Luke 12:48

I leave this evening to fast in the forest for 18 days.

I’ve done juice fasting when I lived in Austin because it was hippy and earthy though in hindsight I must’ve sounded like a pretentious boob back then talking about detoxing on milk thistle, wheat grass and organic carrot juice. The longest I could do it was for a mere three days which you’d understand if you ever had pork ribs at Sam’s barbeque.

Yep this is an experience of a whole other order.

First of all, though I’m leaving to setup camp tonight the fast will officially start Wednesday June 13th at 8am ending July 31st 8am. I hope my math is right anyway. At that time the cell phone and computer get shut off and the only line I’ll have is to Ginger to coordinate rendezvous times for water re-supply. She will also be bringing Hudson to see me so he won’t feel as though I, too, have left him.

I’ll be living in a tent near Wolf River the entire 18 days and subsisting only on water although electrolyte powders are needed given the extreme, constant heat I’ll be exposed to.

The first three days are the most grueling when the hunger pains are the worst after that my body will quiet down.

This is the critical stage and why I am fasting… to quiet myself and listen.

I’ll have with me a moleskin to write my sermons in stone and a camera to record them, too.

My relationship with my faith is deep and profound and it’s as much a part of my journey as the fuzzybutts are. It has blessed me with a righteous mission, has guided me throughout our travels, and enriched our lives with so many wonderful people.

Perhaps I will never understand why after the walk Murphy was diagnosed with cancer but I have at least accepted that that part of my journey has ended.

This is the next stretch and this one I must do alone. And when I return the mission will continue...