I accidentally fasted on Tuesday, and I think God still counted it.

Last Sunday at Grace our church family committed to a week of collective prayer and fasting. We were each going to choose a customized fasting plan that ranged from fasting from one meal or activity to an entire week. The emphasis was not on how long we fasted or what we fasted from, but on whom we were fasting to and why we were fasting.

According to the Scriptures, we fast:

• When Jesus seems absent…
• When situations seem hopeless…
• When injustice rules the land…
• And when we want to engage in a deeper level of prayer and worship…

My plan was to fast on Wednesday. However, when I arrived at my office early Tuesday morning, I realized that I had left my well-packed Los Angeles Lakers lunch bag in the refrigerator at home, and I was facing the prospect of a day without instant oatmeal, bananas, and lentils. My first impulse was to run to Vons and stock up on protein, but then I thought, “Maybe I’ll just fast today instead of tomorrow.” So I reallocated my eating time in to a time of focused prayer…and I received one of the strongest downloads of insight and revelation from the Scriptures that I have received in months.

And I wasn’t even planning on fasting that day.

This silly little story is a reminder of the “accidentalness” of the Gospel. Sometimes even the random, unplanned details of our day can have a divine breath in them. As followers of Jesus, we should always have eyes to see and ears to hear because sometimes heaven is beckoning us…even in our accidents.