A Tuskys Encourager

A "21" Reflection

Fasting is a deep thing. When we fast we are reminded how important food is to life. Someone rightly said that we eat to live. At Downtown, we started a 21 days long fast yesterday and it was the substance of a conversation I had with Bekki yesterday at around noon. It was one of those level 4 conversations if you know what I mean.

I was just about to leave home to attend to some office matters when she asked me what we will have for dinner. What I suggested didn't seem to elicit any excitement from her while her suggestion was pure impulsive spending in my view. Seeing that the dinner conversation was going nowhere she requested that I get her a snack to break the fast later in the evening. That's easy, so I thought. I would just pass by the shop outside our flat and buy her a loaf of 'Carlos' bread.

I had the guts to tell her as much to which she responded, "When we are fasting we need some encouragement and for me that will be a loaf of bread from TUSKYS (Supermarket)." Apparently, the people making 'Carlos' have compromised on quality hence the bread they are producing nowadays is a far cry when compared to what they had at the beginning of the year. So, TUSKYS bread it was because compromisers would not encourage her.

That afternoon I kept wondering what keeps me going during a fast. What is my encourager? Sometimes the thing that keeps us going during a deeply spiritual exercise like fasting is something very 'unspiritual'. For Bekki it was a loaf of bread from TUSKYS and for someone else it could be the promise of a doughnut from JAVA. Let us be real, what keeps you going? What is your encourager? For me, my encourager was the faith of the over 50 guys who signed up for "21" last Sunday alone. The knowledge that I am not the only one fasting kept me going.

Roman1:12 "...that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine."