Starving Jesus and Starving Erin

Starving Jesus
Only one more day until the Starving Jesus tour joins up with Watershed for one night. I'm super excited, but for some odd reason a little nervous. I'm hoping that every thing comes together and that we aren't the worst stop on the tour. I am really praying that God draws the right people who need to hear Craig and J.R.'s message, and that in Kingdom-terms the night is a success, regardless of how many actually show up.

If you live in the Cedar Rapids area and don't have plans (or if you do - cancel them!), I encourage you to join us tomorrow night, Aug. 31 at 7:30 pm in the west parking lot outside New Covenant Bible Church.

Starving Erin
My fast has been really good, very interesting, and quite hard. Here are some thoughts (some even paradoxical thoughts) on my fast so far:

- I know this next sentence makes no sense: in some ways I expected the fast to be easier (I didn't expect hunger pains THAT strong) but also harder (I've had no headaches and almost no fatigue).

- It wasn't as hard sitting at the restaurants last Friday and Saturday watching everyone eat as I had expected (although I was very hungry). But it was much harder to make a cake and supper for LeAnn's birthday on Saturday afternoon. And the supper that the Pagels brought to us last night was almost unbearable to smell!

- I was told by various sources that I just needed to make it through Day 3. Well Day 4 was JUST as hard as Day 3. Day 5 was the turn around for me.

- I expected to need more sleep and to feel more tired. I've been very surprised at my energy level, especially with a newborn baby in the house (I woke up at 2:30 this morning with T and couldn't get back to sleep until 4:30 am - weird!).

- I have been very glad that I made the decision not to step on the scale during this fast (so that it wouldn't be an extreme diet), but I can tell in the mirror I've lost weight.

- I've had some great times with God during all of this, but haven't quite had the deep moments I expected and prayed for. But I've seen some cool things in Scripture lately! (Ask me about my new-to-me discovery of Elijah/Elisha paralleling John the Baptist/Jesus!).

- And I am glad that by the grace of God I haven't even slipped once (I even washed the cake icing off my finger instead of licking it off as I baked last Saturday), but I have been amazed at the power of temptation to eat. I didn't realize how easily I ate before, or how prevalent food is in our society (every where I go are advertisements or conversations about food!).

- I haven't regretted a bit doing this, and think I will probably do another fast in the future. But I also have to be honest - I am REALLY looking forward to Friday! :o)