. And I can't
(05:54):
show you the pictures, but they're they're beautiful. Ruth Jo
Simons created that book. It's a nine by 11, so
it's a little hard to send you in the mail,
but we're going to do it anyway. If you give
a gift of any size, we'll send that book to you.
Go to Chris. Chris Fabry live.org. You'll see the book
(06:15):
right there. You can give a one time gift and
receive it. You can give a monthly gift and start
start that as well. Become a back fence partner. But
don't miss this one. Home is right where you are
Chris Fabry, Livorno. Today's the last day. Well, tomorrow's the
last day, actually, because it's the. But I'm not going
to be with you tomorrow. Um, if you want to
(06:35):
call 86695 Febry is the number (866) 953-2279. Oh, I'd love
to put this in your hands. And then 10 or
15 years from now, get an email from somebody. Remember
that book that you sent that Ruth Joe Simmons? You
know what happened. Go to Chris Fabry live. Thanks for
(06:58):
your support at the radio backyard fence. So Tricia sent
me the news about Pippi Longstocking. Thank you. Don't laugh. Ryan.
You're going to have to do this one of these days. Uh,
being 80 years old is published first in 1945. And
she said, I think this would be a good topic.
Let's talk about kids books and what you remember. And
(07:20):
then I got this email yesterday as confirmation for the
direction that I'm going in. I realized, Chris, you don't
know your listeners, but we certainly feel that we know you.
I've listened several years, uh, years ago, I was sitting
in my mom's house after she passed away, not knowing
where to start sorting out her things. Your voice came
(07:40):
on the radio. It was 3:00. I felt like a
good friend was with me. And I was not doing
this all alone. Isn't that great? Thank you. I'm a
retired kindergarten teacher of 28 years. A couple of years ago,
your program had people call in with their favorite book
from their childhood. I was driving, I couldn't call. I
(08:02):
have many favorites, but one I wish I could share
with you is something from Nothing by Phoebe Gilman. It
is a retold version of the Jewish tale Jacob's Overcoat.
Throughout this delightful tale, the little boy becomes an author.
The best part of the story, though, is that under
the floorboards, little mice are living out the same story.
(08:25):
So is it like two different levels? There's a wonderful
surprise ending that you only catch if you look at
the pictures under the floorboards carefully. No spoilers here. I
used to have my kindergarten class acted out by putting
on a vest and tie, etc. it made the story
come to life and they loved it. It's a wonderful
read with grandchildren. Thank you for your program and for
(08:47):
being a good friend through the years. Well thank you.
And that solidified my idea that we need to do
this today. And we had some calls four years ago.
And I'm going to let you hear 1 or 2
of those. But I want to turn to you now
and ask you the same thing I posted on Facebook.
(09:08):
What's the first book you remember someone reading to you
who read it to you? And then I want you
to tell me how it made you feel. I asked
Tricia to find that program. It was four years ago. Amy.
Great memory. But there were people. People who called in
and shared these deep things like, let me play you
(09:30):
this one. This is what Michelle had to say.
S2 (09:33):
The book that I remember the most from my childhood
was called The Chosen Baby. I was adopted through Catholic
Social Services, and my parents made it a point that
this was the conversation right from the get go. And
so it was a very eloquent book that shared the
story of a little boy who was adopted. And all
(09:56):
I remember about the book is it was in black
and white, but there were color swaths of orange and turquoise.
And maybe I'm misremembering, I don't know. But at the
end of the story, what was beautiful is they ended
up adopting a little sister for him as well. So
I was an only child, but it just it resonated
with me. And I've shared that book as a great
(10:18):
intro for families that want to have that conversation with children,
but don't necessarily know how to start the dialogue. So anyway,
it's just.
S3 (10:26):
So struck me perfectly today when they read.
S1 (10:28):
That to you, then what was the feeling inside that
you got as they read it?
S2 (10:35):
It was just a magical story that I could relate
to because I was adopted. It's one of the books
that I just always would have them read to me,
because it was such a magical feeling for me.
S1 (10:46):
Such a magical feeling. Isn't that great? So? So that's the.
That's the idea of today's program. What was the first
book that you remember somebody reading to? You could be
a parent, a grandparent. Who was it? How did it
make you feel on the inside? Tell me. Eight. 775483. 675.
(11:06):
I want to get some great ideas for reading and
great memories. (877) 548-3675. Is one of those questions where I
(11:27):
don't want you to think too long about it. It's like,
what's the first book you remember somebody reading to you
just boom. What's the what's the one that comes to
your mind? And it might not have been the very
first book. The one that you remember, though, is blank.
Here's our number 75. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
And you know what the other thing is? Maybe you're
(11:50):
listening today, and this is a little bit painful for
you because you never had a mom or a dad
or grandpa or grandma read to you. You never experienced that.
And I want this to be kind of a balm, BLM,
a salve, salve to your heart because you don't have
(12:11):
to stay in that in that place of not. Well,
it's true that you don't have that if you don't
have it, but you can turn that around and I'll
tell you more about that if there's anybody like that
who said, I want to talk with you. (877) 548-3675 is
our number. Tell me the very first book you remember
somebody reading to you and what happened on the inside.
(12:34):
And we start with Kelly in Fort Myers, Florida. Hi there. Kelly,
how are you doing today?
S4 (12:39):
I'm good. How are you?
S3 (12:41):
I'm doing so.
S4 (12:42):
Great.
S1 (12:43):
I love talking with you because you're going to tell
me about something that happened a number of years ago, right?
S4 (12:51):
Oh my gosh. Yes. So I had a wonderful childhood.
I'm the oldest of four, and my parents were always
reading to us and educating us. And I remember vividly
to this day, my mom gave us for Christmas one year,
the Richard Scarry Collection, and I think it was the busy,
busy town, the busy, busy town story. And I cannot
(13:13):
to this day tell you what it was about. But
we loved that collection and it was a book about
four inches tall, and she would just let us pick
a story and she would just read to us. And
I think I took it to class in high school,
and I lost it. And I still to this day,
remember the cover of that book? Yep. Sure do.
S1 (13:31):
What was the color of that book?
S4 (13:35):
It was. It was like a white linen book with
some various characters painted on it, I believe.
S3 (13:41):
Yeah.
S1 (13:42):
See, and that's, that's really telling to be able to
see it in your mind, you know, if you can
see that. Because the one you mentioned, Richard Scarry, it
took me back to our early days as parents, and
I think he wrote the lowly worm book, didn't he?
S4 (13:58):
Yes. Yeah, he sure did. Yes, yes. Little did we
know that all of those stories would be pertinent to,
you know, adulthood. Um, but I still, to this day.
And you talk to kids this, you know, even, like
my nieces and nephews who have no idea what I'm
talking about when we talk about Richard Scarry. And then
I also told when I called in one of my
(14:20):
favorite books of all time that was read to me
as a child by my great great grandmother, was gone
with the wind, 1038 pages. Yes, and I read that
book five times.
S3 (14:32):
Isn't that.
S1 (14:32):
And you have that memory of her? I wonder how
old she was when she was reading it to you.
S4 (14:38):
She was probably in her 80s. She ended up passing
away at the age of a little over 100, but
I remember finding her finding the original copy, copyrighted 1939,
in her library, in her home, and she willed it
to me. I still have it. True.
S1 (14:57):
Oh, Margaret. Margaret. Margaret Mitchell, who wrote that and then
passed away, you know, later on. Okay. So thank you
for busy, busy town. Thank you for the memory of
lowly worm that I read to my children. Thank you
for gone with the wind, read by your great great grandmother. And, uh,
do you do you have children yourself?
S4 (15:17):
No. Unfortunately, I didn't have any biological children. I have
grown stepchildren, but I have lots of nieces and nephews
that I've. That I've, uh, you know, read to over
the years, so. Great. Yeah.
S1 (15:28):
Well, you keep doing that. You keep reading to them.
And thank you for calling in today, Kelly. God bless you, friend. 3675.
A number of you responded on Facebook. Francis said, a
little engine who could. Jim and Carla. Five little peppers.
My mother read it to my brother, my sister and me.
(15:51):
She also read The Bobbsey Twins to Us and The
Secret Garden, and many more. It's one of my favorite
memories of her. So one thing I want you to
take away from this if you are a parent or
a grandparent, you just heard it from our very first
caller and that is she remembers to this day her
(16:12):
great great grandmother reading this book. She she can picture
the busy, busy town in her mind because it made
an impression on her. So if you have the opportunity,
take that opportunity like Craig is doing today in Minnesota. Hi, Craig.
How are you doing?
S5 (16:30):
Hi. Uh, this goes back to the late 40s. Uh,
my parents had friends that had no children, and they'd
go fishing together. And, uh, we took Thornton W Burgess's
wildlife series, and they were passing it between boats and Lightfoot.
