20 Days Without Coffee

Sounds like the title to a bad book...20 Days Without Coffee.  But I did it! May not seem very long, but if you know me, you'll know I have severe issues with the morning hours and having to be not only awake and present, but present with the ability to think and discuss and process.  My love affair with coffee began back in my days of working as an assistant with children with autism.  I needed a jump start before a 7 hour day of wrestling.  And since then I've enjoyed the many benefits of coffee...primarily, the explosion of options at coffeehouses and energy boosts for long drives.

But while I was home for Christmas, I detoxed under the quite painful foe known as a stomach bug and with traveling, I held off on drinking any until my return to Colorado.  And then in an experiment to see if I could adjust my sleeping habits (or avoid insomnia), I just went about life coffee-less.  I didn't feel my usual perky self, and I even let something as fantastic as a nationally known fruit cake toss pass me by, but I still held on.

And then our first student chapel back, Brad Parsley spoke on fasting, and the various degrees, from the supernatural (which we are told to only do if told by God since no food or water leads to death), to fasting from certain things (i.e. coffee).  Now I did not start out "fasting" from coffee with any spiritual intention, but Brad also mentioned that many times the actual fast may not bring any results, but that God may impart something when the fast ends.

Fasting from coffee was no fun. I still couldn't sleep, I didn't have energy, and I just didn't feel normal.  You would think that I gulp it down all day, instead of just a cup in the morning... but regardless there was a huge difference to me.  And I didn't feel any different in my relationship with God....but I have to tell you it all changed when I broke it on Sunday. I went to the earlier service at New Life on Sunday morning, went to gas up, and finally made a stop at Starbucks.

My plan was to get a white chocolate mocha and settle in for some time by myself. But the second I had that cup in my hand and was headed back to my car, God stepped in, in the form of a very welcoming Irish family (part of the school) and I spent the day trying to absorb everything God wanted me to know.  It would be premature and foolish to try to process it all out here, but let's just say that God has sparked a hope and a dream in my heart.  And I have moved across the state of VA and across the country on less confirmation than I've had in the last week....so we will see where God moves.

And I'm back to drinking my daily poor man's mocha. Content to have this dependency if it means I'm semi-normal in the morning!