Have you ever looked up your own name on Google? I did that once and found myself drag racing motorcycles. It seems that Paul Gast is a world-renowned motorcycle drag racer. His company is called Fast By Gast - High Performance Motorcycle Parts www.fastbygast.com/ . I figured if I was going to borrow his company’s name, I would give him some advertising.

For the first time in my life I did a 40 day fast. My main goal was preparing my heart for ordination but the victory over food was a secondary benefit. This past Sunday I completed that fast and I was astounded what God did for me. I want to clarify that I am not doing this for self-promotion or suggesting a program. This simply is a fast by Gast. I felt God leading me and guiding me to do this. I know He did because I, to put it simply have no will power over food. During my fast, that totally changed. I knew everything was going to be different the very first day. The cravings I had disappeared. I could barbeque for others and not be tempted. Let’s just say in the past a barbequed salmon was always much smaller than when I started barbequing it. I could stand and look at Canada’s favourite dish -poutine in the eye (potato) and not have any. During this time I made up my own fast. Some people eat and drink nothing. That would be someone like Moses or Jesus. They were is the presence of God and did not need food or water. Some people drink juice and the list goes on and on. For me I decided before God that I would eat only the things I have not had a problem with in the past. This decision left me with fruits, vegetables and water. It is amazing that when I ate wrong, I usually ate very little of those items. I also drank too much pop and juice. I also have struggled with doing a water fast in the past so I decided I would do a water fast every tenth day. On the thirtieth day I did a three-day water fast. I also cut out television. I was watching way too much TV. I find TV to be a catalyst that triggers eating. God not only blessed me with curing my craving for food, He gave me discipline and strength and the gift of loosing 42 pounds. I also felt very healthy during the fast. As I said yesterday this is a new beginning of eating right so that in all areas of my life now I can say I am disciplined. During this time I only did stuff I needed to do around the house. I did do some swimming in the pool but not too much.

So today I give praise to God for defeating my enemies. As I said yesterday, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Psalm 18 states, (For the director of music. Of David the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.)  I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.