Thank You

Thank you for this day, pre ordained for your glory
Thank you for the life that you have given us
Thank you that you have given us your name
Thank you that we are adopted into the family of God
Thank you that you are our father, a father to the fatherless
Thank you for our daily bread, you provision to us
Thank you that we do not want, that we have all we need and that you have not given us greed
Thank you for the earth,and its fullness, which you have given us to garden
Thank you for you love, without beginning or end, without depth, and without height
Thank you for most precious Jesus, who walked in our shoes and conquered death, hell, and the grave for us
Thank you for the spirit of worship you have put in all of us
Thank you for your kindness
Thank you for your tender mercies
Thank you that your angels surround us and guide and protect us
Thank you that you go before us, and that you are our rear guard
Thank you that you guide our steps
Thank you that nothing can stand before us, when we are called according to your purpose
Thank you that you have placed a calling on each and every one of our lives
Thank you that you died for us, so that we can live forever with you in paradise

Stewardship

I believe in 5-10 years we are going to look back on the fact that we used plastic to cook and store food and drink with horror, much like how we look back on lead, ddt, and asbestos. Petroleum was never intended for food, and it causes problems in our bodies that we are just beginning to quantify.

As we begin the process of removing petroleum from our kitchen, it made me think of some broader stewardship issues. I am very concerned about the recycling trend. I think it is a good firsts step, but I don't think it is the answer for stewarding God's resources. The model we see in God's creation is returning things to the soil when they are finished. Basically composting. The problem we have is that the majority of our refuse is not biodegradable. A lot of it is petroleum based, which is poisonous to plants as well as animals. We spend more energy and create more pollution recycling our refuse than we would if we simply compost it. I am looking forward to new innovation coming which can use algea to create a our consumer products, and have them be biodegradable. I believe forestry is a practice that is good stewardship. Some land is tillable for crops, but others can only produce trees. The problem comes when we use more than is available and we being deforesting old growth. We need a new breed of forestry which is not driven by greed. I pray God will lay that burden on the heart of our young people. Trees are a beautiful thing. As is the entirety of God's creation. Even petroleum is a great thing when we use it properly.

God is evident in his creation, and we are charged to be stewards of God's creation in his stead. It reminds me of the parable of the steward in Matthew 25. We need to not just hold onto God's resources, we need to passionately manage them.

Day 9

We have ended up adding new items on average about every two days. Mainly because we feel lousy if we don't. However, our diet is still miles ahead of where it was before the fast. Right now we are grilling salmon, have some potatoes boiling, and organic brussel sprouts heating for dinner. I am really enjoying food more now that before. Becky and I had a two hour bible study this morning that was very enjoyable. I am feeling the word being quickened by my spirit. I don't feel as much of the overpowering anointing like I was earlier in the fast, I do miss that, but I am enjoying the power of the word. My prayer life has been much more spirit lead, which is extremely powerful.

Fast day 4 & 5

Day four I felt really crummy, Becky did as well. It is again, a good time to be the one who makes the rules. We decided to add organic chicken, potatoes and carrots to our fast. That seemed to do the trick. Today, day 5, we both feel much better and are still eating very well.

Fast Day 3

Day three started with some of the results I had hoped for. I felt a familiar annointing during my morning bible reading that I hadnt felt in the past 6 months when I had been ill. What a great feeling! Sunday was interesting. The kids had a Christmas pagent at church, and they were giving everyone cookies after the pagent. We dedided to let the kids have cookies. They had all done so well. Not a single complaint, and they are just kids. Unfortunatly, Sunday evening they got tummy aches. I think it was from the cookies, but it may be from the fast... so we decided to let them have some regular food. I cant express adequatly how proud I was of my kids. They ate rice and apples for three days and never complained once. They asked to be woke up early to do our bible reading with us the the morning. Wow. Becky and I decided that three days fasting was enough for them. We are going to let them have anything organic for the remainder of our 2 year fast. Toward the end of the day, both Becky and I started feeling crummy. Me the worst. I hope tomorrow will be better.

