the one with a "Water" fast

I am going to give you a challenge... a challenge to give... and a challenge to grow... a challenge to faith...


The Lord has been putting a lot of impressions on me recently... a lot to do with giving and money and the poor... and steps of faith and growth... and instead of simply restricting myself, seeking more ways to give...

Last year around lent, i saw an article that said instead of giving something up, give something away... perked my interest.

Then i read "The hole in our Gospel" ... the Lord was preparing my heart before hand- and it hit me, just as it has many others... read it.

Then i was studying I Timothy 6 and the love of money... leading to all kinds of evil.

And i read Randy Alcorn's chapter on money in "For the Fame of God's Name"

And all this happening in the midst of raising support, moving to a new place and beginning to set up a new home...


For the rest of the year i am going to do a type of fast each month... one i would like you to join with me. i'll still be eating... but i will be fasting

⁵ Is such the fast that I choose,
    a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
   and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
   and a day acceptable to the LORD? 
⁶"Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of wickedness,
   to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
   and to break every yoke?
⁷Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
   and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
    and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
⁸ Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
    the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard...
¹⁰ if you pour yourself out for the hungry
   and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
   and your gloom be as the noonday.
¹¹And the LORD will guide you continually
   and satisfy your desire in scorched places
   and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
   like a spring of water,
   whose waters do not fail.

~ Isaiah 58: 5-8,10-11

The month of June will be a "Water" fast

No, not just drinking water... but when i drink something, it will be water... no pop, no coke, no frappacinos, no lemonade, no coffee, no alcohol... just water.

·       drink water instead of pop, lemonade, coffee, alcohol, etc

o   every time I drink water, remember to pray for those who have no water

o   every time I drink a glass of water/ every time i crave another type of drink ask God to give me a deeper thirst for Him

·       donate whatever money I would have spent on that drink i am choosing not to drink to WorldVision to help bring drinking water to those in need 

·       memorize verses on

o   thirsting for God

o   giving to the poor

Maybe this won't be a big challenge for you. i want to try to drink more water anyway - but it is still hard for me to resist other drinks... and even though i don't often choose to buy a pop, i still think about it... now when those cravings come i will pray and instead of hording that money i am saving for myself or using it on myself, i want to give it away.

The idea is, i will restrict myself, so i can give away to others... and also to develop my thirst for God.

That may not produce a whole lot of extra money, so maybe i will consider other things, like donating additional money for each bottle/glass of water i drink

i hope you will join me.
i believe as we give away, we will experience joy and experience the Lord.
Jesus said "It is more blessed to give than receive"
i know i enjoy receiving, so i can imagine how good giving can be.
As we give to the poor, we honor Christ and we reflect Christ's heart and attitude- esp to those receiving His love & blessing.
We do have an obligation to give & to help the poor if we are going to follow Christ.

And be giving away money, we are investing in eternal rewards and keeping our heart from treasuring wealth & stuff more than Christ.

i also will be praying for a deeper thirst for Jesus and think this fast will also show me how much i trun to other things -even a drink- more than i turn to Jesus.

 ¹ "Come, everyone who thirsts,
   come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
   without money and without price.
² Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
   and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
   and delight yourselves in rich food.
³Incline your ear, and come to me;
    hear, that your soul may live;

~ Isaiah 55:1-3 

My Christmas wish list

It's the day before Christmas... did you get me what i wanted?

Living in America this year, I have become more aware of things I would like to have… or perhaps things I don’t have… or things I don’t have that others do have… or just how comfortable & entertaining life could be…

I find myself envious of others often.

And for perhaps the first time in my life I desire things.

I come home and I see the big screen tv in the apartment above us. I see cars drive by, much nicer than mine. We go to homes, that our homes:big, filled with fun things.

Or maybe it is all the advertising on tv… and online now too.

Sure, I’d love a nice big flat-screen tv… HD… y’know I’d probably settle for a tv with a remote that worked… and cable.

But I don’t really need cable… and we won’t be here long enough to justify buying a new tv (The tv we have was donated to us).

So, what do I actually really want?

1.     A cord for our digital frame (or maybe just a enw one, might be just as cheap)

2.     A nice robe
(I know… but I can’t walk around with my blanket anymore… maybe a snuggie would be ok, but it seems so commercial)

3.     Photo calendar

4.     Corduroy pants. (brown preferably… maybe black or tan)

5.     Chuck

6.     Scrubs season 6

7.     Seinfeld Season 3

8.     A X-box Kinnect or a PS3 or a wii – I think in that order… though not sure if I really want it

9.     New jeans

10. Books

a.     Coming Back Stronger

b.     Sacred Parenting

c.      It all goes Back in the Box

d.     Grace-based Parenting

e.     Ancient Words, changing worlds

11. Photo book/mug/etc

12. Family ties seasons 1-4?

Of course I may rather take

1.     Soo to be happy, encouraged & rested

2.     someone to baby-sit so I can take Soo out on a date

3.     time alone to read & write

4.     opportunity to go to Indy or Chicago to get some good food

5.     a Purdue championship

6.     be able to get all my pictures off my old computers… and be able to print them off

Some of my friends make all their gifts... i think that may be the way to go. Especially getting gifts for a spouse, when you share the same bank account... and it is much more meaningful than giving a check... 

and gift- buying is so complicated... who do i buy for? if i buy something for someone and they don't get anything for me, they feel guilty- or at least i do when someone does for me... then it becomes about obligation...

Reality is though, i do like buying gifts for others... i just like getting good deals... and i want to get the perfect gift... which makes it stressful...

Our first Christmas as a family - i want it to be a good one... we'll see how it turns out.