The deer fell into the the boat or into the lake,
(16:52):
and we rescued it. And I was able to give
that to my grandson.
S3 (16:56):
Oh, wow. Okay.
S1 (16:58):
Now, I don't know about the Burgess books. Are those
are those children's books, or are they like the. Okay.
S5 (17:05):
So illustrated happy Jack the Gray Squirrel and. No. It's primarily. Well,
there are some real primitive drawings in them, but happy
Jack the gray squirrel chatter the red squirrel. Lightfoot the deer. Uh,
Blacky the crow. Sammy the jay.
S3 (17:24):
That's it.
S1 (17:25):
Craig, that is it. That's exactly what I'm looking for. Because.
Because even when you started to rattle off the names
of those, there's a smile in your voice. There's. There's
this sense memory that's coming out, isn't there?
S5 (17:38):
Oh, yes.
S1 (17:40):
And fishing it out of the out of the river
or the lake or wherever you were. That's a part
of the story, too.
S5 (17:47):
Yes. Yeah. And it got to go to my grandson.
S1 (17:51):
Thornton W Burgess.
S5 (17:54):
He was, uh, he was from Massachusetts. Uh, and so
really good series.
S1 (18:02):
God bless you, friend. Thank you for calling in today.
Chris is in Chicago. Chris, the the book you remember reading.
S6 (18:10):
There's a Horse and His Boy from C.S. Lewis and
the Chronicles of Narnia.
S1 (18:14):
Okay. So is this one that you read or someone
read to you?
S6 (18:19):
My mom used to read us, uh, the whole series
when we were younger, and I remember feeling just enraptured
in the story. And I remember being maybe 10 or
12 when I first read it on my own. And, um,
you know, I've read it a few times since, and
I just remember the, the part where he goes through
(18:41):
the past with that, um, with the voice that he
can hear, but he can't see and he's just cold.
And later on in life, it's been a huge comfort,
you know? Yes.
S3 (18:52):
And he comes right back to you. It gives you a.
S1 (18:57):
A plumb line for your own life or, and it
gives you these kinds of stories. Give hope, don't they?
S6 (19:04):
Absolutely. And I've read it to my daughters and my
wife never really read it growing up, but I remember
reading it to my daughters with her, and it just
resonated with both of us being, you know, in our 40s.
So it's just a wonderful book to go back to.
S3 (19:19):
So you probably.
S1 (19:19):
Think of your mom when you're reading it to your daughters, right?
S6 (19:23):
Absolutely.
S3 (19:25):
Yeah. Chris. That's great.
S1 (19:27):
That is great. Horse and his boy. That specific scene
that you mentioned. And God bless you, friend of. I'm rereading.
I don't know how many times I've read To Kill
a mockingbird and and usually in the summer I'll try
to read it in the summer, because it's just such
a summer and going into fall, book and the audiobook
that I have now is read by Sissy Spacek or Spacek.
(19:51):
How they used to say her name as she was
growing up in Texas. But she does such a wonderful
job of she just becomes Scout, Scout and Jem and
Dill and Atticus and Calpurnia and all that is just like,
there's something about somebody telling you a story, somebody reading
(20:11):
you a story. And my guess is that Chris would
say with his, with his mom doing the different voices
of the different of the different characters and becoming them
and hearing that that will resonate through your life, not
just in the voice box, chest cavity of that parent
who has you on their lap. It'll resonate down through
(20:35):
the years, and it'll make you want to give it
to somebody else. James is in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Hi, James.
How are you doing today?
S7 (20:43):
Doing excellent.
S1 (20:44):
I'm glad to hear it. Tell me about your grandpa.
S7 (20:48):
My grandfather name was Hershey Wilson. My great grandfather name
was Hardin Hunter. And they would put me between the
two of them and read the Bible to me. But
I remember the great war stories in the Bible. I'm
a pastor now, and I enjoy reading them, and every
(21:12):
time I read those stories, it just brings back memories
of my grandfather and great grandfather reading them to me
when I, I guess I was 3 or 4 years old.
S8 (21:23):
Wow, wow. Hershey.
S7 (21:26):
And I'm 81 now.
S8 (21:28):
Are you really?
S7 (21:29):
Yes. So they are really, uh, just give me great
inspiration now to read the Bible because of how they
read it to me.
S8 (21:42):
Yes.
S1 (21:43):
So. So your favorite. My favorite growing up as a kid.
And when I got my first Bible, it was a
Bible that had illustrations in it. And the one that
I would always go to is David and Goliath, because
I'm looking at the little kid and the great man,
you know, and the sling and the five smooth stones
and all of that. Was that one that they read
to you?
S7 (22:03):
That was one that they read to me? Yes.
S8 (22:06):
Yeah.
S7 (22:06):
But they would always emphasize that it was God that's
giving them the power to do what they were doing.
It didn't come from themselves.
S8 (22:17):
Yes, exactly.
S1 (22:19):
And even imperfect people like Samson, you know, love to
see this, the story of Samson. But it's a it's
a hard story. You grow up and you see how
much dysfunction there is that's going on, you know, behind
the scenes and yet, you know, and at the end
of his life, the end of Samson's life doesn't end
real well. And yet the Spirit of God was on him,
and God used him. Even with all that dysfunction, I
(22:42):
find that encouraging.
S7 (22:44):
Yes, I agree with you.
S1 (22:47):
Why did you become a pastor? Well, who was there?
Somebody in your life? Maybe it was your grandfather. Was
there somebody in your life who kind of nudged you
in that direction?
S7 (22:57):
No, my my grandfather was a pastor, but no one
nudged me in that direction other than God himself.
S1 (23:05):
Hmm. So did he say something to you? Did he say, James,
you need to be a pastor.
S7 (23:11):
Well, uh, I was, I remember I was cutting grass
one day, and, um. I said, you know, if I'm
going to be a pastor, I want to make sure
I get some training to be a pastor. So I
went into deep prayer for a week and I asked God.
I said, if you want me to be a pastor,
(23:33):
I'll make it plain for me to see. And I
was looking for something up in the sky or something
on a billboard, that nature to confirm that he did. Uh,
he called me to be a pastor. And one Friday night, I.
I guess I was in a trance. I. Heard the
(23:55):
word saying to me, read first Corinthians, the first chapter,
the first verse and the 18th verse. I couldn't remember
reading those at all during my years in Sunday school. Um,
in church, uh, hearing them read. But that was the reference. Uh,
(24:19):
first Corinthians, the first chapter and the first verse, which says,
Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ and
our brother. And the 18th verse said, for the preaching
of the cross to those who are perishing is foolishness.
But unto us who are being saved is the power
(24:42):
of God. And that Saturday morning when I woke up, uh,
that was the first thing that came to mind. And
I went and read those scriptures and lo and behold, uh,
the Holy Spirit spoke and said, called to be an
(25:03):
apostle of Jesus Christ and the preaching of the gospel.
So to me, that was the confirmation of what he
wanted me to do.
S1 (25:12):
That is a great story, James. Thank you for sharing
that today. I love that, especially that 18th verse. And
then following has always been, um, encouraging to me. Where
is the who? Where's the wise person? Where's the teacher
of the law? Where's the debater of this age? Hasn't
God made the world's wisdom foolish? For since God and
(25:33):
his wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom,
God was pleased to save those who believe through the
foolishness of what is preached. And look at you. Look
at you following that all these years. God bless you, friend.
That's James. What's your story? More straight ahead. This is
(26:03):
Chris Fabry live. We're talking about books you read as
a child, books read to you, or maybe your present
day experience. My mother read to me what a gift.
I can still hear her voice. And the book that
I remember that I have not been able to find.
I've seen reference to it. But is Freddie the cat
who thought he was people? Uh, and there's a there's
another one, The kitten who thought he was a mouse.
(26:25):
For some reason, those just really captivated, you know, this
one being who thought they were another. Just like the.
The goose, the duck, the ugly duckling. Moms give a
lasting legacy to their children by some really simple things.
They do dads too. Of course, all this month Carenet,
(26:46):
which is a pro abundant life ministry, has been encouraging
moms because they know how important moms are to the
family and to society at large. So here's a gift
for every mom. Click the green net link at Chris
Fabry Live. They have a free devotional. It's seven days
of encouragement titled Finding Abundance for moms. No matter how
(27:09):
chaotic or mundane your day may be. Carenet believes for moms,
you are made for more than just surviving. You were
made to thrive. And this devotional will help you embrace
abundant life. Click the Green connect link at Chris Fabry Live.
Chris Fabry lives. And we also Tricia told me this
(27:32):
because Tricia is going to be working behind the scenes
on this, that there's a special on Moody Radio. Tomorrow
starts at 5:00 central, I believe, a two hour special
that is sponsored with Moody Radio and Alliance for the unreached.
