Not so fast!

Kids eating glue sticks is the modern equivalent of the kids who ate paste back in the day. Besides, they look so much like chapstick!
 

Sketchbook: How it works at our house

Honestly, it is hard to remember sometimes. 
 

A pizza saved is a pizza earned

It’s nice to have someone who will remove temptation from your path. 
 

Sketchbook: That was fast

As I was sketching out ideas for the week, I came up with this gag. I thought it would be a fun one to do to go along with this week’s Come, Follow Me. 

Later I was listening to the Follow Him podcast with Hank Smith and John Bytheway, and doggone it if Bro. Bytheway didn’t use This. Exact. Same. Joke. 

Rather than scrap the whole thing, I thought I’d share my story. I could do worse than being on the same wavelength as those guys, even for a little laugh. 
 

Feasting upon the word

Few things motivate a missionary like the prospects of a meal. There was many a time when dinner was the highlight of the day — especially on fast Sunday! Even if we occasionally griped about the food, we were certainly thankful it was there!

Food for thought: I learned that we could fast for different amounts of time; we weren't limited to fasting for a full day. If we only had ten minutes to fast before giving a blessing, for example, it could be done. It's the spirit of the fast, not just the going without food.

 

Light the World: Fast Relief

I heard this statement in a lesson once, and it stuck with me. It helps explain why sometimes it's easier to fast than others. 

For today's Light the World, the suggestion is to "go without for a meal or two" and donate the cost of the meals to a charity that feeds people in need. 

Editor's note: Snicker Snacks and the jagged line on the cereal bowl are throwbacks to Peanuts — the jagged line was on Charlie Brown's shirt (a recurring motif you'll see in numerous comic strips for that exact reason), and Snicker Snacks was often the cereal of choice in the strip. Bonus points in your Comics History class if you got those references!
 

By special request

Here's Monday's sketchbook, fully realized as a cartoon. 

Thanks for the feedback!
 

Sketchbook: Special fast

As I sat in Sunday school class a few weeks ago, I wondered what it would be like to be in a ward full of turkeys? Hey, there are worse things I could think about! This is one of the better ideas I came up with. 

 

Saturday is a special day

I could use one of those coupons!
 

Hungering and thirsting, after

I was going to hold off on running this until fast Sunday... but I couldn't wait!
 

Light the World: Fast Relief

Whenever I fast, I find that it helps if I not only think about what I'm fasting for, but what I'm fasting from. 

Are you fast enough?

OK, nobody panic! This next Sunday is not Fast Sunday!*


*Although that is a great gag to pull on your kids on Saturday night: "Remember tomorrow is Fast Sunday!"

The hope of a new May

I've heard it said that fasting without a purpose is just going hungry. I think this particular idea is one that we could all rally behind!

The spirit of the fast

It's very possible that one of the green things on his plate is asparagus. Very possible!

And the winner is...

You never know what you're going to get when you open up a caption contest. There were some great answers — and a couple that were a bit on the scary side! Here's a sampling of some of my favorites — I combined a couple of ideas that worked well together.

• OK, Elder — I'm convinced. We're going grocery shopping this next P-day!
• I can't believe mom wants us to eat this box full of dead fleas!
• It must be fast Sunday. Mom's hiding the food again!
• First it was fast Sunday, and now it's fast Monday too?!
• Please! I don't want to eat baby carrots for breakfast!
• That moment you realize that you forgot to go shopping but you can't go now because it's Sunday.
• This means that either the Gadiantons are back in town or my brother is back home from college!

Runner-up No. 2: What the heck — Frosted Fleas?! That's what I get for ordering my cereal off the internet!

Runner-up No. 1: Where's my CTR decoder ring?

And now, the winner — from the mind of Brian H.

For his winning entry, Brian will receive a copy of That's One Small Step for a Mom, One Giant Leap for Missionarykind.

Thank you to everyone who entered!

There is plenty indeed for my two hands to do

Do you have a teenager in your home who constantly texts? Ask them to flex their thumb muscle — the one that looks like it's a bicep for your hand (I believe it's called the abductor pollicis brevis). It's probably way beefier than yours!

Fast times

I keep seeing posts that say, "I'm on a social media fast." And I wonder how could they be posting when they're fasting? Isn't that kind of like saying, "I'm going to start fasting as soon as I finish this bowl of cereal!"? It's probably just me...

Did you also notice that Pres. Nelson challenged the youth to a seven-day fast. He challenged the sisters to a ten-day fast. What's it going to be up to when he finally challenges the elders?

Sketchbook: If you have to ask...

A couple of things I found intriguing about the social media fast — one was how quickly other people picked up on it. It wasn't just Mormon kids who attended Pres. Nelson's fireside. Another thing was how Apple announced that in the next system upgrade, it was going to be a lot easier to control how much screen time you're actually using.

Maybe the prophet is on to something here?

It's not about speed

This is probably a week early for most of us, but just so we can be prepared...

Sketchbook: The law of a little fast

Each month members of the Church have a day of fasting. Fasting includes abstaining from food and drink for two consecutive meals. It's meant to help us gain spiritual strength and to help us bless others. When we fast with a purpose, it makes it more meaningful and helps draw us closer to our Father in Heaven.

Fasting without a purpose, it has been said, is simply going hungry.

These days, there seems to be a preponderance of purposes for which one could fast.