A Note about Fasting

I'm hopeful most of you have seen by now that we're planning a day of fasting and prayer for Ashleigh tomorrow: Wednesday July 30.  This was organized by one of Ashleigh's sorority sisters and former roommates at Tech.  For those of you who aren't familiar with fasting, we wanted to provide a quick explanation of what fasting is and why you would do it.

Fasting is temporarily setting aside a normal and everyday part of your life and replacing the time and mental energy usually devoted to that task to thinking about God and praying.  In the Bible, food is typically the fast-ed item of choice since it's both universal and necessary for survival. In today's world it is just as drastic to fast from TV, facebook, texting, or the internet as a whole (now that's just crazy talk) as it is to speak of surviving for a time without food.

There's nothing inherently spiritual or metaphysically enlightening about fasting in and of itself.  It is a physiological mnemonic device, a mental "reminder string tied around one's finger". Maybe you have a Catholic friend who fasts from something for the season of Lent - the idea here is that every time you get a craving for chocolate or to check facebook or indulge in the fast-ed item, you mentally re-direct that thought into a prayer.

For the 15 months of our engagement (WAY too long, but that's another story!), Ashleigh and I fasted and prayed for our coming marriage each month on the 7th.  We were engaged on April 7th 2006 and married on July 7, 2007, so it made sense.  We would not eat from midnight to midnight, and often got together during the day to pray for each other, our coming marriage, our future children, and many other things.  Then, at midnight when the fast was over, I would typically go to Taco Bell and load up on some delicious fast food (get it?).  This is not technically a spiritual requirement to concluding a fast, but after a day of not eating I certainly thanked God all the more heartily for that sweet ground beef and cheese ambrosia.  Sorry, back to the point:

Fasting is a statement of priority - that talking to God is fundamentally more important than watching TV, drinking coffee, or even eating.  Check out Jesus' words on this (quoting the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy) - that "man does not live by bread alone".

Fasting is a statement of faith - that we believe God can hear and will answer our prayers, otherwise we're just fools denying ourselves food and facebook for no reason.

Fasting is between you and God - the Bible specifically calls out and condemns folks who make a big deal out of their own fasting, just like it calls out folks who make a big deal out of praying in public just to sound spiritual.

So if you feel so moved, join us tomorrow in a day of dedicated prayer for Ashleigh's healing.  In a separate post, she'll make list of requests to keep you busy through the day.  And if you'd like help remembering to pray for Ashleigh throughout the day, consider going without food, facebook, caffeine, or some other part of your normal routine as a reminder. 

*Note: Obviously if you have some health-related reason for not fasting (i.e., sickness, pregnancy, nursing, etc.), we discourage you from doing a fast from food. There are many other ways to remember to pray that doesn't involve food.