Fast and the Curious

I’m aware … I don’t know if you know … but I am aware that even on this very blog I don’t always come quick to fulfil my word. It’s not to say I don’t fulfil my word, it’s just that my original timescale for fulfilling it and the actual timing are somewhat skewed. Now I know you find that hard to believe, after all how can a man of my verbose nature struggle with time-keeping?? OK silly question, end of the day I’m not always prompt and don’t always make my deadlines but I guarantee you my heart is well into improving in this area so that when I say we will have this, then I say it knowing I will deliver – a bit like the Man I follow.

To give an example of what I’m talking about, check this entry last year giving an update on how I was. Note specifically the promise of something on Desperately Seeking God looking at fasting. So that was April, check what I say in May. It’s looking good, but not quite coming out on time. Now check what I say month later.

So there you go – good intentions, bit slow in matching it with outcomes … until now.

So I was not sure if I ever documented my journey in fasting but it’s worth putting it down in this series the first entry will be called … well you can read the title can’t you! For the benefit of the exercise the definition of fasting I’m using is the abstinence of food and drink for some spiritual purpose. More details will emerge as the blogs go on.

Fasting was fairly alien to me until I left home for university. Now hold on a minute, you might say … if you had an inkling about my upbringing. Your parents are Christian, no? You go to church, no? Your church does fasting, no? So … help me out here how does that work? Those kinds of questions could be buzzing around … or not – that depends on you right but I’m happy to air questions you may have asked in your head, it gives a base to answer them. So yes my parents are Christians and dedicated ones at that, not nominal types. The home church in which I grew up was into fasting … I think. It was never a big deal in my family and I never got the impression it was that big a deal in the church. As a result I didn’t make a big deal of it. In fact forget a big deal, it wasn’t a deal at all!

This changed in 1997 when I spent the summer with a family friend who was yet to become a personal dear friend (hey Reuben!). During my time with him, I went to the church observance of fasting on the first Sunday of every month. This was not a practice that I did back in my hometown church for whatever reason. This church practice was a meeting for a few hours to pray. It was not that memorable. In fact I couldn’t recall anything of great significance during that period about fasting and praying other than it being done and the great relief that took place when I could actually eat again. The fasting wasn’t for that long anyway, well it felt long but it was barely the day itself in which we fasted and other than the meeting itself my mind wasn’t really focussed on anything in particular during the time of fasting.

So that’s a starter for ten, find out more about my journey of fasting in the next blog where you’ll discover how things took a change the more I got involved in church stuff. You’ll also get to see how I grew in my understanding of just how important fasting is not just for church stuff but individual consequences. See the link that this had with some of my eating habits.

For His Name's Sake

Shalom

dmcd