Fast Day Two

Day two was rough, for Mom and Dad that is. The kids are incredibly resilient. I heard them tell me how much they like rice many times today! Dad's digestive system got worse, Mom and Dad felt much worse. This is a good time to be the person who makes the rules! We made a new rule to add apples to our diet, even though we had originally planned to wait a week. The apples and apple juice made a huge difference. Both of us felt better immediately. We had an "ah hah" moment at dinner time. We all sat around the table, totally satisfied from a meal of brown rice, rice cakes, sliced apple, and apple juice. Our bodies have already began to reset themselves. Feels like progress!

Yesterday I forgot to mention a couple of other reasons we are doing this fast. First, in the third world, everyone eats rice. They eat rice for most meals, and add whatever they can find to it. Our adopted son in Africa eats rice every day. This fast is a way for us to spiritually connect with him, and we are specifically praying with power for his coming home to us quickly. Second, this is kind of obvious, but we are hoping to lose 50 pounds per year for two years. We should both feel much better as we do that.

Thats all for now,

Fasting Day One

1/1/10 - We start our 2 year fast. Why? We are fasting for spiritual and physical cleansing, to strengthen our spirit man, and weaken our flesh. We are fasting to see the abundant life that is ours in Jesus Christ. Last year we didn't see that abundant life in our physical bodies. Both Becky and I were tired and unable to do what we wanted because we both felt lousy. It really impacted my ability to minister to others. I hope and pray that by getting back to a more biblical diet, one step at a time, that we will feel better. When considering this fast I thought of the scripture that talks about not eating "the Kings food" . Daniel would not eat the rich food of the Babylonians, and his guards worried for his health. But Daniel ended up much healthier than they:

Dan 1:8

¶

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

Dan 1:15

And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat.

We are also hoping that we will feel better after getting all the junk out of our bodies and strengthening our spiritual disciplines through fasting, prayer, worship and bible reading. I expect by the end of this that we will have lost some significant weight was well.

We decided to fast as a family. But since the kids are barely old enough for this, we decided to make it easier for them. Becky and I are going to do an "elimination" diet for the next two years. Week one we are going to eat nothing but organic brown rice and water. Then each week after, we will add one organic item to our diet. Pretty simple. For the kids we made it easier, for week one, the kids are having Brown Rice, Water, Milk, and a piece of fruit every day. That is going to be hard enough for them :) After week one, the kids will be able to have anything organic at home, and we arent going to restrict what they can come up with at Church or other people's houses. But we are going to buy nothing but organic for our house for this two year fast.

The other, and probably most important aspect of our fast is our spiritual disciplines. I have always been pretty good about having my morning time of prayer, worship, meditation, and bible reading. Most days I get it done, and I really enjoy it. Becky has been hit or miss, and the Kids haven't done much at all. For these two years we are all going to have a morning time of prayer, worship, meditation, and bible reading. We are also going to be more diligent about having our evening family devotions where we read a book, read the bible, then worship and pray together.

So, how did Day One go? It went pretty well. We were worried about our youngest, who is a picky eater, but she gobbled up rice cereal for breakfast and did well for lunch and dinner too. The other kids did really well to. We had a good morning devotional time, and a good family time in the evening. Becky got a headache, which she normally does when she fasts. I also got a headache and my digestive system was complaining a bit. But this is all pretty normal with fasting, and since both Becky and I have fasted plenty of times, nothing unexpected here. Normally we juice fast or I like to water fast. The brown rice fast is a little different. I think Juice fast is actually a bit easier because of the variety of juices you can have.

I really enjoyed having Becky and the kids with me when I did my morning devotionals. I am already seeing fruit in their spirtual lives from the whole thing.

Now for day 2 ! I just finished my morning rice and water, and devotionals, going to try for a nap shortly!