Final Thoughts (Starving Jesus and the fast)

Starving Jesus
What a GREAT night. Even though Craig Gross got stuck in Chicago and couldn't make it, the night still exceeded my expectations. JR was extremely transparent as he talked - and his passion for Christ betrayed the fact he's been talking about this stuff everyday for the past 27 days+ (I would probably be getting bored saying the same thing over and over). And to meet Dave and Clint was an additional treat.

But what has me just as excited was the number of Compassion kids that were sponsored. I don't have a total number, but I saw a LOT of people adopting kids. It was awesome to watch.

And then our House of Hope construction project set for Oct. 7th and 14th in one night was almost completely filled. I think we only have like 2 open slots left. That too blew me away.

I want to say a gigantic thanks to everyone who helped us with set-up: Matt, Steve, and Kern who showed up at 3:30 to get things started (you guys did a great job moving trailers by hand!). To Joe, Amber, Christina, Heather, Jonathan, Austin, Andy, John, Phil, and anyone else I might have missed - thank you for not only helping with set-up but sticking around to take it all down as well. We could not have gotten things done without you.

And a special thanks for Andrew Male who bailed us out last minute with the video stuff. We went from one projector that wouldn't work to two projectors and two TVs that worked beautifully!

And last, but definitely not least, thank you God for the gorgeous night and for showing up in JR, and the videos, and all that took place that I don't even know about.

Be sure to check out the Starving Jesus website with their thoughts on their time in CR. (And the photo above is of the praying mantis that joined in the night with us - biggest praying mantis I have EVER seen!) To see more photos from the Cedar Rapids stop, go to our basic Starving Jesus photo page on the Watershed website.

Break Fast
I was surprised last night that I could do all the work I did without much fatigue at all. I thought for sure after 8 days of no food and only water and juice (and Propel) I would be quite a bit weaker. It was by God's grace I felt so good. In fact I admitted to some people that I felt like I could keep going. But I didn't. :o)

I decided to start simple - I ate a yogurt when I got home at midnight. Well... and a piece of left over birthday cake I made for LeAnn last Saturday. :o) But I think my taste buds went to sleep on this fast - the yogurt tasted kind of weird and the cake really wasn't very good (but it was 6 days old...). My cereal this morning was fine, and my Chic-Fil-A sandwich was better, but I still feel like my taste buds are trying to figure out how to work again.

And as I admitted on the blog earlier this week, I did not step on our scale at home during the fast so that I wouldn't think about the weight loss - I wanted all this to be about God.

But now that the fast is over I stepped on the scale this morning. I haven't seen a number that low in quite some time. :o)

Between January (when we got our scale) and the start of my fast last week, I had lost approximately 13 lbs. Well, in one week, I lost 9 lbs. I had heard that you can lose about a pound a day during a food-free fast, but I didn't think I would lose quite that much. I guess I was wrong. And to be honest, it's kind of nice to be this thin again. :o)

Someone asked if I will fast again like this. Undoubtedly yes! It is hard to do with a family (mealtimes together are so precious) and those first few days are quite hard, but it felt kind of nice to be free of food, to be more intentionally focused on Christ and the Word, and to sense God giving me grace when I was so tempted to eat. I might even try to go longer - but it sure would help to have someone else doing it with me.

So that's the wrap up to the Starving Jesus event and of my personal fast. It was a great experience, and I hope the residual effects of all of this are seen and felt for quite some time.

-E