Wednesday, our church was doing a Day of Prayer & Fasting. I decided to participate as a way of making a sacrifice to the Lord.

Let me just say that it was quite an experience!

You have to first understand that I have a big appetite. So this is indeed quite a sacrifice for me.

I've heard that fasting will make you replace thoughts of food with thoughts of God. Not sure about that, as I was thinking about food all day!

That said, I definitely did a lot of praying throughout the day.

There were several times when my fasting took some really tough turns, like when my kids were munching on delicious-smelling Whoppers (courtesy of Lola) in the car while I was driving, and going grocery shopping with all the food in the aisles staring at me.

That night, I attended the prayer meeting at church and the hour I was able to stay for was a time of prayer for families, children and marriages, both corporately and in small groups.

As a sinful man, the entire day did make me conscious of my need for the Lord in my life.

I could've taken the technical way out and chowed down at 12:01 AM that night but I wanted to go all the way in my commitment so I didn't eat until the next morning. And I had quite a breakfast: an egg, bacon, rice, a hearty bowl of oatmeal, and a half a Whopper!

I can't believe I made it. I had doubts whether I would do it again but Mildred was very encouraging, telling me how proud of me she was. Some people are proud of doing a marathon, which has no spiritual benefit, but at least now I know the feeling of accomplishing something tough...especially when there is a spiritual benefit for a sinful guy like me.