First of all, let me try to explain once again why I do not have a comment section on my blog. In fact, there are a lot of people who have said various things about me for not enabling the comment section.
I understand I am not a true blogger if I don’t have the comment section. I understand that I do not promote open dialogue if I don’t have the comment section. I understand that I hinder community in the cyberspace world by not having the comment section enabled. I understand that people are frustrated.
But once again, this blog was started because of 3 reasons:
2) As the demographics of our church were changing, I realized that the basic core DNA of our church was slowly slipping. Since I cannot reinforce all the principles and DNA of our church on a Sunday Celebration, I created an avenue where people who want to know the DNA of church can get it by reading the blog as the vision, the heart, and the mission are often times expressed through this blog.
3) As students graduate and move to various parts of the world and also, as we are planning on planting more churches, this blog is a tool of connecting people to what is happening here in HMCC.
With all this being said, I received a personal e-mail in regards to the post on “Ramadan and Christian Fasting.” It really encouraged me knowing that God is moving in the heart of Christians to think seriously about engaging in dialogue with Muslims.
I just read your blog and wanted to respond to it.
I worked lunch shifts with my co-worker. During Ramadan he would fast all day without eating or drinking. He would always come into work looking so tired, and sometimes he would want to break fast. He would smile at me and ask, “Should I eat something?” For some reason, I would respond by telling him that he should not break his fast. Many times he complained about how hungry he was because he was fasting for Ramadan.
I felt compelled to fast along with him. He did not know I was fasting, and I would make an extra effort to not outwardly show I was hungry or tired. One day, I worked extremely hard. I was going non-stop as he sat on a stool, and he asked me, “What is wrong with you? Why are you working so hard?” This was during a down-time so he was resting while I kept on working.
I never told him I was fasting, but one day he did ask me why I wasn’t eating. We usually made a sandwich to eat during lunch. I just smiled in response and told him I wasn’t eating and he smiled and shook his head. He knew I was a Christian.
One really awesome thing is that he ended up playing Breakaway [note: this is our soccer league] even when he knew it was a league with HMCC. We also still try to keep in contact. I think, with God’s help, I gained his respect, and God really worked through me and got him curious about the God I serve.
Anyway, thanks for posting that blog. It made me think when you wrote, “one fasts in order to gain favor from God, while the other fasts out of response to God’s great mercy.”
I hope your family and Church is going well.