And the title is Until All Here. Do you know
(27:54):
that a third of humanity has no access to the gospel?
So in this broadcast, you're going to hear several of
the hosts and the guests talk about that. Talk about
some of the good news that is coming out, and
talk about the, um, the struggle to let all hear
(28:15):
that good news. You want to find out more about that?
We have a link at the website as well, Chris.
Fabry lived until all here. If you don't get to
hear it, it'll be available as a special on the
website too, I believe. Joanne's in Indiana. Joanne, why did
you call today?
S9 (28:32):
Well, I was driving down the road and trying to
think what was my first memory. And I have two.
The one is my mom reading Peter Rabbit by Beatrix
Potter and not being captivated by the story as much
as the paintings, and how they were so realistic and
(28:54):
yet so precious and childlike. And I think it's fostered
my love of watercolors to this day. Oh, it's.
S1 (29:01):
A watercolor book. Oh, neat.
S9 (29:03):
Yes, yes, Beatrix Potter painted all in watercolors and, um,
so but her artwork was just amazing. And I think
that made it come alive more than the story. But
I always wondered why what a rabbit pie was, because
it's written in England. And so Mr. McGregor's wife was
going to make him into a rabbit pie, and I
(29:23):
didn't know what that was. Um, but the other and
I have multiple volumes of it, and my children have
multiple volumes of it. Of all the Beatrix Potter books.
And my grandchildren have copies of the Beatrix Potter books,
which are massive book people. But the other, the other
part of the conversation is my grandmother, who sold World
(29:46):
Book encyclopedias, and they had the Childcraft series. And in
the Childcraft series, they have poetry and prose, and my
grandmother wrote us poems every time we would visit her
in Kansas, and silly poems like The Raggedy Man and
what I thought was a very scary poems like The
(30:08):
Duel Between the Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat, and
silly limericks like Ella, telephony, and, um, those are just.
I have the same. And it wasn't pretty. It wasn't
a pretty book. It was a gray book with a
purple label. But the pictures inside were simple. Also, it
was the poetry and my grandmother reading it to us
(30:31):
and my adult kids. My adult kids have memorized some
of these. The puffin, um, my daughter did as a
dramatic presentation when she was in Bible college. Wow. And
the puffin there once was a puffin who couldn't eat nothing.
S1 (30:49):
And a good language.
S9 (30:51):
Great.
S1 (30:52):
The words are just so much fun. And to tell
these stories and for you to say, you know, and
how many times this is coming up, I can see
that book. I know what color it is. It's watercolor.
Beatrix Potter did this. And the other thing is the
sensory thing of holding a book in your hands or
seeing your parent hold this, and then their finger going
(31:13):
across the words and you connecting words and these squiggles
on the page. And then slowly, day by day, learning
how to read.
S9 (31:27):
Yes. Well, in my I stayed with my grandparents in
Kansas for three weeks one summer while my father and
mother went to, um. My father was an ornithologist, and
they were going to meetings in Europe. And by the
end of that, I had most of those poems memorized
because my grandma read them to me every night, and
she didn't know I was memorizing them until I started
(31:47):
reciting them with her. Wow. So and they're still in
my head today. I can still tell you.
S1 (31:53):
So that's it? They're still in your head today. And
and of course, you know, there are people who say, well,
you ought to be memorizing the Bible. Well. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.
But there's something about this, you know, the stories that
you read to your children, with your children that stick
with you. And then all these years later, the caller
(32:15):
who said the horse and his boy, and seeing that
scene play itself out in his own life, uh, in
a hard time and a difficult time, not being able
to see the person but hear the voice and be
able to follow that. That's gold.
S9 (32:33):
Well, and memorizing memorizing poem helps you memorize because the
rhyme which makes you better at memorizing scripture.
S1 (32:40):
Yes, exactly. Exactly. They're gateways. Hey, thank you so much
for your call today. There was a call four years
ago that reminds me of what we just heard. And
listen for the emotion in Gina's voice.
S10 (32:54):
Johnny, go round is a yellow tomcat. Would you like
to know why we call him that? Because Johnny goes
round when he likes to play. That's all I remember. Um,
but my mom read to us a lot. Um, and
one of my fondest memories is. And I can still
So picture myself sitting next to her on the couch. Um,
(33:16):
she was to my right, and I had brought home
my first grade reader. This was back when kids didn't
really go to kindergarten much, and we began reading in
first grade. And I can remember sitting next to her
and being able to read a whole page, and the
words came alive, and, oh, I'm going to cry. What
(33:38):
I remember most is looking out of the corner of
my eye and the smile on my mom's face, because
she knew now I had this wonderful gift and I
could read. And I had just been given this amazing
gift that she had.
S1 (33:59):
Okay. So that to me, that is a holy moment.
And and you don't get a holy moment like that.
You know, quality time. Uh, and I believe that there's
quality time, but you don't get a holy moment like
that without quantity, time and quantity. Time is sitting and reading,
listening to the questions, stopping. Wait, why did that happen
(34:22):
and what is going on here and what, you know,
those types of things. On our Facebook page, there are
people who are posting pictures of themselves when they were young,
pictures of the books that they read as children. And
there's just this explosion, I think, of memories that are
happening and this is really good. I hope you're enjoying
(34:44):
our conversation today at the Radio Backyard Fence. More calls
coming up about those books. And remember the book that
I read a little earlier, Ruth Jo Simons. This is
my last opportunity today to tell you give a gift
of any size at Chris Fabry live, and we'll send
you home as right where you are. Let's go to
Chris Fabry live. What was the book you remember? John says,
(35:18):
probably Curious George might have been Clifford the Big Red dog.
It was my mom and I who read it, and
we still love to read it. Mother read the Bible
to me every night, Carol says from the time I
was born until I could read it for myself. Other
than that, it was Cinderella fairy tales. She taught me
to love and enjoy reading. Kirsten is in Illinois. Kirsten.
(35:41):
Go right ahead. What do you say today?
S11 (35:44):
So I have a couple of them. One is like
the first book I remember is I think It's Down
by the Bay or something that my kindergarten teacher read
to us. And I don't know if it is an
actual song in the back or if we just turned
it into a song, but I remember I loved it
when we'd read that one because it was always fun.
It had, like, llamas and llamas and pajamas. Pajamas. Whatever.
(36:06):
Down by the Bay.
S12 (36:11):
Yep. But the other one that I remember.
S11 (36:13):
Um, kind of on the tail of your last caller,
my grandmother, she didn't read it to us, but she
memorized and would recite it by rote. Um, by Eugene
Field is called the Dinky Bird. And something that my
grandma would recite to us. And then my mom recited
it to my nephews, and I have, like, I could
(36:35):
I could kind of. I remember when I was little,
I could kind of put in some words like, yep, yep, yep,
I saw it along. I remembered part of it. But
as an adult, I made sure I made it a
point to memorize it, and I taught it to my
kids and I my mom a few Christmases ago, I
don't know, maybe upwards of ten years ago already, I
don't know. She got a copy of the book that
(36:55):
my grandma had read, and she gifted me and each
of my three siblings a copy of the book. It
was in the early 1900s written, but it had that
poem in there. And one of my children. He's 14 now.
He memorized it and he could recite it by rote.
And I've even written, um, written, handwritten out a copy
(37:16):
of it for my kids so that they could have
something not just, you know, not just the poem itself,
but something written by their mom. Um, you know, handwritten.
So they say, um, so they could keep as a memory.
And that's something that I. I never thought I'd be
able to memorize it, but I ended up finding out
that the the second stanza to it or a second
part to it, it's like, oh, and memorizing that. And
(37:37):
so it's.
S1 (37:38):
Can you do a little bit of that? Can we
hear a little bit of the dinky, the dinky birds.
S11 (37:43):
The birds. Yep. In an ocean way out yonder, as
all sapient people know, is a land of wonder. Wonder
where their children must go. Their laughter playing, singing. They
give great joy to me. For the dinky birds singing
in the trees there the gumdrops grow like cherries. Taffy, caramels.
(38:04):
You pick like berries. Fun. Where and how you please.
Big red sugar plums are clinging to the cliffside. That
for the. Thank you for listening. And the absolute truth.
S1 (38:14):
Okay, I'm gonna stop you right there. You can hear
the language of that, and it's a little. It's a
little hard to hear. Everybody's going to go and find
the donkey bird poem and read that after the program today. Kirsten,
thank you for calling in. And that just shows the
power of the, you know, a parent or grandparent passing
it along to one generation to another, which is kind
(38:35):
of where Susie in Indiana is going to take us. Susie,
what do you say today?
