40-Day Fast::Day 1

Today was a little hard, but not too bad. I had to stop myself from licking the strawberry jam off my fingers when I made the kids' lunch.

I must admit, I knew for sure that I was going to have a craving for Saylor's chicken ranch pizza during this journey, so yesterday, before the fast started, the kids and I went out for pizza for lunch. And I bought a little Christmas chocolate from the clearance aisle. Hey, I know what I was going to be thinking about, and I wanted to ward off temptation...by giving into it before it was wrong! :o) "To thine ownself be true," quips Polonius, Hamlet's older and wiser friend, who surely would have nodded his approval at the Ghiradelli squares.

I'm reading a book called, "Incredible Moments With the Savior: Learning to See" by Ken Gire. Today's encounter with Jesus revealed a bit of his compassion and self-sacrifice through the miracle of turning water into wine at the Canaan weding feast. Such an odd first public miracle, I used to think. But I see how perfect it was. The water jugs that Jesus commanded be filled with water were not meant to hold anything valuable. They just held water for the ceremonial washing of the guests feet. However, Jesus gave them new purpose by turning ordinary water into choice wine, the best of the best, in the same way that He came to give the Jewish law new purpose: not as a set of to-do's to get into God's favor, but to show our desperate need for Jesus and God's grace to forgive us for never being able to fully measure up.

Jesus can take this dull and ordinary vessel and give it a greater purpose! What hope!

More than that, Jesus' compassion for the wedding host, who would never have been able to live down the embarrassment of running out of wine before the end of the wedding celebration, far out-weighed his own personal cost of performing this miracle. Yes, there was a cost, for as soon as he did it, "Jesus crossed the Rubicon--that river of no return. The die was cast. The clock was wound. It would begin ticking down to the final hour of his destiny and set in motion the gears that would ultimately enmesh him and cost him his life. For the wine he provided at Cana would hasten the cup he would one day drink at the cross" (Gire 6).

Can you see how much he loves us???

I leave the end of day one feeling completely loved by God. (And only a little hungry.)