Sabbath #1: In the Beginning....

To be honest, this Sabbath did not feel like all that special of a day. At least it was not special when compared to all the other Sabbaths that I've experienced in my life.

One of the main reasons was this Sabbath's proximity to my last fast, the 3-week long internet/tv/movie fast. Instead it felt more like a normal day, and the three days this week that I was off the fast were the weird ones. I have a feeling that this will pass as I get more accustomed to doing things normally throughout the rest of the week. The one thing that was unique about today was the lack of food.

Despite some heated debating amongst my friends, I have decided to keep the fasting part of my journey. However, after consulting with a dietitian (namely my mother), I have decided to allow the drinking of water. Probably a good thing.

Now for the happenings on this, my first Sabbath. Friday night was taken up entirely by the "Hope for Haiti", a benefit concert that my church group and I put on, together with Sally Loo's Wholesome Cafe. It was AMAZING by the way. I found myself bending a few of the regulations, but since it was all for the people in Haiti, no rules were broken. On Saturday, I got up, went to church and then promptly went home and slept for 3 hours. When I woke up, I spent a little time thinking and then set about reading Philippians and Jude for the remainder of the Sabbath.

To give myself a little bit of something to do/strive for, I will attempt to read all of the New Testament during Project Sabbath; if I finish the New, I'll move back to the Old in a roughly reverse order. While I've read a good portion of the Bible, I have not read it in its entirety. The most noticeable holes are the New Testament, and the end of the Old, basically from Job onward. The reading I do will not be simply reading it, but rather studying it and marking down my impressions/thoughts. I expect my Bible to be pretty marked up by the end.

Overall, the first week was a success, but still lacking in a way. I didn't feel like I was fasting for a whole day. I think in future weeks this will pass, as my Friday nights won't be taken up by long concerts. However, if this feeling of a lack of commitment continues, I will consider extending the hours of my Sabbaths to include Saturday nights, but I won't make that decision now.