S13 (38:40):
I just remember my grandma. We got to spend one
of us. There were four kids, so each one got
to spend the weekend in succession with grandma and then,
you know, took out. We went out to eat, we
got to sleep at our house. And I remember that
she would read to me by the by the shores
(39:00):
of Gitchee Gumee by the shining big sea water Stood
the Wigwam of Nokomis. Daughter of the moon. Nokomis. It
was all about this Indian lady and her little grandson
that she was caring for.
S1 (39:17):
I remember my mother using that. And I heard Gitchee gumee.
I can remember from early childhood hearing the word gitchee
gumee and thinking, what in the world is that? Because
she would say it by the shining big sea waters.
And that just. And those words just kind of washed
over me. And I think it's partly why I love
(39:40):
words so much, because she did. And she passed that
love on to us boys. So you're saying something really
important here. Susie, thank you for calling today.
S13 (39:52):
Yeah, I think it's an Indian word. Maybe for Lake
Michigan or something like that. I'm not.
S1 (39:56):
Sure you're right.
S13 (39:57):
But it's a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Yeah, it's a it's
a classical piece. And I remember feeling so protected and
sleepy and, you know, ready to go to sleep when
you heard things like that.
S1 (40:09):
There is a peace and a calm that comes over
you and and something that you can kind of jump
in and swim in, like the shining big sea waters.
The the comfort of those words slowed down. You're not
going to get that with the phone that you hold
in your hand, as good as those are, or a
(40:30):
tablet that you have, or a computer screen that you have.
I'm not saying I'm using one now. Okay. But there's
something about words hidden in the heart. Books held in
the hand. Something about him. Books, too. Don't get me
on that. Ryan, what are you doing? Uh, Trina is
in Florida. Hi, Trina. Go ahead.
S9 (40:52):
Yes. Hi.
S14 (40:54):
So it's not that anyone, um, read a book to me,
but when I was about three years old, 2 or 3,
I taught myself how to read with the Mattel toy. Um,
see and say so. My favorite book was Cinderella, and
I would read it probably like three times a day, um,
to the point that my mom would say, put that
book down. And, um, I remember like, just feeling so
(41:18):
sorry and crying for Cinderella. Like, why does her family
treat her that way? And when, um, I started having
around six years old, I started having nightmares that I
was actually Cinderella, although I was not abused in my family.
So around the age of 25, I took my mom
(41:38):
to lunch. Um, she had given her life to Christ
by then, and we were talking and I just asked her,
you know, do you have anything to tell me? Like,
are you really my mommy? Is my dad my dad?
And that was what I would say to her when
I woke up crying after the nightmares. And she finally
told me that I did have a different dad than
who I thought. And, um, it just opened the door.
(42:01):
Like God always shows me the truth through dreams. And
you know just how I identify with Cinderella. So it
just always leaves a great place in my heart to
reflect and think, um, how good God is to me.
S1 (42:16):
You know, when I heard the Trina you tell the story,
I thought you were going to take us to a
different place there. Because some of those stories, uh, whether
they were fairy tales or whatever they are, there's the
nerve that is touched inside is the injustice. It's like
they shouldn't be treating her that way. Why are they
treating her that way? You know, and then the.
S14 (42:38):
That way.
S1 (42:39):
Yeah. Well, well. And then the the ending is like
you become, you overcome the injustice and, you know, it's
like the hope that that gives you. But for you,
the nerve down deep was there's something wrong here. And
I don't know what it is. There's something off and
and you, you stayed with that and you didn't push
(43:00):
it down, right?
S15 (43:02):
Yes, yes.
S14 (43:03):
And it's like that for me till this day. Like
it just. It's just God's story in my life. Um.
That I can always detect truth from what's not truth.
S1 (43:14):
Yeah. Well, I'm glad you called in today. And that
that is a lifelong pursuit, friend. And you keep doing it. Um,
thank you for for lending your voice, Sarah in Alabama.
Got to get to Sarah. Sarah, what do you say today?
S16 (43:28):
Well, I just remember, uh, reading the book, uh, the chosen,
its adopted children.
S1 (43:35):
Right.
S16 (43:36):
And, uh, so we adopted two children, and I always
remember that book, and and, uh, it was. I don't
know where. I don't know, I must have lost it
somewhere because we moved several times, and, well, you.
S1 (43:52):
Didn't lose it in your head, though. You didn't lose
it in your memory. It's still there, right?
S16 (43:58):
It's still there. Yes, because I caused. My chosen daughter
is still with me. So.
S1 (44:04):
Ah, yes. And that's the book that the, uh, the
very first caller Michelle talked about four years ago. The
chosen baby. And that was what she was read to
after being adopted. And you did the same thing.
S16 (44:20):
Yes, I did.
S1 (44:22):
Yeah. Well, Sarah, uh, where did you where did you
move from? How many states have you ever lived in?
Has it always been Alabama?
S16 (44:30):
Uh, no. We moved from Mississippi to Tennessee, and then
we moved to Alabama.
S1 (44:37):
Okay. And that's where. That's where you are. And that's
where you're staying, right?
S16 (44:42):
That's right.
S1 (44:45):
God bless you, friend. Thank you. Thank you for that
memory of the chosen baby. And, uh, for all the
all of you who've called in, I see some we
haven't gotten to Secret Garden, Sam fangs and moonshine. Barbara
says My Scottish grandfather welcomed me to town library every
(45:05):
every week we brought home a book. I recall my sister,
seven years older, reading me to me, Curious George. My
dad reading a Bible story book to me every night
while my mom bathed. My younger sister rocked her to sleep.
I just there's something about the innocence of all of
(45:26):
this and the, um, the the fire in the belly,
the fire in the heart and the hearth that you
can sense from all of these different stories of family.
And I want to say to anybody who says, I
never had that. I don't have that in my life. Uh,
(45:46):
didn't hear from anybody like that today. But I know
you're there. I know there's somebody there. You don't have
to let that hold you back. If you have children
or grandchildren, you can pass that on to them what
you didn't have or to somebody else, or to have
someone now read to you. I love reading audio books
(46:07):
and and listening to those people interpret things like that.
We did that a little earlier today with Ruth. Joe
Simon's book Home Is Right Where You Are, inspired by
Psalm 23. A number of you have given gifts today
and are going to receive that. It's still available just
for today and tomorrow. So click through Chris fabric.org Chris
(46:30):
fabric.com or call us at 86695. Favorite. Thanks for your
support of the back fence. Don't miss Monday the two
Michaels are back in town on Chris Fabry Live, a
production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
Have a great weekend.
Today at the radio backyard fence a perfect Friday conversation.
I think some of our best programs deal with remembering
recalling a scene from your life. So I want you
to take me back to your childhood. Take me back
to that moment when your mom or dad or grandparent
pulled you onto their lap, held you close, and read
you a story. What was the book? Who read it
(00:26):
to you? What was the feeling you got when that happened?
What's the feeling you have today? Remembering that moment in time.
And is there a story you're reading to your children
or grandchildren now? There is encouragement ahead on today's conversation
at the radio backyard fence. Something you shared today might
be just what somebody else needs to hear. Let's get going. First,
(00:46):
thank you to our team. Ryan McConaughey doing all things technical.
Trish is our producer. Amy's in the chair today. Anthony
will be answering your calls. And since it's Friday. That's right.
It's time for the fabulous fabric Friday. So here's what
it does one. We oxygenate your blood. Two, we get
your endorphins going. Three, we raise your serotonin level. Four
we promote lymphatic drainage. And five, we stimulate your parasympathetic system.
(01:10):
That's why we call it the five love languages. We
also stimulate your vagus nerve. We help you release acetylcholine.
And don't you dare forget what it does to cortisol dissipation.
Take in four seconds of air through your nose right now.
Hold it four seconds, and then as you release that
air through your mouth, push on the left side of
your rib cage to get rid of all that bad
carbon dioxide. Give a sigh today for that story in
(01:31):
your memory. The little engine who could. Mike and the
Steam Shovel Winnie the Pooh give a sigh for the
connection you felt with your parent, who took the time
to read to you for the voice that resonated in
the chest of your parent, and you felt it through
all your senses. Maybe it was a Bible storybook. Maybe
it was something from Little Golden or Disney, from Goodnight
Moon to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, from Green Eggs and
(01:55):
Ham to The Velveteen Rabbit, give three sighs for the
little Prince for Narnia. Heidi Horton Hears a who! To
Pippi Longstocking. 80 years old this year, the fabulous Fairy
Friday is brought to you by good books to connect
your heart with your child. All rights reserved. Okay, I
want to do something before I have you call us today.
I want to model what I'm talking about. And the
(02:19):
beautiful children's book that we've been sending anyone this month
who supports us is titled Home Is Right Where You Are.