Merry Christmas!

The thing about Giving

The Lord has struck me recently about giving.

It is an interesting thing, when you set your own salary.

We determine our salary based on what we think we need.

So, what do we do?

I create a budget

I think of what a reasonable salary would be.

The first thing I do, is think of the 10% giving to the Lord… then I consider the obvious big payments like rent, utility bills, phone, transportation, date nights, and of course food. I also have to consider entertainment, clothes, gifts… and then a huge chunk for savings. Really most of our budget is savings… cuz I don’t buy anything… but I want to be able to buy/go whatever/wherever I want. (but I don’t want to buy wasteful things).

Here’s the thing though… it’s easy.

It’s easy to give, when I can set up a salary that covers all my needs.

Sure, I may live modestly. Some couldn’t imagine living on the salary we live on. We have to have someone co-sign because our salary is so little. We get all our money back from taxes.

But, we have been blessed. So many things we just got. Where we live is cheap. Our parents paid for all our schooling. We don’t own a house or have a car payment.

We’re not living in need.

We have enough to give to others.

We give 10%

But this isn’t sacrificial giving.

Sure, a lot of people don’t even give 10%. The average is 3%

But if I have a budget, and I know I can handle the other costs… am I giving by faith? Am I giving sacrificially?

So… what if we not only gave the budgeted amount… but also gave from our other allotted expenses?

What if we spent one month’s clothes budget to help the homeless?

What if we spent some money each month from our food budget to feed someone? You know, I could fast a meal and give that money to someone else.

What if we took some of our money set aside for date night, - to invite someone else over and cook them a meal… or baby-sit someone’s kids so they could have a date night?

What if instead of buying a book for myself, I bought a book for a friend?

And what if I allowed others to use stuff freely- even if it meant it’s come back damaged?

I want to give the Lord my first-fruits… and then I want to give sacrificially after that. Give money, give time, give energy, give resources : for the Lord’s purposes, to honor Him.

The Lord loves a cheerful giver.

And when we give, we become like Christ, and experience Christ more fully. It is a great thing.

(side note: read in “Radical” how a church raised 23 million for a building project, and $5,000 to help Refugees in Sudan… )

We want to give to the local church, we want to give to world missions, and we want to give to help the poor and needy. But in all we want to give by faith, give sacrificially, give cheerfully and give to the Lord!

It is more blessed to give than receive!

The thing about raising support

i don't really like raising support. It's awkward.
i tend to avoid awkwardness at all costs.
i mean, a lot of us do. That is why guys don't ask their friends out on dates and girls usually don't say yes. It's why we avoid dating in the office-place. It's why guy's don't initiate with other guys. It's why we avoid eye-contact while singing worship songs. It's why we use the bathroom at home and not at a friend's place. It's why we're careful about what subjects we talk about.

And everything about support-raising is awkward. The phone is always awkward. Talking about money is always awkward. Asking people for help is awkward. Let alone, talking to someone you haven't talked to in a long time or a complete stranger.

Most of the time i see support-raising (or MPD) as a necessary nuisance.
It's important.
i need people to pray for me.
And i need people to support us financially - or i don't eat, i don't have a place to live and i can't fly overseas.
We need partners, because we need the body of Christ and we need community.

Still, i wish there was a better way.


Well, that's not true. What i wish for is: An easier way.


Having people support us is a good way, it is God's way.
The body of Christ is supposed to support one another. We give to others also. And we partner with those who give.

Talking with people about what God is doing, sharing our needs, communicating - that's great. People need to know. People can be encouraged. People can be challenged.


So, when i say a better way, what i mean is an easier way. And my way wouldn't be better. It may feel easier, but it probably wouldn't be as effective- and certainly wouldn't be as good.


The time of support-raising feels useless. i would rather be out doing ministry.
But the reality is: this is a ministry. We get to challenge people to give: to give to God's work, to give to needy nations, to give sacrificially, to give joyfully, to give for God's sake and not for themselves, to give for the glory of God.
(i really need to learn how to convey this again and have this attitude).
It is a ministry because we challenge people out of their comfort zones. And we challenege them to follow God and to give to God.
It is also a ministry because we can make people aware of God's work in the nations and what God is doing and exalt God.
It is also a ministry because we can encourage people of God's faithfulness and power and provision.
It is also a ministry because we can make people aware of the needs of the lost and challenege them to reach out to others

This is an important ministry we have. i need to learn to embrace it. i need to learn to challenge.


It is also a blessing. A blessing to me and a blessing to the people i share with.
i was encouraged yesterday by a response of a friend who responded with "Thanks for asking about support!"
During my initial support-raising process i actually did have a few people thank me for the opportunity to give and support me.
This is a blessing for them. This is an opportunity for them to give to the Lord. It is an opportunity for them to be part of God's work. It's an opportunity to use their gifts. It blesses them as it does us.

And it is a blessing for us to be encouraged by how God uses people in our lives. It is a blessing to see God provide. A blessing to see God's faithfulness, sovereignty and power. And we are blessed by the kind words of encouragement, the love, the prayers and the faithfulness of people behind us. What a blessing indeed!

And it is a blessing because this is where God us right now! He knows exactly what we need. (to help us grow, to help us see Him). He is using everything to work in our lives. He is sovereign & He is taking care of us.

He certainly is teaching me, renewing me & reminding me of things i forogot. i am learning dependence and faith and seeing God even more.

Thank God for His blessing & leading on our lives.

It shows us the Gospel doesn't it? People give up, so we can go out. People sacrifice, so we can live.


MPD is a blessing, a ministry, an opportunity!