Another week of Lent has passed since Ash Wednesday and I am still keeping my promise to not eat “fast food.” Keeping this promise has been interesting lately. My daughter Annie celebrated her 5th birthday at the end of February and my parents were in town for a week to celebrate. Normally we would have gone out to eat at Wendy’s or McDonald’s for the kids. But this time we celebrated and ate at nicer restaurants. The keeping of the promise has been beneficial in the way it has affected my relationships with my family members. Randa and the girls are proud of what I am doing and have been very supportive. Randa even notes that she is eating less “fast food” because she thinks of me and my promise when she thinks about eating at McDonald’s, etc. It has been an interesting time so far. I feel good – almost at peace as I progress with every new day.

I love it when Wednesday nights come and I get to hear how the church children are doing at keeping their promises. Those times together are encouraging. It is especially nice to see the innocence in the eyes of the 1st graders. And we have had great discussions about God and forgiveness. Last night our small group (due to the weather) focused on the story of Jesus going into the wilderness to fast and pray and how he was tempted by the devil during that time. We had a great discussion about temptation and we learned how to deal with it from Jesus’ example. So far on Wednesdays, we have learned about making and keeping promises, baptism, and temptation. It has been a special Lenten season thus far.