Not just fast, Daniel fast....

Seven days complete, and God has really been propping me up! I stocked up on groceries at the beginning of the week, or so I thought, but I've definitely been eating about 1/3 of my usual caloric intake. Although I've been hungry most of the time I really haven't been tempted to cheat. Of course, work has been unusually busy so I averaged 12+ hours/day. Because the fast wasn't hard enough already!

I ran a charity 5k on Saturday morning after getting about 2 hours of sleep, and still finished under 30 minutes (a good time for me!) and felt alright. The whole time, I was reminded of the fact that Daniel and the others were actually stronger than the ones who ate the king's food. That shut down all the negative thoughts, like "You can walk a little, you only slept two hours and ate almost nothing." Small thing, but it was encouraging to know God doesn't need food or sleep to do His will, and He gives us as much of them we need.

I managed to get home and take a couple-hour nap before working an extra job that evening. I was exhausted but everything went well until about 10:30 pm, when I answered a prowler call and caught a guy in the back yard of someone's house. He ran from me so I chased after him, praying, "Ok, Lord, you've got to make me Daniel! I really don't feel up to running a wind sprint over fences right now!" I caught the guy, physical altercation #501 ensued, but everything turned out fine (for me anyway). Point being, if you'd asked me if I could do the Daniel fast (eating as little as I have been) for four days, then run a 5k on two hours sleep, then work a long shift on an extra job ending in a foot chase with a crackhead (very fast considering THEIR dietary habits), I wouldn't have thought it would end well. But I have been granted exceptional endurance all week. All the glory goes to God for showing off on the little things as well as the big, and I'm really happy to be doing the fast!

Please pass along any easy, good foods you've tried. I got some Texas Barbeque Veggie Burgers that are an embarrassment to Texas, barbeque, veggies, and burgers. I also went to Smoothie King with a friend and quizzed the poor employee about all the ingredients in the smoothies. She finally told me I could have anything with blueberries or bananas in it, and suggested a "Blueberry Heaven," which also had honey and other additives, so I finally ordered a "Blueberry Heaven, hold the Heaven." She didn't think it was nearly as funny as I did.

Second only-funny-to-me story: as I went past the last road guard during the 5k, the woman posted there cheered me on, saying, "Great job, you're almost there!" I was well behind the pack (I finished 50th), but I figured she was bored and could use a laugh, so I asked, "Is there anyone ahead of me?" She looked kind of sad and said, "Oh.... man, yeah, a bunch of people..." like she was really trying to break it to me gently. Sailed right over her head... oh well, I tried!