Pepsi, Birthdays and Me

Pepsi isn’t turning 60 this year, but I am.

My world collided with the world of Pepsi when I turned 6 years old. 

Just 6. 

6 without the 0 after it . . . a long time ago.

What started out as a drink called “Brad’s Drink” and was invented by a pharmacist in 1893 to offer to his customers at his soda fountain ended up being the catalyst of my excitement to turn 6 years old. Caleb Bradham’s dark caramel colored (Caramel E105d to name the exact color) carbonated drink has been renamed twice and by 1961 was known and consumed by millions all over the world. And they had a special truck named after it. The Pepsi Party Truck.

For every child turning six, Pepsi offered a free cake, ice cream and Pepsi drinks up to a

certain number for their birthday party. I remember the box, the small round cups of ice cream with the small wooden spoons and the Pepsi. I’m sure my party guest were bouncing off the walls for hours once they returned home with all the sugar, but it was a great time. Recently one of my granddaughters turned six and she got to enjoy the same Pepsi Party truck experience. (Even though now I believe you pick up your Party box from the bottling company, not a party truck.)

Now I’m adding the 0 to the number six and I’m not excited about the Pepsi Party Truck, but about what the next stage of life will bring. I don’t think I will morph into a multi-million company and touch lives for generations all around the world for years, but maybe I will . . . well, maybe not the multi-million dollar company part. But just maybe I will do something to touch lives for generations all around the world for years, through writing.

I don’t remember the actual gifts I received at the six-year party, but I am well aware of the gifts that my Heavenly Father has given me. What a disappointment to my parents if they gave me a gift and I opened it but never used it and enjoyed it. Same with my Father. How disappointed He would be to give me a gift and I never used it or enjoyed it.

So, as I embark on this new decade, one in which there is a 0 after the 6, I’m going to take the gifts He so graciously put in my care and use them. My prayer is that the words that will be written and spoken will touch lives for generations to come and through the amazing Internet, all around the world.

I don’t know how old you are, but I do know that the Lord has graciously given you gifts and has put them in your care. Are you using them? Did you at one time, but for whatever reason put them down or in a place for another time?

There is no time like the present. The One who bestowed these gifts also encourages us with His word for:

• “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14

• “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” 1 Peter 4:10

• “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:. . ." Romans 12:6    

It may not be your birthday but I would love for you to join me in celebrating not only our

salvation and the freedom we have in being God’s child through believing in His Son Jesus Christ, but also the gifts He has given each one of us. And as we celebrate, let’s not put the gifts aside, but use them as they were intended by the most loving gift-giver of all.

And as far as my 60th Birthday . . . 
a Big Happy 60th Birthday to me!!!

Scripture from English Standard Version (ESV) Bible

photos of 60th balloons and Beth by Beth Fortune

remaning photos courtesty of www.pixabay.com

Gift of Love

Birthdays.

One a year.

When one is over, we look forward to the next one.

We don’t even entertain the idea that we won’t have another birthday because they always come, one after another.

My heart was full after receiving a visit from a special lady in my life. She had her son drive her to my office to bring me a gift, one she'd taken great care to pick out for me. 

As I leaned into the car window to give her a hug of thanks, I had to hold back the tears that wanted to puddle in my eyes like the mist began to puddle on the window sill of her son’s car.  

Below the stocking cap on her head, her eyes were dancing as she talked about the lunch plans she and her son had made. After another quick hug through the car window I held my gift to my chest and walked back into my office as they drove off towards the restaurant. 

I pulled the tissue out of the top of the festive bag until the buried gift was exposed. Cards . . . two boxes. One box contained Thinking of You cards and one box contained Praying for You cards. 

Why cards? Because for months I have been sending cards to her to encourage her as she again endures chemo and radiation treatments for the cancer that's returned to cause havoc to her body.

The tears welled up in my eyes again and this time, in the privacy of my office, I could let them fall down my cheeks as my heart asked "What does she think about birthdays?"

Birthdays.

One a year.

When one is over, we look forward to the next one.

We don’t even entertain the idea that we won’t have another birthday because they always come, one after another . . .

But wait, it seems some would have every reason to entertain the idea of whether or not another birthday would follow next year.

As I think back on the special moments I've had celebrating my recent birthday, my thoughts go back to my friend. Her sweet gesture speaks volumes to me as I focus not on the days ahead of me, but on today and what I can do for someone else. She uses each day, not to dwell on the time she may or may not have left, the birthdays she may or may not celebrate in the future, but what she can do that day to love and encourage someone else.

I John 4:12 says "No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us (ESV)." 


I haven't see God but I have seen His love--it was His perfect love, being shown in an imperfect broken body of this dear one. A love that was as beautiful as she.

Birthdays.

One a year.

When one is over, we look forward to the next one . . . well maybe not. 

From now on I want to look at each day, one day after the other, and ask God to give me ways to show His love to another person. . . someone who needs to see HIM. 

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love 

one another: just as I have loved you, 

you also are to love one another" 

(John 13:34 ESV).

photos courtesy of morguefile.com