It's by Ruth Jo Simons. And I realized we talked
with Ruth earlier in the month, and we talked about
the story and inspired by Psalm 23, but we didn't
read it. And so I asked, we asked the publisher today, hey,
(02:40):
we won't show pictures on the radio, but can I
read this? Can I read the text of this? And
they said, go for it. So I'm going to do it.
So sit down here beside me, get a little. Just
get real close. I'm going to open this book. I'm
going to read it to you again. Inspired by Psalm 23,
and I want you to imagine a mom and her son,
(03:02):
a dad and a daughter, reading this together. It's called
home is right where you are. Listen close. My sweet child.
To this one thing I know. Let's walk together. Hold
my hand as we go. The Lord is your keeper.
(03:22):
So all you need is yours. Like the peace that
he offers and the rest he secures. He knows the
way to all that is true. He's forever your home
and always with you. When you feel empty inside. Or
there's an ache in your soul. The Lord draws you
(03:43):
close and makes your heart whole. Sometimes you'll journey on
paths so unclear. You'll think you're too small. And tremble
with fear. Look up my darling in the dark of
the night. The Lord guides your steps and keeps you
in sight. Some days will be hard. You'll be troubled
(04:07):
and blue. When others don't recognize God's wonder in you.
But God fills your cup with his comfort and care. Hope,
joy and peace will spill out everywhere. Child, never forget
your redeemer and friend. He's all that you need. And
(04:29):
his love has no end. Someday your journey may mean
we're apart. You'll fly from this nest here next to
my heart. God's goodness and mercy will follow you there.
You'll never outrun his grace and his care. Wherever you
(04:50):
go and whatever you do. Here is a truth I
can promise to you no matter what, darling. This one
thing I know. The Lord is your keeper. Wherever you go.
So follow him bravely for all of your days. He
keeps you close. You won't lose your way. You'll always
(05:14):
be near me. When miles take you far. For when
God is with you. Home is right where you are.
I know some adults who needed to hear that today.
How about you? What happened when you listen to that?
When you heard that? What might happen inside the child
(05:34):
or the grandchild you read that book to? It reminds
me of I'll love you forever a lot. But there's
something about it. There's something about. There's even echoes of
Psalm 121 in there as well. Um, today's the last day.
We're offering this as a thank you. So I wanted
you to hear the text of it. And I can't
(05:54):
show you the pictures, but they're they're beautiful. Ruth Jo
Simons created that book. It's a nine by 11, so
it's a little hard to send you in the mail,
but we're going to do it anyway. If you give
a gift of any size, we'll send that book to you.
Go to Chris. Chris Fabry live.org. You'll see the book
(06:15):
right there. You can give a one time gift and
receive it. You can give a monthly gift and start
start that as well. Become a back fence partner. But
don't miss this one. Home is right where you are
Chris Fabry, Livorno. Today's the last day. Well, tomorrow's the
last day, actually, because it's the. But I'm not going
to be with you tomorrow. Um, if you want to
(06:35):
call 86695 Febry is the number (866) 953-2279. Oh, I'd love
to put this in your hands. And then 10 or
15 years from now, get an email from somebody. Remember
that book that you sent that Ruth Joe Simmons? You
know what happened. Go to Chris Fabry live. Thanks for
(06:58):
your support at the radio backyard fence. So Tricia sent
me the news about Pippi Longstocking. Thank you. Don't laugh. Ryan.
You're going to have to do this one of these days. Uh,
being 80 years old is published first in 1945. And
she said, I think this would be a good topic.
Let's talk about kids books and what you remember. And
(07:20):
then I got this email yesterday as confirmation for the
direction that I'm going in. I realized, Chris, you don't
know your listeners, but we certainly feel that we know you.
I've listened several years, uh, years ago, I was sitting
in my mom's house after she passed away, not knowing
where to start sorting out her things. Your voice came
(07:40):
on the radio. It was 3:00. I felt like a
good friend was with me. And I was not doing
this all alone. Isn't that great? Thank you. I'm a
retired kindergarten teacher of 28 years. A couple of years ago,
your program had people call in with their favorite book
from their childhood. I was driving, I couldn't call. I
(08:02):
have many favorites, but one I wish I could share
with you is something from Nothing by Phoebe Gilman. It
is a retold version of the Jewish tale Jacob's Overcoat.
Throughout this delightful tale, the little boy becomes an author.
The best part of the story, though, is that under
the floorboards, little mice are living out the same story.
(08:25):
So is it like two different levels? There's a wonderful
surprise ending that you only catch if you look at
the pictures under the floorboards carefully. No spoilers here. I
used to have my kindergarten class acted out by putting
on a vest and tie, etc. it made the story
come to life and they loved it. It's a wonderful
read with grandchildren. Thank you for your program and for
(08:47):
being a good friend through the years. Well thank you.
And that solidified my idea that we need to do
this today. And we had some calls four years ago.
And I'm going to let you hear 1 or 2
of those. But I want to turn to you now
and ask you the same thing I posted on Facebook.
(09:08):
What's the first book you remember someone reading to you
who read it to you? And then I want you
to tell me how it made you feel. I asked
Tricia to find that program. It was four years ago. Amy.
Great memory. But there were people. People who called in
and shared these deep things like, let me play you
(09:30):
this one. This is what Michelle had to say.
S2 (09:33):
The book that I remember the most from my childhood
was called The Chosen Baby. I was adopted through Catholic
Social Services, and my parents made it a point that
this was the conversation right from the get go. And
so it was a very eloquent book that shared the
story of a little boy who was adopted. And all
(09:56):
I remember about the book is it was in black
and white, but there were color swaths of orange and turquoise.
And maybe I'm misremembering, I don't know. But at the
end of the story, what was beautiful is they ended
up adopting a little sister for him as well. So
I was an only child, but it just it resonated
with me. And I've shared that book as a great
(10:18):
intro for families that want to have that conversation with children,
but don't necessarily know how to start the dialogue. So anyway,
it's just.
S3 (10:26):
So struck me perfectly today when they read.
S1 (10:28):
That to you, then what was the feeling inside that
you got as they read it?
S2 (10:35):
It was just a magical story that I could relate
to because I was adopted. It's one of the books
that I just always would have them read to me,
because it was such a magical feeling for me.
S1 (10:46):
Such a magical feeling. Isn't that great? So? So that's the.
That's the idea of today's program. What was the first
book that you remember somebody reading to? You could be
a parent, a grandparent. Who was it? How did it
make you feel on the inside? Tell me. Eight. 775483. 675.
(11:06):
I want to get some great ideas for reading and
great memories. (877) 548-3675. Is one of those questions where I
(11:27):
don't want you to think too long about it. It's like,
what's the first book you remember somebody reading to you
just boom. What's the what's the one that comes to
your mind? And it might not have been the very
first book. The one that you remember, though, is blank.
Here's our number 75. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
And you know what the other thing is? Maybe you're
(11:50):
listening today, and this is a little bit painful for
you because you never had a mom or a dad
or grandpa or grandma read to you. You never experienced that.
And I want this to be kind of a balm, BLM,
a salve, salve to your heart because you don't have
(12:11):
to stay in that in that place of not. Well,
it's true that you don't have that if you don't
have it, but you can turn that around and I'll
tell you more about that if there's anybody like that
who said, I want to talk with you. (877) 548-3675 is
our number. Tell me the very first book you remember
somebody reading to you and what happened on the inside.
(12:34):
And we start with Kelly in Fort Myers, Florida. Hi there. Kelly,
how are you doing today?
S4 (12:39):
I'm good. How are you?
S3 (12:41):
I'm doing so.
S4 (12:42):
Great.
S1 (12:43):
I love talking with you because you're going to tell
me about something that happened a number of years ago, right?
S4 (12:51):
Oh my gosh. Yes. So I had a wonderful childhood.
I'm the oldest of four, and my parents were always
reading to us and educating us. And I remember vividly
to this day, my mom gave us for Christmas one year,
the Richard Scarry Collection, and I think it was the busy,
busy town, the busy, busy town story. And I cannot
(13:13):
to this day tell you what it was about. But
we loved that collection and it was a book about
four inches tall, and she would just let us pick
a story and she would just read to us. And
I think I took it to class in high school,
and I lost it. And I still to this day,
remember the cover of that book? Yep. Sure do.
S1 (13:31):
What was the color of that book?
S4 (13:35):
It was. It was like a white linen book with
some various characters painted on it, I believe.
S3 (13:41):
Yeah.
S1 (13:42):
See, and that's, that's really telling to be able to
see it in your mind, you know, if you can
see that. Because the one you mentioned, Richard Scarry, it
took me back to our early days as parents, and
I think he wrote the lowly worm book, didn't he?
