Not Too Fast On A Fasting Friday!

Welcome to fast Friday, August 22, 2008. I will be leaving later this morning for my blood draw. Now I’ve known about fasting most of my life and I’ve done a little of it but not regularly. I do know it is a serious topic so do not take my blog as in any way demeaning this practice as taught in the Scriptures. I really never thought about how it came to be translated into the word fast or fasting. The Hebrew and Greek words used in the original languages have the connotation of it being associated with the negative of ‘not’, as abstaining or not eating. A source I read, (www.soilandhealth.org), had this to say about how it became the English word we use: “Fast is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word, faest, which means "firm" or "fixed." The practice of going without food at certain times was called fasting, from the Anglo-Saxon, faesten, to hold oneself from food. Like most English words, the word fasting has more than one meaning. Thus, the dictionary defines fasting as "abstinence from food, partial or total, or from proscribed kinds of foods." In most religious fasts abstinence from proscribed foods is all that is meant. We may define it thus: Fasting--is abstention, entirely or in part, and for longer or shorter periods of time, from food and drink or from food alone.”

My blood work requires that I fast for fourteen hours before the draw. Therefore, I had my last bit of food before 7 p.m. last evening. Since water is all that I am supposed to have, I’ve had a fair amount already and I know I will survive without food until 10 a.m. BUT IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID! Sorry, that was the slogan Bill Clinton used to unseat the first President Bush, the fasting has caused me to be a little off this morning. Correct that to read: BUT IT’S THE COFFEE, STUPID! No coffee until 10 a.m., what’s next, bamboo under the fingernails? I vividly recall those early mornings when I was a kid watching my grandfather pour up the prior day’s left over coffee into a cup. It oozed out slowly and looked like black syrup and he would down it cold and I would shudder just thinking about it. Today I would be most happy to be able to take a big swig of that cold brew!

Coffee is good for you or coffee is not good for you, and if you will just wait for the next study, it will say that we can’t be sure one way or the other. We do know it contains a stimulant named caffeine and we can’t deny its properties in waking up our system. I’m one of those who can do with or without it, that’s why I’m so calm and collected at the moment. NOT!!!! I believe it was Senator Hillary Clinton who drew a lot of criticism when she said it takes a village to raise a child. In pleading my case, I’m inclined to say it takes a Community to take care of me. That refers, of course, to Community Coffee, or a cup of Java, or a cup of Joe. I will have to update you one day on how those terms came to reflect that wonderful black nectar. All of this is written in jest because to tell you the truth I’ve hardly noticed that I’ve not had any coffee, ….any coffee, ….any coffee, ….any coffee!!!!!!! Have a great Saturday and Sunday and Lord willing and the coffee holds out I’ll see you Monday with some more of this stuff that passes itself off as being of interest. May God bless and keep you all. Amen. …..More later.