by Tim | Jan 5, 2011 | God, My World |
Today has been the worst day of my fast. I was hoping that wouldn’t be the case, since everyone says that day 3 is the worst. I thought the worst was behind me… Regarding hunger pains, this day has definitely been easy. But the problem is in my mind. While I don’t feel much, if any, physical hunger sensations, I’m just plain tired of not eating. I just want to be able to eat. And there are specific things I’d just love to have right now: pizza (I never want pizza!) scrambled eggs sausage Tostitos (I never crave Tostitos!) a nice big sandwich any kind of meat dish quesadillas I could go on. Surprisingly, I couldn’t care for any desserts (even ice cream, my favorite food) or fast food of any kind. Then again, I’m not a huge fast food fan, anyway. It’s a last resort for me. But it’s weird to me that certain food stands out to me right now–there’s no rhyme or reason I can see. I wonder if this is similar to temptation in the Garden of Eden. The Bible says that Eve saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, she ate it. I think I can relate. There’s nothing wrong with eating food, and it seems so desirable right now, even though I’m not physically hungry. Perhaps the saying “you don’t know what you have until you lose it” fits the situation. Just like when you get sick and you wish so much that you would return to health and be able to breathe easily...
by Tim | Jan 4, 2011 | God, My World |
I don’t plan on blogging for each day of my fast–just whenever I have something to say. However, I thought it would be good to at least do the first 3 days, since they are the hardest. And day 3 has indeed been the hardest. My hunger was a little intensified today, but not a whole lot. What really got me is that I needed to do shopping and errands today at several stores, and I wore myself out doing that. I’m pretty exhausted–so I’m sure this post will be short. Interestingly, my hunger today is more on junk food, rather than apples, etc. I think I don’t really have increased hunger, it’s more like I just miss the foods I like. I’m hoping that tomorrow will be easier than today. After all, it’s day 4–should be the day I break this barrier! I look forward to being able to pray without having the distraction of hunger in the background. I’m shooting a video tomorrow, and I’m sure we’ll take a lunch break. I’m looking forward to getting away during that hour to pray and read the Bible! Up to this point, that’s been hard to do. Well, that’s all for now. Time to crash!...
by Tim | Jan 3, 2011 | God, My World |
On day 2 of fasting, I woke up feeling very weak. When I took a shower, it was all I could do to lift my arms up to wash my hair. After taking a shower, I had to sit down on the bed for 5-10 minutes just to allow my heartbeat to slow down and relax a little. By the time I was dressed and ready for the day, I suddenly felt like I could throw up. After talking with Audra, I realized I hadn’t drunk any water since I woke up, and thought maybe that would help. It did, indeed. The feeling went away immediately. One of the most important things on a fast is drinking lots of water. I am figuring that the reason I felt this way this morning was because I didn’t drink water for so many hours because of sleeping. I will make it a habit from now on to drink a glass of water immediately after waking. Speaking of drinking water, I’ve never drunk so much in my life. I go to the bathroom more than a pregnant woman. Those of you who know me well know that I don’t drink much liquids most days. It’s not uncommon for me to eat an entire meal and go on with my day without drinking anything. But my throat feels dry most of the time, so I continue to gulp it down. As I was praying and preparing for church this morning, I found myself inadvertently humming a song I haven’t heard since I was in high school. Surprisingly, the words to the song really...
by Tim | Jan 2, 2011 | God, My World |
Our church is starting the year off with 40 days of prayer and fasting. I’ve debated whether to blog about this or not, in light of Jesus’ words about fasting and not proclaiming it wherever you go. In the end, I feel Jesus is addressing a mindset and arrogant heart that tries to get praise from people when one fasts, and that’s not my goal. In fact, most–if not all–of the people who read this blog I never see anyways–they’re google-searchers or friends of mine from the past, so I’m not trying to impress anyone around here. If anyone around here does read this, they’re participating in the fast too, so this isn’t breaking any secrets. The reason I want to blog about this experience is because so few of us fast, and I think it would be beneficial to hear someone’s account. I figure it can only help gain a better understanding for fasting, and that anything we can do to make fasting less of a foreign concept is a good thing (since Jesus assumed His people would fast when He left the earth). I must admit that this is only the second time in my life that I have done a “real” fast. I’ve done a few other fasts where I don’t eat for a day, and then once nightfall comes, I pig out. 🙂 There’s only been one other time that I’ve fasted for about 3-4 days, and it was an interesting experience. This time, I plan on fasting for as long as my body allows during this 40-day period. Because of my body type and...
by Tim | Dec 28, 2010 | God, My World |
Here are some of the reasons that compel me to believe that Christianity is indeed true and that Jesus is in fact who the Bible claims Him to be. It all fits very well. Not just all the prophecies in the Old Testament (such as Isaiah 58), but also the laws (such as the commands for how to perform sacrifices for sin removal) as well as holidays (such as Passover) and stories (such as Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac) seem to indicate that there has been a plan all along for a messiah to come, and that God had been hinting this all along. Just reading the book of Hebrews is compelling enough for me. It lays out so many parallels between Jesus and how He fulfills the Old Covenant. It doesn’t fit TOO well. There are still unanswered questions and things that puzzle me as to how they fit. If it all fit perfectly together, I would be concerned that this was a man-made invention. Instead, some things seem out of grasp, which requires one to use their mind instead of blindly accepting what someone else says. Christianity requires one to put all their hope, dependence, and trust in their Creator for eternal life, rather than other religions which try to find ways for humans to achieve this through their own merits. Something inside of me tells me that those are all false hopes, and that only God can fix what I feel broken on the inside of me. Christians don’t believe the Bible is simply “spiritually” true, but historically true as well. The faith is based on...