S4 (13:58):
Yes. Yeah, he sure did. Yes, yes. Little did we
know that all of those stories would be pertinent to,
you know, adulthood. Um, but I still, to this day.
And you talk to kids this, you know, even, like
my nieces and nephews who have no idea what I'm
talking about when we talk about Richard Scarry. And then
I also told when I called in one of my
(14:20):
favorite books of all time that was read to me
as a child by my great great grandmother, was gone
with the wind, 1038 pages. Yes, and I read that
book five times.
S3 (14:32):
Isn't that.
S1 (14:32):
And you have that memory of her? I wonder how
old she was when she was reading it to you.
S4 (14:38):
She was probably in her 80s. She ended up passing
away at the age of a little over 100, but
I remember finding her finding the original copy, copyrighted 1939,
in her library, in her home, and she willed it
to me. I still have it. True.
S1 (14:57):
Oh, Margaret. Margaret. Margaret Mitchell, who wrote that and then
passed away, you know, later on. Okay. So thank you
for busy, busy town. Thank you for the memory of
lowly worm that I read to my children. Thank you
for gone with the wind, read by your great great grandmother. And, uh,
do you do you have children yourself?
S4 (15:17):
No. Unfortunately, I didn't have any biological children. I have
grown stepchildren, but I have lots of nieces and nephews
that I've. That I've, uh, you know, read to over
the years, so. Great. Yeah.
S1 (15:28):
Well, you keep doing that. You keep reading to them.
And thank you for calling in today, Kelly. God bless you, friend. 3675.
A number of you responded on Facebook. Francis said, a
little engine who could. Jim and Carla. Five little peppers.
My mother read it to my brother, my sister and me.
(15:51):
She also read The Bobbsey Twins to Us and The
Secret Garden, and many more. It's one of my favorite
memories of her. So one thing I want you to
take away from this if you are a parent or
a grandparent, you just heard it from our very first
caller and that is she remembers to this day her
(16:12):
great great grandmother reading this book. She she can picture
the busy, busy town in her mind because it made
an impression on her. So if you have the opportunity,
take that opportunity like Craig is doing today in Minnesota. Hi, Craig.
How are you doing?
S5 (16:30):
Hi. Uh, this goes back to the late 40s. Uh,
my parents had friends that had no children, and they'd
go fishing together. And, uh, we took Thornton W Burgess's
wildlife series, and they were passing it between boats and Lightfoot.
The deer fell into the the boat or into the lake,
(16:52):
and we rescued it. And I was able to give
that to my grandson.
S3 (16:56):
Oh, wow. Okay.
S1 (16:58):
Now, I don't know about the Burgess books. Are those
are those children's books, or are they like the. Okay.
S5 (17:05):
So illustrated happy Jack the Gray Squirrel and. No. It's primarily. Well,
there are some real primitive drawings in them, but happy
Jack the gray squirrel chatter the red squirrel. Lightfoot the deer. Uh,
Blacky the crow. Sammy the jay.
S3 (17:24):
That's it.
S1 (17:25):
Craig, that is it. That's exactly what I'm looking for. Because.
Because even when you started to rattle off the names
of those, there's a smile in your voice. There's. There's
this sense memory that's coming out, isn't there?
S5 (17:38):
Oh, yes.
S1 (17:40):
And fishing it out of the out of the river
or the lake or wherever you were. That's a part
of the story, too.
S5 (17:47):
Yes. Yeah. And it got to go to my grandson.
S1 (17:51):
Thornton W Burgess.
S5 (17:54):
He was, uh, he was from Massachusetts. Uh, and so
really good series.
S1 (18:02):
God bless you, friend. Thank you for calling in today.
Chris is in Chicago. Chris, the the book you remember reading.
S6 (18:10):
There's a Horse and His Boy from C.S. Lewis and
the Chronicles of Narnia.
S1 (18:14):
Okay. So is this one that you read or someone
read to you?
S6 (18:19):
My mom used to read us, uh, the whole series
when we were younger, and I remember feeling just enraptured
in the story. And I remember being maybe 10 or
12 when I first read it on my own. And, um,
you know, I've read it a few times since, and
I just remember the, the part where he goes through
(18:41):
the past with that, um, with the voice that he
can hear, but he can't see and he's just cold.
And later on in life, it's been a huge comfort,
you know? Yes.
S3 (18:52):
And he comes right back to you. It gives you a.
S1 (18:57):
A plumb line for your own life or, and it
gives you these kinds of stories. Give hope, don't they?
S6 (19:04):
Absolutely. And I've read it to my daughters and my
wife never really read it growing up, but I remember
reading it to my daughters with her, and it just
resonated with both of us being, you know, in our 40s.
So it's just a wonderful book to go back to.
S3 (19:19):
So you probably.
S1 (19:19):
Think of your mom when you're reading it to your daughters, right?
S6 (19:23):
Absolutely.
S3 (19:25):
Yeah. Chris. That's great.
S1 (19:27):
That is great. Horse and his boy. That specific scene
that you mentioned. And God bless you, friend of. I'm rereading.
I don't know how many times I've read To Kill
a mockingbird and and usually in the summer I'll try
to read it in the summer, because it's just such
a summer and going into fall, book and the audiobook
that I have now is read by Sissy Spacek or Spacek.
(19:51):
How they used to say her name as she was
growing up in Texas. But she does such a wonderful
job of she just becomes Scout, Scout and Jem and
Dill and Atticus and Calpurnia and all that is just like,
there's something about somebody telling you a story, somebody reading
(20:11):
you a story. And my guess is that Chris would
say with his, with his mom doing the different voices
of the different of the different characters and becoming them
and hearing that that will resonate through your life, not
just in the voice box, chest cavity of that parent
who has you on their lap. It'll resonate down through
(20:35):
the years, and it'll make you want to give it
to somebody else. James is in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Hi, James.
How are you doing today?
S7 (20:43):
Doing excellent.
S1 (20:44):
I'm glad to hear it. Tell me about your grandpa.
S7 (20:48):
My grandfather name was Hershey Wilson. My great grandfather name
was Hardin Hunter. And they would put me between the
two of them and read the Bible to me. But
I remember the great war stories in the Bible. I'm
a pastor now, and I enjoy reading them, and every
(21:12):
time I read those stories, it just brings back memories
of my grandfather and great grandfather reading them to me
when I, I guess I was 3 or 4 years old.
S8 (21:23):
Wow, wow. Hershey.
S7 (21:26):
And I'm 81 now.
S8 (21:28):
Are you really?
S7 (21:29):
Yes. So they are really, uh, just give me great
inspiration now to read the Bible because of how they
read it to me.
S8 (21:42):
Yes.
S1 (21:43):
So. So your favorite. My favorite growing up as a kid.
And when I got my first Bible, it was a
Bible that had illustrations in it. And the one that
I would always go to is David and Goliath, because
I'm looking at the little kid and the great man,
you know, and the sling and the five smooth stones
and all of that. Was that one that they read
to you?
S7 (22:03):
That was one that they read to me? Yes.
S8 (22:06):
Yeah.
S7 (22:06):
But they would always emphasize that it was God that's
giving them the power to do what they were doing.
It didn't come from themselves.
S8 (22:17):
Yes, exactly.
S1 (22:19):
And even imperfect people like Samson, you know, love to
see this, the story of Samson. But it's a it's
a hard story. You grow up and you see how
much dysfunction there is that's going on, you know, behind
the scenes and yet, you know, and at the end
of his life, the end of Samson's life doesn't end
real well. And yet the Spirit of God was on him,
and God used him. Even with all that dysfunction, I
(22:42):
find that encouraging.
S7 (22:44):
Yes, I agree with you.
S1 (22:47):
Why did you become a pastor? Well, who was there?
Somebody in your life? Maybe it was your grandfather. Was
there somebody in your life who kind of nudged you
in that direction?
S7 (22:57):
No, my my grandfather was a pastor, but no one
nudged me in that direction other than God himself.
S1 (23:05):
Hmm. So did he say something to you? Did he say, James,
you need to be a pastor.
S7 (23:11):
Well, uh, I was, I remember I was cutting grass
one day, and, um. I said, you know, if I'm
going to be a pastor, I want to make sure
I get some training to be a pastor. So I
went into deep prayer for a week and I asked God.
I said, if you want me to be a pastor,
(23:33):
I'll make it plain for me to see. And I
was looking for something up in the sky or something
on a billboard, that nature to confirm that he did. Uh,
he called me to be a pastor. And one Friday night, I.
I guess I was in a trance. I. Heard the
(23:55):
word saying to me, read first Corinthians, the first chapter,
the first verse and the 18th verse. I couldn't remember
reading those at all during my years in Sunday school. Um,
in church, uh, hearing them read. But that was the reference. Uh,
(24:19):
first Corinthians, the first chapter and the first verse, which says,
Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ and
our brother. And the 18th verse said, for the preaching
of the cross to those who are perishing is foolishness.
