Day 4 & 5

I'm drinking apple juice, hot cocoa, chicken and beef broth. I'm down nine pounds in 5 days but I think four pounds of that is colon waste. I don't feel hungry but my thinking is scattered. Everything I am experiencing is normal and life will level out in a few days.

Still committed to my morning devotions. Making Christ first in my life is the best thing I ever did! I read His word until he speaks to me from it, then we go over my plans for the day. Today I planned to get one of those devices that are used to portion grape juice into the little plastic glasses for church. I went to the Christian bookstore but she did not have any. She offered to call another bookstore, which she did but they were out too. She kindly sold me one from her churches private stock at cost. I don't think this would have happened without sharing my plans with God.

Also this devotional time in the morning with Him is building my faith. I don't have those periods of fear of the future that I once had because I am more secure in Him.

Fasting Day 3 & 4

For some reason my body will not accept nothing being in my colon. Water goes through me in about seven minutes and comes out my anus. This leads to some rather embarrassing episodes. Therefore I have found that eating some form of fiber slows down the passage of liquids through my bowels and allows the liquid to be absorbed by my intestines.

Psyllium fibers expand in water and provide the necessary bulk to slow down the passage of water through my system. It is also very cost effective. It is amazing how much health food stores charge for this stuff. Metamucil is the least expensive form that I have found so far and it can be purchased at Wal-Mart.  

I am not hungry anymore and seldom think of food. The juice and other liquids I drink must be fuel and not something to be relished. It has been difficult this evening because it is cold outside and I did drink a cup of hot chocolate. I may have another later.

Apple juice and filtered water have been my sole intake until this evening. No more coffee. The loss of caffeine headache I had yesterday is almost gone and frankly I don’t miss it.

Last night was bible study with lots of Filipino goodies. We have a potluck before the study and then we all sit down and the pastor gives the teaching. I texted the pastor’s wife and said I would be late. I showed up after the meal so the temptation of the food would not get to me. I explained why I did not come on time and they understood but I can’t keep doing this. I have ministry responsibilities and this fast can’t be allowed to interfere with those. February 10^th I have a ministry appointment than involves having breakfast at a pastor’s meeting. I don’t know what I am going to do but I trust God to make a way for me to handle this.

Quite time in the morning is carrying me through most of the discomfort and giving me closeness to the Lord that I have not experienced before. I would heartily endorse this practice to anyone who wants a closer walk with Him.

Day Two of my Fast

Today is the second day of my fast. I woke up, felt great, got up, and made my bed. I had my morning coffee as usual. The coffee is going to eventually go bye bye but for today it's okay. I have a headache which I suspect is from a lack of caffeine, since I usually drink more than one cup.

Sitting at my desk this morning, getting ready for my morning devotions; I just sat there and sat there some more. I couldn’t concentrate. It took about 30 minutes to start a simple list of things I will do today. Finally I took a walk around the block to clear my head. This worked and after I returned I was able to quickly finish my list. Drinking a glass of juice and a long pull on the water jug gave me an added boost which I will need to continue my bible studies today.

I have completed several previous fasts but this will be my longest fast. I’ve done many one day water only fasts, an 8 day juice fast,  a 6 day water only fast, two 17 day juice fasts and a 10 day juice fast. Everything I have experienced so far is normal. It will get worse physically today and then by tomorrow most of the physical discomforts will be gone.  After about 3 days the fast will mellow out and then its just a matter of staying away from food situations. There are many mind strategies to deal with the temptations that will arise. These temptations WILL arise!

It’s not the lack of food that is most difficult on a fast, it’s all the temptations and stresses that the lack of food brings out. I find out who I really am and EXACTLY where my faults lie. I believe fasting is an especially good time to confess my sins as the deep ones come to the surface quite easily. It’s a good time to really depend on the Lord!

Tuesday 1-25-11 The Walk Continues

Today I listened to 5 lectures with accompanying lecture notes. Three of these lectures were on New Testament History & Theology and the other two were on New Testament Survey. Actually the first three lectures were the last ones in that course. The New Testament Survey is a new course and I am eager to start it. It delves more deeply into the New Testament and its focus is content.

The New Testament History & Theology course focused on how to study and interpret the Word of God. Very little “content” but lots of methods for digging into the Word for the gold that is located there. Well, worth the time to take the course.

It was a strange day today in the food area. Not too much food was eaten but the cravings were intense. I notice that it takes a lot of sugar for me to taste it and the same with salt. It’s almost as though my body has a tolerance for these foods so it takes more to be satisfied.

I have decided to do a prolonged fast. I am in the pre-fast stage of eating light foods and moving away from soda. I did drink coffee this morning and hot chocolate this evening, Oh yeah; I had a burrito on the way home from a play.

Tonight was a morality play put on by a visiting missionary couple, from Canada. The play was produced by the couple and members of this church were the actors. I don’t attend this church but I received an invitation through the pastor where I do attend. Anyway, the story line was predictable but I love the story (the Christian message!)

Although my focus should be on fasting, it seems my focus is on the risen Lord, His life and teachings and the direction He wants me to go. I am not even thinking about the upcoming fast. Most unusual!

These bible courses are a gift to me from God! No question about it! I am learning a lot. Also, my view of who Jesus is also changing. He is more than a suffering servant.  He is actually quite blunt in telling people not only who He is but what His requirements for right living are.  He came to save but it is obvious He didn’t come to make friends by telling people what they wanted to hear.

I could say a lot more but it is 11:22pm and I am tired. Good night to all and God bless you!

Today is Sunday 27, 2011 - Start

Today starts this blog and my journey on the path to a closer relationship to God. Here I will record my sucesses, failures and the things I will learn along the way.

I weigh 271 lbs and am 6' 1" tall. My body is the temple of the Hoily Spirit but in fact it does not resemble a temple so much as a large balloon and a heavy balloon at that. I have tried many of the fad diets, Weight Wathcers, Atkin's, Fit for life, Joel Fuhrman Diet, and the low fat diet, and none of tehm kept the weight off for long. The best results I ever obtained was from a Christian weight loss program called "The Lord's Table." I lost about 20lbs on this program and kept it off for about 6 months, but at the time I was heavily into this ministry and also a mentor in this same program. The death of a close friend to cancer completely crushed me and I dropped this ministry to

In order to be an effective mentor I had to stay in His word all the time. As time has gone on I have read and re-read the New testement many time and reached the point where I know it fairly well but I 'm only scrtatching the surface each time I read it because I don't have enough tools to really dig into the meat that I know is just under the surface.

Consequently, I am now attneding a free Bible lecture series with included study notes. The program while free is still quite intense and it has been slow going. It's been three weeks and I have only gotten through 21 lectures (each 1 hour long). This course teaches the background and some of the methods to dig below the surface. The lectures in themselves are not that interesting (not as interesting as the Word of God) but they are teaching me the methods that I need to do what I really want to do, which is to mine the Word of God for the gold I know is buried there.

So what does all this have to do with weight loss? Well the fruits of the Spirit are: love, joy,  peace, patience,  kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I want self-control but all those other fruits are pure gold! Who wouldn't want those too? I have come to the conclusion that EVERYTHING comes through Him, and He also said that apart from Him we can do nothing. So then this is just another step in my walk with Him.

Well, this is all for today but it is a good start. Blessings to all!