The Real Thing!

My husband loves telling the story that has the statistics of the number of people in the world who have heard of, seen, or tasted Coke.  Then he compares it to the number of people who have heard the name of Jesus.  Sadly, far more people have heard of Coke than have heard of Jesus.

He even did one of his ministry videos on this subject, opening by singing the song, I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke.  This leads into the metamorphosis of the song to I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing, which has an almost-spiritual connotation with the Christian version, "He's the Real Thing," substituted for "It's the real thing."  Howard brings it all together in an evangelistic message.

While we were visiting in Georgia for Christmas, we passed Christmas Eve day exploring the shops in a quaint section of the town where our daughter Amy lives.  My music-loving husband and son Greg gravitated toward a music store where I knew they would spend time strumming guitars.  I opted to go to the drugstore next door.

When I got inside, I was overwhelmed by the plethora of Coke-related products they had!  Signs, ads, Santa Claus drinking Coke, and almost every slogan they'd ever used covering wall décor, beverage glasses and other souvenir items. Howard would love this!, I thought.  Then I spotted the perfect thing to give him for Christmas.  On a whim I bought a rectangular, wooden sign emblazoned with the Coke trademark and the words, I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke, painted in bright red letters.

Checking out at the store counter, I remarked about their many Coca-Cola themed items.  The clerk said, "Yes! Did you notice the painted wall outside?" Of course I had, we'd even had our picture taken in front of it on a previous visit.  The whole drugstore brick wall was meticulously painted in trade-mark red featuring the Santa Claus logo.  "This is the first outside ad Coke ever allowed," she explained. 

Howard's response when he unwrapped the little gift Christmas morning was priceless!  His surprised guffaw of delight made my day. "Where did you get this?" he marveled. I showed him the print on the drugstore bag verifying the store's unique status.  He got a kick out of that, too. 

A few days later we were in Tennessee seeing our daughter Julie's family.   Howard was asked to preach at their church, and at the end of an anointed message, he challenged the people with the comparison statistics about Coke.  I feel sure no one left without the conviction that "He's the Real Thing!" Jesus!