But unto us who are being saved is the power
(24:42):
of God. And that Saturday morning when I woke up, uh,
that was the first thing that came to mind. And
I went and read those scriptures and lo and behold, uh,
the Holy Spirit spoke and said, called to be an
(25:03):
apostle of Jesus Christ and the preaching of the gospel.
So to me, that was the confirmation of what he
wanted me to do.
S1 (25:12):
That is a great story, James. Thank you for sharing
that today. I love that, especially that 18th verse. And
then following has always been, um, encouraging to me. Where
is the who? Where's the wise person? Where's the teacher
of the law? Where's the debater of this age? Hasn't
God made the world's wisdom foolish? For since God and
(25:33):
his wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom,
God was pleased to save those who believe through the
foolishness of what is preached. And look at you. Look
at you following that all these years. God bless you, friend.
That's James. What's your story? More straight ahead. This is
(26:03):
Chris Fabry live. We're talking about books you read as
a child, books read to you, or maybe your present
day experience. My mother read to me what a gift.
I can still hear her voice. And the book that
I remember that I have not been able to find.
I've seen reference to it. But is Freddie the cat
who thought he was people? Uh, and there's a there's
another one, The kitten who thought he was a mouse.
(26:25):
For some reason, those just really captivated, you know, this
one being who thought they were another. Just like the.
The goose, the duck, the ugly duckling. Moms give a
lasting legacy to their children by some really simple things.
They do dads too. Of course, all this month Carenet,
(26:46):
which is a pro abundant life ministry, has been encouraging
moms because they know how important moms are to the
family and to society at large. So here's a gift
for every mom. Click the green net link at Chris
Fabry Live. They have a free devotional. It's seven days
of encouragement titled Finding Abundance for moms. No matter how
(27:09):
chaotic or mundane your day may be. Carenet believes for moms,
you are made for more than just surviving. You were
made to thrive. And this devotional will help you embrace
abundant life. Click the Green connect link at Chris Fabry Live.
Chris Fabry lives. And we also Tricia told me this
(27:32):
because Tricia is going to be working behind the scenes
on this, that there's a special on Moody Radio. Tomorrow
starts at 5:00 central, I believe, a two hour special
that is sponsored with Moody Radio and Alliance for the unreached.
And the title is Until All Here. Do you know
(27:54):
that a third of humanity has no access to the gospel?
So in this broadcast, you're going to hear several of
the hosts and the guests talk about that. Talk about
some of the good news that is coming out, and
talk about the, um, the struggle to let all hear
(28:15):
that good news. You want to find out more about that?
We have a link at the website as well, Chris.
Fabry lived until all here. If you don't get to
hear it, it'll be available as a special on the
website too, I believe. Joanne's in Indiana. Joanne, why did
you call today?
S9 (28:32):
Well, I was driving down the road and trying to
think what was my first memory. And I have two.
The one is my mom reading Peter Rabbit by Beatrix
Potter and not being captivated by the story as much
as the paintings, and how they were so realistic and
(28:54):
yet so precious and childlike. And I think it's fostered
my love of watercolors to this day. Oh, it's.
S1 (29:01):
A watercolor book. Oh, neat.
S9 (29:03):
Yes, yes, Beatrix Potter painted all in watercolors and, um,
so but her artwork was just amazing. And I think
that made it come alive more than the story. But
I always wondered why what a rabbit pie was, because
it's written in England. And so Mr. McGregor's wife was
going to make him into a rabbit pie, and I
(29:23):
didn't know what that was. Um, but the other and
I have multiple volumes of it, and my children have
multiple volumes of it. Of all the Beatrix Potter books.
And my grandchildren have copies of the Beatrix Potter books,
which are massive book people. But the other, the other
part of the conversation is my grandmother, who sold World
(29:46):
Book encyclopedias, and they had the Childcraft series. And in
the Childcraft series, they have poetry and prose, and my
grandmother wrote us poems every time we would visit her
in Kansas, and silly poems like The Raggedy Man and
what I thought was a very scary poems like The
(30:08):
Duel Between the Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat, and
silly limericks like Ella, telephony, and, um, those are just.
I have the same. And it wasn't pretty. It wasn't
a pretty book. It was a gray book with a
purple label. But the pictures inside were simple. Also, it
was the poetry and my grandmother reading it to us
(30:31):
and my adult kids. My adult kids have memorized some
of these. The puffin, um, my daughter did as a
dramatic presentation when she was in Bible college. Wow. And
the puffin there once was a puffin who couldn't eat nothing.
S1 (30:49):
And a good language.
S9 (30:51):
Great.
S1 (30:52):
The words are just so much fun. And to tell
these stories and for you to say, you know, and
how many times this is coming up, I can see
that book. I know what color it is. It's watercolor.
Beatrix Potter did this. And the other thing is the
sensory thing of holding a book in your hands or
seeing your parent hold this, and then their finger going
(31:13):
across the words and you connecting words and these squiggles
on the page. And then slowly, day by day, learning
how to read.
S9 (31:27):
Yes. Well, in my I stayed with my grandparents in
Kansas for three weeks one summer while my father and
mother went to, um. My father was an ornithologist, and
they were going to meetings in Europe. And by the
end of that, I had most of those poems memorized
because my grandma read them to me every night, and
she didn't know I was memorizing them until I started
(31:47):
reciting them with her. Wow. So and they're still in
my head today. I can still tell you.
S1 (31:53):
So that's it? They're still in your head today. And
and of course, you know, there are people who say, well,
you ought to be memorizing the Bible. Well. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.
But there's something about this, you know, the stories that
you read to your children, with your children that stick
with you. And then all these years later, the caller
(32:15):
who said the horse and his boy, and seeing that
scene play itself out in his own life, uh, in
a hard time and a difficult time, not being able
to see the person but hear the voice and be
able to follow that. That's gold.
S9 (32:33):
Well, and memorizing memorizing poem helps you memorize because the
rhyme which makes you better at memorizing scripture.
S1 (32:40):
Yes, exactly. Exactly. They're gateways. Hey, thank you so much
for your call today. There was a call four years
ago that reminds me of what we just heard. And
listen for the emotion in Gina's voice.
S10 (32:54):
Johnny, go round is a yellow tomcat. Would you like
to know why we call him that? Because Johnny goes
round when he likes to play. That's all I remember. Um,
but my mom read to us a lot. Um, and
one of my fondest memories is. And I can still
So picture myself sitting next to her on the couch. Um,
(33:16):
she was to my right, and I had brought home
my first grade reader. This was back when kids didn't
really go to kindergarten much, and we began reading in
first grade. And I can remember sitting next to her
and being able to read a whole page, and the
words came alive, and, oh, I'm going to cry. What
(33:38):
I remember most is looking out of the corner of
my eye and the smile on my mom's face, because
she knew now I had this wonderful gift and I
could read. And I had just been given this amazing
gift that she had.
S1 (33:59):
Okay. So that to me, that is a holy moment.
And and you don't get a holy moment like that.
You know, quality time. Uh, and I believe that there's
quality time, but you don't get a holy moment like
that without quantity, time and quantity. Time is sitting and reading,
listening to the questions, stopping. Wait, why did that happen
(34:22):
and what is going on here and what, you know,
those types of things. On our Facebook page, there are
people who are posting pictures of themselves when they were young,
pictures of the books that they read as children. And
there's just this explosion, I think, of memories that are
happening and this is really good. I hope you're enjoying
(34:44):
our conversation today at the Radio Backyard Fence. More calls
coming up about those books. And remember the book that
I read a little earlier, Ruth Jo Simons. This is
my last opportunity today to tell you give a gift
of any size at Chris Fabry live, and we'll send
you home as right where you are. Let's go to
Chris Fabry live. What was the book you remember? John says,
(35:18):
probably Curious George might have been Clifford the Big Red dog.
It was my mom and I who read it, and
we still love to read it. Mother read the Bible
to me every night, Carol says from the time I
was born until I could read it for myself. Other
than that, it was Cinderella fairy tales. She taught me
to love and enjoy reading. Kirsten is in Illinois. Kirsten.
(35:41):
Go right ahead. What do you say today?
S11 (35:44):
So I have a couple of them. One is like
the first book I remember is I think It's Down
by the Bay or something that my kindergarten teacher read
to us. And I don't know if it is an
actual song in the back or if we just turned
it into a song, but I remember I loved it
when we'd read that one because it was always fun.
It had, like, llamas and llamas and pajamas. Pajamas. Whatever.
(36:06):
Down by the Bay.
S12 (36:11):
Yep. But the other one that I remember.
