Birthday + fasting

This monday was Michael's birthday. Age is a privat thing in Uganda, so in concideration of Michael, I will not tell you how old he turned. No matter, it was a reason for celebration. We didn't put on a great show, like we are used to doing in Norway, but at least we had a very good dinner. Immaculate made deep fried chicken, and Håkon and I supplemented it with pizzza. Good S (god stemning in norwegian(doesn't work in english)). We all got very full, and the birthday boy was very satisfied with the evening.

Yours truly really stuffed himself with this dinner. So as I was sinking into my chair (yes, I have my own chair in our living room :D), a thought hit me: "after having this awesome dinner, tomorrow would be a good day for fasting!"

And so it was...

I have, for a long time, wanted to try fasting, but somehow I have never gotten myself to try it. First of all, it really seems like a totally meaningless thing to do, denying yourself any food for a whole day. And secondly, I really like food... To address the first point, I really think fasting is something that you have to try in order to understand what it is all about. My main focus during the fast was to prove that God is more important to me than food. Looking back, it has been very strengthening for my faith to prove this.


The main point of a fast is normally to direct your focus on God. You take away what is normally the most important part of your life and spend one or more days seeking God. Yesterday I was at CRO from 8:30AM to 4PM, so I didn't have too much time to seek God. But I had a little... Here is a timeline that shows you some of my thoughts and emotions throughout the day:


7:53 Ouch. I just woke up, and I am already hungry. But God is more important to me than food. With God's help, I can do this ;)


9:46 Ugh. All the workers at CRO are having tea and various tasty-looking snacks while I am just sitting and watching. This sucks...


11:22 Sitting in math class, and I am really not looking forward to lunch. I am trying to decide if I should spend the lunch break reading my Bible in a different room. Other than this, I am doing surprisingly well so far.


2:35 I am sitting in the boss of CRO's office, and I am spending the lunch break praying while listening to Casting Crowns. Good S :)


4:05 Finished at work and, strangely enough, I feel fine. I think the worst part is now over. The next 5 hours look promising.


6:30 Off to fellowship. Only 2-3 hours until supper now. I can feel that my stomach is looking forward to it.


10:08 Time for bed. I have now had supper. It was good. But I must say, I feel kind of disappointed at how easy it was to fast. It might have something to do with the fact that I didn't use much energy today and had a lesser need for adding energy. Anywho, fasting was well done, and I really liked doing it. I don't think this will be last fast of my life ;)