Fasting Part 2

It has now been 5 1/2 days since I started fasting, which means that while I am hungry, the hardest part is behind me (I think). It takes your body some time to adjust to the fact that you are not feeding it anymore, and days 3 and 4 were really tough for me. Yesterday and today though, I felt a lot better, and was able to relax more and not worry so much about being hungry. Before I get into more physical effects, however, I would like to talk about what fasting is like for me in general.

I usually have one of two reasons for fasting. Sometimes I have something important, usually a big decision, and I fast so that I can focus on praying and seeking God's direction. Sometimes I fast because I need time to refocus on God and fasting gives me a chance to regain that focus. As I mentioned in the last post I am fasting for the second reason this time.

Whenever you start fasting you need to think carefully about what you are going to give up, how long you are going to give it up for, and especially what your goal is during that time. One of the biggest advantages I find from fasting is that you instantly have extra free time. If you are not eating, not preparing food, and not shopping (very much) there is a lot of extra time in your day. There are many different kinds of fasting from something as simple as giving up meat to something as intense as going without any food and water. What is really important when it comes to fasting is that your are expressing your devotion to God through giving up something that is a normal part of your life. For this particular fast in addition to giving up food I am also going on a partial technology fast, giving up video games, and minimizing my time on the internet. This is great for me because I have a chance to step back from somethings that I normally do almost every day and show God and myself that I don't rely on this temporal things, but instead place my reliance on God.

The Bible gives many examples of different kinds of fasts. Daniel and his friends decided to live on only vegetables and water for a time. David fasted from food for seven days while he was praying for God to spare the life of his first child by Bathsheba. He had a specific reason to pray to God and he did not want to be distracted from his supplication to God by food. Once God answered his prayer, (although not in the way he wanted) he happily started to eat again. Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry, and while the Bible says that he ate no food, we are to assume that he did drink water during that time. I believe that forty days is the longest period of time recorded for a fast in the Bible and that is also regarded as the longest period of time to safely go without food. The Bible also records that after Paul witnessed Jesus on the Damascus road he went three days without eating or drinking, and three days is probably the longest that it is safe to go without water. The Bible records the story of Elijah who ran in the strength of the Lord for forty days without food or drink, but this seems to be an act of God, and not something that humans can repeat. So if you are thinking of fasting I would recommend drinking at least water, and not going any longer than forty days.

Personally I like to follow the example of Bill Bright, and engage in a juice fast. This means that in addition to water I drink a variety of juices. Just water will keep you alive, but you have very little energy to use. I tried to fast while drinking only water one time, and after a few days I started drinking juice because felt so tired all of the time. Juice does not really satisfy you, and you will still feel the effects of going without food, but it is a great alternative for someone like me who likes to be active.

Fasting Part 1

Hi everyone,
It has been a while since my last post, but I have something that I want to talk about, so I think that I will do that over the next few weeks. So let me give the back story first.

Two weeks ago was the Japanese holiday period know as Golden Week, a time when there happens to be a bunch of holidays close to each other. I did not have to work on Monday or Tuesday, so I went to Kobe from May 3rd to May 6th. In Kobe I attended the JCF Retreat. JCF stands for Jet Christian Fellowship. I had an amazing time of worshiping and learning more about God, meeting new people, and praying. One of my new friends shared a devotional from her church back in America, which was three weeks long, and I decided to do it. The devotional mentioned that it would be a good idea to fast while doing the devotional, and I decided to do that. The devotional detailed several different kinds of fasting, but I wanted to do what I usually do, which is a juice fast. What I would like to do in this series of blog posts is describe what fasting is like, and give some tips for anyone else who is interested in fasting. Before I go any further though, I want to advise anyone who is interested in fasting to look at the excellent guide over on the Cru website by Dr. Bill Bright. Probably most of what I do for fasting, and what I am going to say about fasting is taken from Dr. Bright. Here is the link to the website if you want to check it out. http://www.cru.org/training-and-growth/devotional-life/7-steps-to-fasting/01-personal-guide.htm

I first started fasting when I was in college with 30 hour famine. They had an event on campus, and I decided to try it out. What I usually do is a juice fast which means that I don't eat any food, but I drink juice in addition to water.I feel that fasting is a very positive experience for me and I have done it periodically through the years since then. I have gradually increased the time that I have fasted and the longest that I have gone so far is 10. I am trying for 21 days now, so it is definitely going to be a challenge. So why am I doing it? Well I have a couple of reasons. First off the time that I have been spending with God recently has been very sparse. I have been very busy, and it has been squeezing God time out. The retreat was a great wake up call for me, and I don't want to lose what I gained during that time. Also, as the devotional specifically requests fasting I feel that this is a great opportunity to do that. So that's all for now, but if you want to learn more about fasting please check out my future blog posts.

