We were headed home from the airport with new and returning teachers today. As our mountain came into view I turned to the young boy behind me and said, “Caleb, do you see the statue of Jesus with the big Coca Cola sign underneath? That’s our mountain.” From up front I heard Sara say, “Yep, we’re headed to the ‘real thing,’” and the innuendo wasn’t lost on me. How many in this country know the ‘real thing?’ Every day you’ll see laborers walking from the pulperias with a bottle of coke to accompany lunch. Before they eat, do they talk to the “real thing?”
One year, as we were coming back from a visit to the states, our bus came to a dead stop in traffic. A soda truck had overturned in the road, blocking traffic both directions. As the harried driver tried to negotiate with police, people were flooding the street, coming from who knows where in this seemingly deserted stretch, to grab a 3 liter bottle of soda that had spilled from the truck. Bottles rolled off into the ditch on both sides of the road and people were running to collect their loot. A little boy walked past us tipping a bottle to his lips and taking a deep swig as he walked past. Kids shouted with joy as they lugged off as many free bottles as they could carry. So much joy over a bottle of fizzy sugar water because it was free for the taking.
What if people actually got that excited over the possibility of a relationship with the “real thing?” How is it that Coke has done a better job of marketing their product than we as Christians do about spreading the gospel? It’s there, free for the taking. The REAL THING. Not a temporary sugar and caffeine high, but something that saves and lasts. How excited am I to introduce others to the real thing?