Fast 'Til 5 on Friday!

We live in a land of excess.  We can spin it any way we want to, we can excuse it any way we want to, we can sidestep it any way we want to.   Many of us live lives awash in "too much..."   Christian author Jen Hatmaker pinpoints seven key areas of excess in our culture:  food, clothing, possessions, media, waste, spending and stress.  We have too much of it all.  So much excess engulfs us that what we now define as "normal" most of the rest of the world regards as luxury.

We can address this reality in a variety of ways.  We can just ignore it and go on accumulating.  We can adjust our thinking to convince ourselves that we deserve our over-abundance.  (Some people of faith believe that excess is the way God "blesses" us or shows us God loves us.)  We can beat ourselves up about it and just feel bad.  Or we can do something to create when Jen Hatmaker calls a "mutiny against excess."

Here's what I'm going to do.  (It's not much, but it's a start.)  I'm going to observe FAST 'TIL 5 FRIDAYS.  On Friday (or whatever day works best in a week's time), I'm going to go without solid food for breakfast and lunch.  One day a week I'm not going to indulge in what is over-abundantly accessible to me.  I'm going to assume that going without those two meals means around $20 I would not be spending on food for me.  I am a follower of Jesus, committed to serving him in and through a local church.  That $20 each week will go to support life changing ministry in some way shape or form.  (Between now and May 8 it will go to FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN.  Google it and check it out.)  I don't plan to do this just for one worthy project nor just for the season of Lent.  (A 40+ day period leading up to Easter which many Jesus followers use as a time of repentance and sacrifice.)   I plan to make this a discipline for the rest of my life.  I invite all who are reading this to hold me accountable to this.

And I invite any who would do so to join me.   For those whose health and economics will allow, fast Friday until 5 p.m. or one day of the week, and give $20 to a charity or to a ministry of your place of worship, if you are a person of faith.  Do this ABOVE whatever you already give - that's important!  In a year's time that's over $1000 that will be withheld from feeding your own excess.  I believe it will be worth it for us all.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river - hopefully traveling lighter!