40 Day Fast - FAQ's

Frequently Asked Questions

On this page, I'm trying to answer all the questions you may have about my 40 day fast. Some of these are questions that people have asked me. If your question is not answered, please email me at http://jcsm.org/contact.php

Q: Did you really fast for 40 days?

A: Yes, I fasted for 40 days.

Q: Did you eat anything at all? What did you drink?

A: I devised this fast in a way where I ate vegetables on the first and last two days. On the first two days, the vegetables helped to clean out my system. On the last two days, the vegetables helped to return my digestive system to normal.

Beyond that, I drank two glasses of fruit juices each day. I was very strict on this and never drank more than two glasses a day. I also allowed myself plenty of water and some diet, caffeine-free soda. When I was cold, I'd have a warm cup of broth. Those are the only things I consumed during this fast. I could have allowed myself many other things, but I didn't feel led to do so.

Q: Were you tired and weak the whole time?

A: Absolutely not! On the contrary, I had incredible stamina and energy. Every time I was feeling tired, I prayed for strength and energy and God gave it to me!

I slept the same amount of time that I usually slept - 7 or 8 hours. I woke up and went to bed around the same time. I usually sleep from 3am-11am, but I would go to sleep around 2-3am. There wasn't much difference in my waking and sleeping patterns.

If I wasn't a believer in Christ, I'd say the fruit juices had some magical properties to them. However, I do believe in Him and know that God's supernatural power gave me more strength than food ever could. This was a great way that I felt God's presence. Many times, I had more energy than my slightly younger friend! We marveled at this, too.

Q: Were you able to work as usual?

A: Yes. However, I am self-employed, coach soccer and teach guitar lessons. My primary job is my internet ministry, so I'm on the web.

Q: Did you lose a lot of weight?

A: I was 168 when I began and I was 143 when I finished.

Q: Did you see any little green men or visions of supernatural events?

A: No, I didn't see any little green men. However, I did have several dreams. These dreams are recorded in my journals. They were very interesting and had several meanings (some prophetic). I didn't have any huge visions for the future or anything. In my experience, God doesn't work like that, so I haven't been seeking answers like that. Since God hold's the future, I'm sure He could have told me anything. I simply wanted more personal guidance and answers.

Q: Would you do this again?

A: Yes! This was an incredible experience and I'd love to do it again. It would be wise to build my body for at least a couple months, though. I don't mean I need to put on fat, in order to fast, but my body needs to replenish it's vitamin and mineral reserves. Plus, I need to meditate on the things I learned on this fast.

Q: During the fast, was your ministry improved?

A: Yes! God gave me many awesome ideas for this ministry. Some of them were given to me on my trip to the Grand Canyon. I wrote them down and have began them. Also, about 2000 names were added to my list for the devotions! I've been praying to have 10,000 names and I currently have 5,961. As you can see, this was a huge gain and I praise God for this.

Q: What were the highlights of your fast?

A: There were tons of highlights, so I'll just list them. If you want to locate them in my journal, go to the top of the page and press Ctrl-F and enter the word. It will search for it.

These things were particularly awesome during my fast: the Grand Canyon, Promise Keepers, Christian concerts (The Kry, Luna Halo, Jars of Clay, Delirious, Michael Tait, Jennifer Knapp, Switchfoot, Dance Floor Prophets, etc.), sunsets at the beach, driving long distances, being with Sarine, going to Magic Mountain (Six Flags), singing worship songs, playing music, going to Bible study and church, fellowship with my Christian friends, meditating on God and His Word, persevering, etc.

Q: What were the low-lights of your fast?

A: There were only a few low-lights of this fast. I enjoyed the vast majority of it. Here were the most trying moments: being late for a Christian concert that was 2 hours away, arguing with my old roommate, experiencing a spiritual leader and friend having little faith in the spiritual gifts, being attacked with a certain temptation, getting lost in L.A. and that's about it! Praise God there were very few low points.

Q: Were people generally supportive or antagonistic?

A: Generally, people were a number of different ways. My parents began a little skeptical but supernaturally became proud and very supportive! This was supernatural because I did not have to convince them of my sincerity or dedication to God; they simply knew and it was great to have their support. Incidentally, they are Christians.

On the web, I got mixed reactions. Over the 40 days, I probably received 30 emails about my fast. Among these emails, about 10 were people telling me to stop fasting. The rest were encouraging. My Christian friends were very supportive! They were a huge source of encouragement and I feel that having them in my life helped me do this fast. I believe God called me to do this fast because it was the right time for me and having those friends helped make this the right time for me.

It was awesome to have my New Venture friends. They shined a great light on what I was doing. Always putting a smile on my face, they would joke about how I'd have a big head on a little body. Or I had to watch Dave eat a burrito in front of me. Tyrone caught me starring at him and almost died laughing. I hadn't eaten in so long, I was just watching and thinking....wow, that looks interesting....I wonder what that would be like! Thank Jesus for all these great people.

My roommates didn't say a lot about it. They were respectful, though. I appreciated their attitude and didn't expect too much from them.

Q: Was there anything you'd do differently if you could do this again?

A: I don't like to second guess myself. I did tons of awesome things and was very thankful for the entire experience. However, I suppose I would pray more. I saw lots and lots of answers to prayers! I felt the struggle to make time for prayer. It's not easy to set aside prayer time. Many things try and get in the way.

Besides making more time for prayer, I can't think of anything I'd change. I'm very happy and content with everything! Praise God. Part of being happy at the outcome of this fast is because I set plenty of rules, read plenty of books and prepared myself before the fast.