Fasting-Lite and Father Abraham

I really was serious about the sun-up to sun-down thing and even set my alarm for 7 am. But then it went off and I realized I was still very tired and it seemed like a silly thing to get up and eat and then fall asleep again so I decided I'd do two days of 12 hour fasting. Just for kicks :) So, 9:00 to 9:00 now.

It's a lot harder than I thought. With the 30 Hour Famine you have accountability and constant reminders of what you're doing. When you do it by yourself you have to keep reminding yourself that the urge for Frito's isn't a good one because you're supposed to be fasting. And I'm in my normal environment where I don't think about not eating so it's all the more difficult. But only 6 hours and 22 minutes to go and I haven't screwed it up yet :)

The other hurdle I need to get through today is really looking to God and spending some time in serious prayer and meditation. Have yet to do that really. This is part of the meditation but not all of it!

Read: Genesis 12:1 - 25:11

Hearing the introduction of Abraham ("God told Abram, 'Leave your country, your family, and your father's home for a land that I will show you." (12:1)) struck a chord with me, for the obvious reasons. I won't pretend that God has plans to give me limitless descendants, so not everything applies here except the idea of being a stranger in a strange land. Truthfully though, Charlotte is more northern than southern, but still :)

What it all comes down to is that Abraham is an incredible man of faith, able and willing to move at the craziest request that God makes of him. They aren't easy requests but I guess it helps to have God personally asking you to do them.

Tangent: how do we know that Isaac wasn't 13 yet when Abraham tried to sacrifice him? If he was a teenager it wouldn't be a sacrifice! Ba-dum, chhh!

The thing that stuck with me the most from today's reading was the story of Abraham's servant who is off to play matchmaker. We're not to test God but this servant puts some pretty amazing conditions forward that God honors. Is it a leap of faith or a bit egotistical to believe that God will just grant us stuff? I know I have a hard time trying to figure out where that line exists, or if it exists. To be honest, part of this fast is in some way a bargain with God: I will undergo this (trivial) sacrifice in an attempt to grow closer with you in exchange for a job, preferrably at this church I'm interviewing with tomorrow. I am going to admit I'm not entirely comfortable with this idea. But I don't think it's just my idea, it came to me pretty strong in prayer so I feel like there's more to it than that. Maybe this is my act of faith? Maybe God will see my desire to be in a church again and will honor it? Maybe I'm making it all up?

I guess this whole experience is an experiment in some ways for me. To see if I can really do it, to see what the outcome is. Testing? I guess. But I think sometimes we have to act boldly and do things out of the ordinary. Abraham and his servant are good examples of that. Hopefully I'll have a better understanding of all this soon :)