Thankful for Coke

     I like my caffeine like most of you, but this is not a story about caffeine deprived Americans who finally found a place to calm the nerves.

     This is one of those times that I should had taken a picture but it just did not seem so obvious at the time.  We were treated to getting a Fanta or Coke most days.  It was never cold, yet it was a welcomed refresher.  As we were being served our drinks during lunch, one of the bottles with orange Fanta looked like it had been drug behind whatever truck delivered it.  As we began to look around we noticed all the bottles were a bit questionable.  It should have occurred to me that there was more than meets the eye when they told us to wipe off the rim of the bottle before we drank out of it.  I have no idea what I thought they meant.  The mere exposure to African air would contaminate our precious American bodies?  

    I am not sure how green you think you are but my green has limits.  They would reuse those pop bottles over and over and over.  Some of them seemed like they had been used for years!  I bet they had a date of manufacture on them somewhere.  We could have had a prize for the oldest bottle.  I know we can recycle glass but I guess I thought the things we recycled would reincarnate into lower forms.  Like, glass from a beautiful bay window would reincarnate to the glass of a car windshield. That would reincarnate into the glass in a picture frame.  The frame into a lamp globe.  The globe into a watch face and then into a light bulb.  When it finally hit the bottom of the line they would send it to Burundi to be turned into the coke bottles.  Those things were on their last leg but holding on for dear life.   It was like when you see Jamie Lee Curtis doing the Activia commercials.  I guess you do whatever you can to stay alive!

     As with most things, I took those moments of dubious refreshment for granted.   After church on Sunday we were escorted into what I was guessing to be the parsonage.  There were chairs lining the room so we filed in and found a spot to land.  We had no idea what was going to happen.  After 3 hours of church what could be left to discuss?  Next thing I knew, out came the red crates and old fashion bottle opener.  Coke and Fanta.  After a good wipe down we were about to start drinking when the pastor stood up.  My goodness, a toast for us?!  He said, "Let's thank God for our drinks."  I love my Dr Pepper, but I am not sure I ever stopped to say a prayer of thanks on my way out of the Sonic drive thru.

     The things we take for granted here.  We need God to do something big in order for us to stop and thank Him.  It's as if in order to give Him credit, He has to do something big enough that only God could do, otherwise the credit may not be His and we can't give credit where credit is not due.  They get an abused bottle that half of Burundi has drank out of and then stop to give thanks.  I guess the verse says ALL good things are from above.  Not just the ones that "wow" us.