"I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live." - Psalm 104:33
Some people are rejoicing and praising God this morning for one reason and one reason only. Because today is Friday.
God made us to rejoice and praise God this morning for one reason and one reason only. Because God is God.
During the 1980 Super Bowl, one ad in particular caught the hearts of the world with a question: Is his idol not even going to thank him?
Here's the ad!
The stadium is packed. Fans are screaming. A security guard has his hands full trying to control the crowd milling around him. A middle-age woman tries to sneak past the guard into the tunnel. The guard grabs her and escorts her back into the stadium. But the boy quietly sneaks behind the security guard, with a big bottle of Coke in his right hand, trailing his hero down the dimly-lit tunnel.
Mean Joe Greene, battle-scarred and broken, hobbles down the other side of the tunnel toward the locker room. His head stooped, he carries his scuffed-up helmet in his hand.
Boy: "Mr. Greene? Mr. Greene? You need any help?"
Mean Joe: "Uh. Uh."
Visual: Mean Joe looks back at the boy dismissively, as if to say, Go away.
Boy: "I just want you to know." He stammers. "I think." Stammers. "I think. You're the best ever."
Visual: Mean Joe turns his head back over his left shoulder toward the boy.
Mean Joe: "Ya, sure."
Visual: Boy holds up his Coke and offers it to Joe. We can see that it's his one and only Coke.
Boy: "Want my Coke?"
Visual: The boy holds up his hefty bottle as an offering once again.
Visual: Mean Joe looks back at the boy with a scowl. He doesn't answer his question.
Visual: The boy again offers Mean Joe his Coke.
Boy: "Really, you can have it" – his voice almost pleading.
Visual: Joe sighs and shakes his head, but stoops over and reaches his arm out to accept the boy's Coke.
Mean Joe: "Okay. Okay."
Visual: A smile surfaces on Joe's face as he lifts the 20-ounce bottle of Coke to his lips, and starts guzzling.
As Joe guzzles, viewers hear a Coca-Cola jingle:
A Coke and a smile
Makes me feel good
Makes me feel nice
That's the way it should be
I like to see
The whole world smiling at me.
Coca-Cola adds life
Have a Coke and a smile
Visual: Joe is still guzzling the boy's Coke. Camera turns to the boy, who is looking up at Joe, slack jawed, watching his Coke disappear. The boy shrugs, sighs, and waves goodbye to Mean Joe. "See ya around," the boy says, dejectedly, and turns to walk back up the tunnel.
Visual: As Joe finishes the boy's Coke, he pulls his sweaty jersey off his right shoulder.
Mean Joe: "Hey kid." He smiles and tosses the boy his jersey. "Catch."
Visual: The boy catches the jersey in both arms, like a wide receiver cradling a football, looking as if he had just caught the game-winning touchdown.
Boy: "Wow, thanks Mean Joe."
Visual: Mean Joe's smile is now as wide as the tunnel.
Coca-Cola's jingle captures the mood: "Have a Coke and a smile."
Visual: The boy turns and heads back up the tunnel toward the stadium. Mean Joe, still smiling, turns and heads back into the locker room.
Music with voiceover: "Have a Coke and a smile"
As many articles have been written on that commercial, one thing is clear in all of the articles, namely, there is something in the human heart that just doesn't feel right if we don't say or hear the magic words, "Thank you."
Huh! I wonder who made the human heart to be that way?
"I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live." - Psalm 104:33
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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