We fasted for 24 hours, ending yesterday at 5pm. This was part of our preparation for Africa. I hadn't fasted in a really long time. This cartoon from Cartoon Stock describes our (Dan and I) state of mind going into the fast...
When Dan and I sat down to eat dinner and end the fast, I was a little bit sad that it was over. I spent the day praying a lot more than usual. My day had a different pace, a different focus, a different way about it. Now that I've got one fast over with, I'm going to plan ahead for the next time, probably early next week. I'd like to spend some of the time memorizing scripture. And I'm going to have a specific prayer list to work through. If I'm totally honest and "without wax", I've got to say that I was more hungry for food than for God during this fast. It makes me sad to realize this, yet at the same time, it's like an intense hunger for God was stirred up in me overall and now I'm looking forward to the next fast and wondering if I could possibly go 48 hrs instead of 24 and I'm planning to go to the Prayer Garden between now and then to re-focus on God and I have an acute awareness of how easily I let my life run on auto-pilot and stored up frequent flier miles from past spiritual experiences.
Our teenage sons participated in the fast, but we decided to substitute something they really love and depend on rather than food due to nutritional concerns - Michael has started taking his malaria meds and they have to be taken with food; Steven is in football training and I didn't think it was smart to cut out food with the amount of calories he's currently burning every day.
Michael dearly loves his ipod and was looking forward to listening to tunes and even loaded the Message Remix New Testament on his ipod to listen to all the way to Africa. Well, we decided that Michael would fast from his ipod until they reached London. He started his fast on Tuesday night and he probably reached London at about 6am this morning. He took his Bible, some Narnia books, and a journal to help occupy his time.
Steven started his fast yesterday at 3pm. His sacrifice is electronics. Cell phone (texting), ipod, xbox, rock band, guitar hero, computer, tv, all the fun distractions that are interwoven into his daily life. He has already cleaned his room this morning, taken a shower, put away the dishes, taken out the trash. I haven't heard "I'll do that in just a minute, I'll get to it right after this song, I'll help you as soon as there's a commercial" or heard the text ring from his phone this morning. Nice.
In case you were wondering, I didn't make a massively large meal to celebrate the end of the fast (as was my first instinct). I made a really simple dinner - homemade beans and cornbread, topped with sour cream, grated cheddar, chopped jalapenos, cilantro, onions, and fresh salsa. It tasted magnificent!!