Day 26a-27a

I ran with a super, in shape friend today, I mean extremely in shape.  I was able to run the whole 6.3 miles with her, but boy it pushed my body in a way it hasn't felt since training for my last marathon, probably even harder.  It feels good when your body can really push itself and do something harder than it is normally use to.  I left feeling like I wanted to be healthy, not emaciated or gaunt, but healthy.  She has a Master in Health Science and has been an avid fitness expert for years.  She was talking about the importance of being balanced with food.  Not being so extreme that you never enjoy sweets or good stuff but not being overly lazy with food where you are an all-out glutton.  It seems to be all about balance.  Not over or under eating, not over or under exercising, not going to extreme that you can never keep for life, but living a balanced healthy life that honors God.  I then had lunch with a good friend who was sharing with me all she has learned from the Lord.  We talked about fasting, not to lose weight, but to honor God.  Using the absence of food for a short period to focus on the Lord and His work in the world.  Isaiah 58:6-7, "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and  untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?  Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"  It goes on to say that as a result of this vs. 8, "Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard."  As well as vs. 9, "Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say:  Here I am."  Wow!  That is powerful, speaks for itself.
Fran