Christmas in America

Well my last day in Japan (for now) started with lots of commuting. First I had to take a train with the Otsukas to the bus station, and then I had to take a bus to Narita Airport. I started out at 9, because I wanted to make sure that I wasn't late. I made it to Narita, with plenty of time to spare, and ended sitting in the terminal for quite a while, but of it's always nice to be early. Well the flight was good, I got a lot accomplished (aka I watched a lot of movies). We made it to JFK in good time, and I had a nice long wait before my flight to Pittsburgh. My biggest concern about my travels was the tranfer in Pittsburgh because I was switching carriers and I didn't have a lot of time. It turns out that I needn't have worried becase my flight was delayed, and if I had taken i I would have missed my connection to Boston. There were no other flights that night so I had to stay in Pittsburgh overnight until my new flight left at 6:00. So here I am sitting on the plane feeling not so great. I got a little bit of sleep, but not nearly enough, and my diet recently has been sparing. On the plus side, I have a ridiculous amount of leg room, and I'm finally on my way, first to D.C. and then to Boston. And it's snowing! The first snow I have seen this winter!

Christmas in America

Well, another day , another adventure. Today was Sunday and I got to go to church in Saitama. It was quite a big church and we had a very special Christmas service along with five baptisms. After lunch Isayah and I went shopping so that I could finsh my Christmas. Next we went to visit Shimon at the bakery which was lots of fun. We came back home and ate Shabu-shabu, a quite delicious meal which involves mixing vegetables and thin pieces of meat in a big pot of boiling water. After supper we had time to watch a Rudolf the red-red nosed reindeer, for the first time for most of the Otsukas. Well, time for bed, going to America tomorrow.

Christmas in America

Well the journey to Tokyo was successful! I got to see Mt. Fuji for the first time, and even got a little bit of sleep. I was supposed to meet the Otsukas in Tokyo, and I had sent them an email informing them of my changed plans. Unfortunately they didn't get my email, so they ended up waiting for me for a while, but it worked out in the end. We met at about 10, and then got some breakfast. Since we were already in Tokyo we were planning on spending the day before returning to the Otsukas apartment in Saitama, about an hour away. Well we had a grand old time! We visited the Imperial Residence (just the outside). We visited a very tall building with a great view of Tokyo. We had lunch in a yummy ramen joint. We visited a Buddhist temple and a number of shops. Also, I managed to complete most of my Christmas shopping; I can't elaborate here for security reasons. We ended by visiting some of the most popular places in Tokyo and seeing the beautiful night scenery. As of this writing I am up to about forty straight hours with maybe only one hour of sleep. Needless to say by the end of the day I was a little bit fatigued, but I managed to make it back to tje Otsukas house where I finally have a chance to make up on this lost sleep. So Good Night!

Christmas in America

Well I made it out of karaoke with my sanity and most of my dignity intact. I was killing the Les Mis songs (in a good way) Yoshimi seemed to really enjoy them. Things hit a low point when I broke out Paper Planes and Always Look on the Bright Side, but I finished strong with Sweet Caroline. Interesting note, did you know that Japanese karaoke plays the actual music video for Call Me Maybe? I think that the Japanese just haven't figured out yet that it's about a gay guy. Anyways, now I'm waiting at Shinkobe Station after a thoroughly enjoyable night.

Karaoke

Well the stop to Kobe quickly turned into a disaster. Yoshimi was going to meet me in Kobe, and we were going to have dinner before I left on the overnight bus to Tokyo. I had asked Yoshimi to show me where the bus left from because I didn't think that it was the normal bus terminal. Yoshimi was confident that she knew where I should leave from. I was already running late, so we didn't have time for supper, but I still had plenty of time to make my bus. Unfortunately Yoshimi did not know from whence my bus was leaving, and we spent about an hour looking before we finally found the place. The bus was obviously gone by then, and after examining all my options, I realized that there was no way for me to leave for Tokyo that night. It was pretty late at this point, my bus was supposed to leave at ten, so it would have been very difficult to stay with a friend. After getting some supper Yoshimi and I decided that we would go do Karaoke all night and then I would catch the first Shinkansen in the morning. So here we are singing our voices hoarse. Yoshimi claims that she is not  a great singer, and shes not, but then neither am I, and we have had great success with a few songs. Our White Christmas was great, and California Dreaming was pretty great.