S11 (36:13):
Um, kind of on the tail of your last caller,
my grandmother, she didn't read it to us, but she
memorized and would recite it by rote. Um, by Eugene
Field is called the Dinky Bird. And something that my
grandma would recite to us. And then my mom recited
it to my nephews, and I have, like, I could
(36:35):
I could kind of. I remember when I was little,
I could kind of put in some words like, yep, yep, yep,
I saw it along. I remembered part of it. But
as an adult, I made sure I made it a
point to memorize it, and I taught it to my
kids and I my mom a few Christmases ago, I
don't know, maybe upwards of ten years ago already, I
don't know. She got a copy of the book that
(36:55):
my grandma had read, and she gifted me and each
of my three siblings a copy of the book. It
was in the early 1900s written, but it had that
poem in there. And one of my children. He's 14 now.
He memorized it and he could recite it by rote.
And I've even written, um, written, handwritten out a copy
(37:16):
of it for my kids so that they could have
something not just, you know, not just the poem itself,
but something written by their mom. Um, you know, handwritten.
So they say, um, so they could keep as a memory.
And that's something that I. I never thought I'd be
able to memorize it, but I ended up finding out
that the the second stanza to it or a second
part to it, it's like, oh, and memorizing that. And
(37:37):
so it's.
S1 (37:38):
Can you do a little bit of that? Can we
hear a little bit of the dinky, the dinky birds.
S11 (37:43):
The birds. Yep. In an ocean way out yonder, as
all sapient people know, is a land of wonder. Wonder
where their children must go. Their laughter playing, singing. They
give great joy to me. For the dinky birds singing
in the trees there the gumdrops grow like cherries. Taffy, caramels.
(38:04):
You pick like berries. Fun. Where and how you please.
Big red sugar plums are clinging to the cliffside. That
for the. Thank you for listening. And the absolute truth.
S1 (38:14):
Okay, I'm gonna stop you right there. You can hear
the language of that, and it's a little. It's a
little hard to hear. Everybody's going to go and find
the donkey bird poem and read that after the program today. Kirsten,
thank you for calling in. And that just shows the
power of the, you know, a parent or grandparent passing
it along to one generation to another, which is kind
(38:35):
of where Susie in Indiana is going to take us. Susie,
what do you say today?
S13 (38:40):
I just remember my grandma. We got to spend one
of us. There were four kids, so each one got
to spend the weekend in succession with grandma and then,
you know, took out. We went out to eat, we
got to sleep at our house. And I remember that
she would read to me by the by the shores
(39:00):
of Gitchee Gumee by the shining big sea water Stood
the Wigwam of Nokomis. Daughter of the moon. Nokomis. It
was all about this Indian lady and her little grandson
that she was caring for.
S1 (39:17):
I remember my mother using that. And I heard Gitchee gumee.
I can remember from early childhood hearing the word gitchee
gumee and thinking, what in the world is that? Because
she would say it by the shining big sea waters.
And that just. And those words just kind of washed
over me. And I think it's partly why I love
(39:40):
words so much, because she did. And she passed that
love on to us boys. So you're saying something really
important here. Susie, thank you for calling today.
S13 (39:52):
Yeah, I think it's an Indian word. Maybe for Lake
Michigan or something like that. I'm not.
S1 (39:56):
Sure you're right.
S13 (39:57):
But it's a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Yeah, it's a it's
a classical piece. And I remember feeling so protected and
sleepy and, you know, ready to go to sleep when
you heard things like that.
S1 (40:09):
There is a peace and a calm that comes over
you and and something that you can kind of jump
in and swim in, like the shining big sea waters.
The the comfort of those words slowed down. You're not
going to get that with the phone that you hold
in your hand, as good as those are, or a
(40:30):
tablet that you have, or a computer screen that you have.
I'm not saying I'm using one now. Okay. But there's
something about words hidden in the heart. Books held in
the hand. Something about him. Books, too. Don't get me
on that. Ryan, what are you doing? Uh, Trina is
in Florida. Hi, Trina. Go ahead.
S9 (40:52):
Yes. Hi.
S14 (40:54):
So it's not that anyone, um, read a book to me,
but when I was about three years old, 2 or 3,
I taught myself how to read with the Mattel toy. Um,
see and say so. My favorite book was Cinderella, and
I would read it probably like three times a day, um,
to the point that my mom would say, put that
book down. And, um, I remember like, just feeling so
(41:18):
sorry and crying for Cinderella. Like, why does her family
treat her that way? And when, um, I started having
around six years old, I started having nightmares that I
was actually Cinderella, although I was not abused in my family.
So around the age of 25, I took my mom
(41:38):
to lunch. Um, she had given her life to Christ
by then, and we were talking and I just asked her,
you know, do you have anything to tell me? Like,
are you really my mommy? Is my dad my dad?
And that was what I would say to her when
I woke up crying after the nightmares. And she finally
told me that I did have a different dad than
who I thought. And, um, it just opened the door.
(42:01):
Like God always shows me the truth through dreams. And
you know just how I identify with Cinderella. So it
just always leaves a great place in my heart to
reflect and think, um, how good God is to me.
S1 (42:16):
You know, when I heard the Trina you tell the story,
I thought you were going to take us to a
different place there. Because some of those stories, uh, whether
they were fairy tales or whatever they are, there's the
nerve that is touched inside is the injustice. It's like
they shouldn't be treating her that way. Why are they
treating her that way? You know, and then the.
S14 (42:38):
That way.
S1 (42:39):
Yeah. Well, well. And then the the ending is like
you become, you overcome the injustice and, you know, it's
like the hope that that gives you. But for you,
the nerve down deep was there's something wrong here. And
I don't know what it is. There's something off and
and you, you stayed with that and you didn't push
(43:00):
it down, right?
S15 (43:02):
Yes, yes.
S14 (43:03):
And it's like that for me till this day. Like
it just. It's just God's story in my life. Um.
That I can always detect truth from what's not truth.
S1 (43:14):
Yeah. Well, I'm glad you called in today. And that
that is a lifelong pursuit, friend. And you keep doing it. Um,
thank you for for lending your voice, Sarah in Alabama.
Got to get to Sarah. Sarah, what do you say today?
S16 (43:28):
Well, I just remember, uh, reading the book, uh, the chosen,
its adopted children.
S1 (43:35):
Right.
S16 (43:36):
And, uh, so we adopted two children, and I always
remember that book, and and, uh, it was. I don't
know where. I don't know, I must have lost it
somewhere because we moved several times, and, well, you.
S1 (43:52):
Didn't lose it in your head, though. You didn't lose
it in your memory. It's still there, right?
S16 (43:58):
It's still there. Yes, because I caused. My chosen daughter
is still with me. So.
S1 (44:04):
Ah, yes. And that's the book that the, uh, the
very first caller Michelle talked about four years ago. The
chosen baby. And that was what she was read to
after being adopted. And you did the same thing.
S16 (44:20):
Yes, I did.
S1 (44:22):
Yeah. Well, Sarah, uh, where did you where did you
move from? How many states have you ever lived in?
Has it always been Alabama?
S16 (44:30):
Uh, no. We moved from Mississippi to Tennessee, and then
we moved to Alabama.
S1 (44:37):
Okay. And that's where. That's where you are. And that's
where you're staying, right?
S16 (44:42):
That's right.
S1 (44:45):
God bless you, friend. Thank you. Thank you for that
memory of the chosen baby. And, uh, for all the
all of you who've called in, I see some we
haven't gotten to Secret Garden, Sam fangs and moonshine. Barbara
says My Scottish grandfather welcomed me to town library every
(45:05):
every week we brought home a book. I recall my sister,
seven years older, reading me to me, Curious George. My
dad reading a Bible story book to me every night
while my mom bathed. My younger sister rocked her to sleep.
I just there's something about the innocence of all of
(45:26):
this and the, um, the the fire in the belly,
the fire in the heart and the hearth that you
can sense from all of these different stories of family.
And I want to say to anybody who says, I
never had that. I don't have that in my life. Uh,
(45:46):
didn't hear from anybody like that today. But I know
you're there. I know there's somebody there. You don't have
to let that hold you back. If you have children
or grandchildren, you can pass that on to them what
you didn't have or to somebody else, or to have
someone now read to you. I love reading audio books
(46:07):
and and listening to those people interpret things like that.
We did that a little earlier today with Ruth. Joe
Simon's book Home Is Right Where You Are, inspired by
Psalm 23. A number of you have given gifts today
and are going to receive that. It's still available just
for today and tomorrow. So click through Chris fabric.org Chris
(46:30):
fabric.com or call us at 86695. Favorite. Thanks for your
support of the back fence. Don't miss Monday the two
Michaels are back in town on Chris Fabry Live, a
production of Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute.
Have a great weekend.
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