Fast and Furious

Note: this post has NOTHING to do with the movie. lol

My family and Derek (who's pretty much a part of my family) went on a trip to Niagara Falls. My sister, Derek and I were looking for some desert on Clifton Hill. We walked by an individual asking for money (I don't want to label him 'homeless' cause that's just an automatic assumption) and noticed that the guy had no legs, and his only form of mobility was his wheel chair. At the desert place, Derek came up to me and asked if it was OK if he gave that guy our take-out food from TGI Friday. Mind you, we had ribs, fries and a salad in that take-out box! Furthermore, we were STILL HUNGRY! I encouraged Derek to follow his convictions and he then ran across the road and disappeared around the corner with the box of food in hand. He came back a minute later and expressed to me this strange joy that flooded through him. We were no longer hungry.

This incident reminded me of the biblical practice of 'fasting.' I remember believing that 'fasting' was simply the abstinence of food. It IS that, but MORE! Fasting isn't only abstaining from food, it's also about being fed continually by the bread of life - His Word! I can't explain this phenomenon, but the last time I fasted, I abstained from food for an entire week. However, I was utterly full and dependent on meditating on His Word and prayer. It's crazy, the more we eat in this world, the fuller we get. But the more we eat of His words, the more hungrier we get. And believe me, the Lord does not allow us to grow hungry if we are truly hungering for His Words.

Thinking back to Derek's incident, his simple hunger to accept the challenges of scripture only lead him to express a furious love that this world rarely encounters. My hope is that as my disciples bask into the Father's Words, they become beacons of His furious love for the community around us.