So Lent is centralized around three actions that are lived out through the season…prayer, fasting, and generosity. I’ve already covered prayer.

The idea behind fasting is two fold. The first is to deny yourself of something you like/need in order to drive/draw to you God. The second is to give yourself extra time to pray (which pours back into the first part).

Most fasts typically give up food for a season of time, but there are a lot of options for fasting during the Lent season. You normally start on Ash Wednesday and go until Easter taking Sunday’s off (adding up to 47 days). Sunday is suppose to be a time of celebration, therefore you don’t fast at that time.

In this post I hope to give you a few tips for fasting that I’ve picked up. Once again, I’ve only been regularly fasting for about a half-a-year, but hopefully you can learn from the mistakes that I’ve already made.

1. Be honest with yourself
   Forty days is a long time to go without something no matter what it is. For most this will be a life changing event. Be honest with yourself. Don’t say you are going to give up TV for Lent if you know that there is no way that you really will. You’re just setting yourself up for disappointment. Be honest with yourself and give up something that you know you will be able to go without for 40 days.
   If you’ve already started a fast and are realizing now that you’ve bitten off more than you can chew (sorry I couldn’t pass up that pun), it’s ok to edit your fast. God won’t shot you with lightening bolts from heaven (or will He….hmmmm).
2. Start Small
   If this is the first time that you are going to fast, don’t give up everything but water (by the way this is the hardest and most dangerous of all fasts and should only be done with a doctors supervision). Start off small. Give up meat or alcohol (for all my boozers out there). Then work your way up to harder fasts later down the road.
   My first fast was a three day all juice fast. Since then I’ve done a three week juice fast and a three week fruits and vegetable fast. But the key is to start small and work your way up to more challenging fasts.
   A side note though, make sure that the fast is still challenging, or else you’re not fasting. You’re just giving something up for a little while.
3. Check your calendar
   This will happen every time you decide to do a fast. You will swear off booz for a week, and an hour later your best friend who you haven’t seen in four years will call you up out of the blue for a beer. These are the things you have to prepare yourself for. But you need to make sure in advance that you don’t already have something scheduled that will conflict with your fast. This might mean that you are going to need to reschedule your fast, alter your fast, reschedule your event, or be prepared for the temptation that comes with your event.
4. People will find out
   Jesus tells us that we aren’t to proclaim to people that we are fasting, but the reality is that people will find out (unless you’re giving up some obscure thing that no one would notice anyways…even you). When people notice that you turn down their offer for a Starbucks run for the fifth time in a row, they will start to ask questions. I find this is a great opportunity to share the gospel with them in a simple and humble fashion. “Oh I’ve given up coffee for Lent so I can draw closer to God.” The key is to not make a big deal about it and most of the time they won’t either.
5. Don’t do it alone
   Fasting isn’t a glamorous or easy act. So don’t go it alone. Team up with a friend or a group of friends. This way you have someone to pray with during lunch. You can also pray for each other during your fasts too.
6. It’s not a contest
   This happened to me on my first 40-day fast. I had given up all food for forty days and I was doing really well…too well in fact. I was getting really excited. I was half way through the fast and was really starting to get full of my self. I was starting to think about how cool it was going to be to tell people that I had gone 40 days without any solid food (I was just having juice and smoothie every now and then). I knew I needed to edit my fast mid-stream and start a fruits and vegetables fast. This kept me from being prideful, but still allowed me to deny myself and drive myself to God.
   If you find yourself getting prideful about your fast, it’s time stop and reevaluate your actions. Remember your purpose is to draw closer to God.
7. If necessary, STOP
   There are times when you will just need to stop your fast all together. Your health is a really good reason for this. Any fast where you deny yourself of food can be dangerous to your health (do lots of research before you give up any type of food).
   The main reason to stop is if your fast interferes with your relationship with God. I have a friend who doesn’t fast because he says that he ends up focusing on the fast rather than focusing on God. Remember the ultimate purpose of a fast is to draw you closer to God. If you find that your fast is doing the opposite, STOP! No fast is worth your relationship with God. Stop your fast and find other avenues to draw closer to God.

That’s it for now. Until next time, enjoy your chicken broth.

So I’ve been trying to get be a little more healthy with my lifestyle. So, I got a bicycle on birthday and have been riding it as much as possible. The one time that this has come in handy is for Sunday morning. I generally have to be at the theater for church before Shannon on Sundays (to run lights, sound, do announcements or to just hang out). So I’ve been riding my bike.

This way I’m being healthy and plus we aren’t paying gas for two cars to go to the same location. So this last Sunday, I decided to ride my bike again…but I didn’t feel like riding all the way to the theater (it’s about 4 miles and pretty much all up hill). So I decided to ride my bike to the bus stop and take the bus to the theater.

I tell you all this to tell you this story. As I was waiting at the bus stop for the bus to show up (and trying to catch my breath), I started to evesdrop on these two guys conversation. They were talking about the usual things that you talk about while waiting for the bus: weather, women, and the sort. In there conversation, on guy begins to tell the other one how his father had passed away two months ago.

He stated it in the same way that you would say the sky is blue or the grass is green. I don’t know if he was just numb from the situation or what. But what caught my attention was where the conversation went from there. He started to talk about how his dad is in a better place now. Now I’m not one to place judgment on whether or not his dad is in a better place. So I won’t. What got me to thinking was the statement “a better place.”

We hear people say it all the time when someone passes away. This made me realize that there is a common thread among people. We understand two things. The overall state of being here on earth is pretty crappy, and there is a better place.

By this time I was sitting on the bus listening to the homeless guy in the seat across from me talk about his Louis Lamor book to a friend (my parents use to listen to Louis Lamor books on tape when we took long trips…wow that brought back memories). I started to think to myself, “If people already know there is a better place and that it’s crappy hear on earth, then I don’t need to point that out. In fact, to do so is kinda rude. My place is to point to the One who gets you to the better place. Better yet He can turn your crappy earth into a better place now.

“It was something I had thought of before…but it took God using a random man at a bus stop to remind me.