At the end of November I really sensed the Lord was asking me to give up a few things for 6 months. Not bad things, but some things that were taking too prominent a role in my life and that were increasingly things I found myself not wanting to give up.

One of those things…soda.

Words cannot express my great love of that wonderfully carbonated, caffeinated, sugary beverage. A little after college I switched almost exclusively to diet soda (though on a special occasion, every once in a while, I’ll splurge for a Dr. Pepper or Mountain Dew). My usual poison of choice of soda is Diet Coke.

Before moving to Pawleys I had soda regularly, but nothing too outlandish…maybe one a day (sometimes more, sometimes less). But in moving to Pawleys Island, something spectacular happened. Suddenly, I found my office only 20 seconds (literally) away from Sonic. Now I’m not a big fan of their food, but they have the best ice in the business and specials throughout the day where you can buy a Route 44 (yes, that’s right…44 ounces of diet coke goodness) for .99.

Clearly you see where this is going.

Me getting 2-3 of those drinks a day.

And I’m not gonna lie…I enjoyed every single second of it. It always delivered. Never came up short.

So when God made it clear I needed to give up soda for 6 months, those first two weeks were no picnic (to say the least). But here’s the interesting thing: Four months into, after the cravings had pretty much subsided, they’ve come back even stronger. I’ve never wanted soda more in my life than I do right now.

Had a chat about this with a few people and this looks to be what’s happening: The sugar substitute in diet soda, while not containing sugar, actually makes you want it more. In other words, you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul because you end up getting the sugar fix from somewhere else. Well I’ve also been fairly disciplined in what I’m eating in the last few months so at about the 4 month mark my body is starting to look around and say, “Wait. Are you serious? Is this for real? This wasn’t just a little something to try out? Honestly man…you’ve got to get me some sugar NOW. No more playing around!”

You would not believe the cravings.

So yeah…I was thinking this might go to some spiritual place but clearly it isn’t right now (at least not at 11:18 at night).

But all this leads me to the question I’m starting to ask: When the 6 months ends…what happens next in my long and gratifying relationship with soda?