> > Well, as a few of you know from being in RinkChat with me, I was involved in the thirty hour famine, a fundraising thing in which participants go without food for 30 hours to raise money for third world countries. It's now all over and done and I've discovered a few things.

A couple of years ago, I accidentally fasted for 30+ hrs. (No, I'm not bragging.)

The reason? Yom Kippur(The Day of Atonement). It's a day to "afflict your souls", and the *main* traditional way to do this is to fast. The usual amount of time one fasts is 25-26 hours. You also do a lot of introspection(actually, the introspection starts more than 10 days before) during that time, and prayers, and you try to be more specific in your requests for forgiveness rather than the usual generalized prayers for forgiveness most of us probably do, myself included.

Also, if you're in a Messianic congregation you also be sure to remember that the Messiah is our atonement. Not the blood of bulls, goats, and sheep, and certainly not the blood of chickens, and definitely not gifts of money, but Yeshua(commonly known as Jesus).

Anyway, back to the fasting. The first time we did it(as in I and my family), we ate before the service and fasted until we went to eat out the next day. Well, that year, I didn't have anything for a pre-service supper, and that was a few hours from when one would normally start. But we didn't have a meal that time, so I went until the next evening without food. Believe me when I say, you appreciate food more.

> > One, there is a limit to how physically hungry one can get within a 30 hour period. You don't get hungrier and hungrier. You plateau after a while and stay physically hungry about the same amount. However... you start thinking about food even more.

Correct, to a point. I've heard of people going on longer fasts, and I hear that your hunger goes away after a bit. The next time you feel hungry, it's about 40 days after, and you'd better eat that time, or you'll expire.

> > Two, it really is possible to be too tired to eat, no matter how hungry you are. At 1:30 in the morning, I have eaten half of my bag of popcorn, and then it became... Augh. Can't reach to the bottom! I was still hungry... but I didn't have the energy to eat anything. And the party wasn't over and wouldn't be until 6am. It was really too loud to get to sleep.

Ehhhh... after the aforementioned 40-dayer, I imagine "too hungry to sleep" would more accurately describe me. :)

> > Three, although I've already eaten since the famine ended, I'm still hungry now...
> >
> > Sun"it's gonna be a looooong day"dragyn.
>
> I've always thought the Thirty Hour Famine sounded neat but never had an opportunity to do it. But soon after I get back to college from break our impact group is going to fast. The group's made up of several bible studies which minister to campuses around the area. We will fast from Friday to Saturday for the outreach that weekend. I'm worried I'll get really dizzy from not eating- does drinking sugar water sound like a good plan?
>
> Ga"No, I'm not *trying* to rot my teeth...."halia

I'll let someone else field that one, but if you'd also like to fast around when I do, it's September 26-27 this year.

Nyperold