2009 is upon us; though, we're still scrambling under the weight of all that 2008 brought.

And if you may find yourself still in coping mode, let me encourage you not to miss what an opportunity a new year can be  to purge and reflect.  Karen and I are taking this opportunity to go on a week-long juice fast and we want to invite you to join us.  If you've never done a week-long fast and the idea intimidates you, a juice fast is a good place to start.  Karen gave me a juicer for Christmas, so we're actually looking forward to the week. When I last did this, it lasted 42 days and brought a number of breakthroughs.

In the cycle and rhythm of life, we need periods of "lying fallow" so as to recharge our batteries and restore our productive capacity.  I don't know about you, but so often I find myself down in the weeds of life, losing the big picture of what God is doing.  All kinds of poisons can enter our systems when we're down in the weeds - the poison of distraction, the poison of superficiality, the poison of busyness.  It's what a life crammed full to the brim does to a person.

God is always calling his people to times or seasons of  purging these poisons from their lives.  But fasting does more than this, it focuses our spirits and restores intimacy with our creator.  The idea of a sabbath is in part God saying to man, "you need to recalibrate yourself as a spiritual being once a week."  God gave the entire community system and land a season of laying fallow with the Year of Jubilee.

Prayer and reflection are always good, but accompanying a fast like this, we can expect God to draw near and give us answers to questions we may have.  We can expect to sense his presence more.  And as we as a blog community reflect, we'll be looking back and getting updates on people and situations that we've prayed for in the past.  In particular, I'll be catching you to speed on "where are they now?" for each of the following:

• Michael Angelo (3 year-old sex slave)
• Allan (11 year-old Kenyan orphan)
• My friend fighting the demonic (who 113 of you prayed for)
• Jennifer Smith (whose husband died while she was on the World Race)
• Other answers to prayers that we've been praying as a community (we need you to report in for this one)

Too often in life and in America, we do a one-off, praying for something but never finding out how God answered our prayers.  It fosters a half-hearted faith and does a disservice to God, who may well answer our prayers after we've stopped praying them.

So, consider joining us for all or part of the week (Monday-Sunday).  We've got a papaya, a cantaloupe, apples, grapes, and assorted veggies ready to go. And if a juice fast seems like too much, consider a Daniel Fast, where  you stop eating meat and processed foods.  A fast is often easier to do when you've got others joining you.  Let us know if you're in and feel free to share your prayers or answers to prayer along the way!