Pepsi & Jesus

Okay… I will start by saying this… I’ve never really liked the taste of Pepsi. In fact, if you asked any of us in my family if we were more of a “Pepsi or Coke” person, we would tell you that we are a Coca Cola family. But today, Pepsi helped remind me of the goodness and love of God. So for that… I owe it a debt of gratitude.

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There is a lady who I have passed by every day this week. I do not know her name. I do not know her life. I do not know her story. All I know is that whenever I walk past her, hurriedly on my way to class or the train, or more slowly as I head to Downtown Crossing to shop with friends, she stands at a door and carefully opens it for each person who chooses to walk in or out of it. Whether they notice it or not, she is gifting each of them a small act of kindness, even as she hopes that even one or two of them will notice and repay her for that small deed.

To some, she can be seen as merely a nuisance… I know that, because at times that is all I’ve seemed to manage to see in her. She stands with plastic cup, empty except for the coins she shakes around on the inside. Her clothes look ragged, and hair unkempt. I do my best, most days, simply not to make eye contact with her – as I have avoided making eye contact with the fifteen or so others I have already passed on my way to school. Beggars… panhandlers... and so many other more, or less, kind names could be attributed to them. Normally, I have to shut my eyes to the scenes as on more than one occasion, reminders of the stark poverty around me have reduced me to tears on my morning commute. I can’t help but see their lives and wonder at their stories, even as I desperately try to walk ahead, seemingly unbothered by it all.

But today… She opened the door for me again, as I was walking into the convenience store, in desperate need of some water to quench my thirst after a stifling commute. And before I knew it, something in me tugged me over. I looked to my right and made eyecontact with her, “I don’t have any change, right now,” I said, which was true, as I was only carrying my phone and credit card, “but could I get you something? Even a water, or something?” The little woman’s eyes lit up and sparkled in a way I have only rarely ever seen someone able to manage, “Pepsi, please!” I smiled, “Sure thing!”

I walked into the store and headed straight for the coolers. I chose my water and turned to the section I had never once even thought to buy from, though I had stopped many times at this specific location – the sodas. I glanced at the small cans of Pepsi and shook my head. Then, noticing a larger bottled Pepsi, the kind that I had seen many of my friends who do drink Pepsi prefer, I pulled that out. I grinned, internally, as I anticipated getting to give it to her.

I went to the front desk, paid for it, and made sure to get a bag for it as well, in case she needed a bag for anything. The city charges for those now and I couldn’t help but think that perhaps she might need it to carry something in. Five cents seems like nothing to me, but to her maybe it would be a whole lot more. She may not have cared about a bag, but I figured it might feel a bit nicer than me just handing her a cold bottle.

I can’t quite explain her in enough detail to make me quite content that I will always remember her expression when I left the store today… I wish I could have taken a photo – the one in my mind just will not suffice.

I will try to describe her here, though, so that I might remember longer…. She was small, about my sister’s height, with that same small little face. Her eyes were not shaped like my sister’s, but they shone with an intensity that I can honestly say I thought only my sister’s could. I would guess she was probably in her sixties or seventies, though it is hard to tell whether her face was weathered due to age or due to experience. She had the sweetest smile, too, though I wonder if anyone ever tells her that. I walked outside to the door, and grinning, I handed her the bag with the Pepsi bottle in it, feeling as though it was Christmas morning. (That may sound pathetic, I know, I literally only bought her a soda, but I am telling you that her smile was one of the greatest things I have ever seen.) “God bless you, and have a good day, ok?” I smiled. Then she beamed. Her whole face lit up, her eyes sparkling again, and she gently said, “Thank you so much, dear.”

…I swear, think I saw Jesus in her face then. For sure I saw glimpses of my Nana and Poppy – I heard them in her voice when she called me, “dear.” I walked away crying tears of surprise and gratitude, because I KNOW God was in that moment, little as it was. He used that dear woman to remind me that He sees His children.

I think I understand a little bit more today, the verse in Matthew 25, where Jesus told the disciples that whatever is done for, ‘the least of these,’ is done for Him. For am I not the least of these? And yet today my Heavenly Father used a precious soul to hold the door for me, call me ‘dear,’ and brighten my day beyond all comprehension. Oh, what a gift of joy was given to me, in trade for a mere $3 of Pepsi!

What a God we serve who can feed His children… with a simple five loaves and two fish, or with reminders of His love, coming to us through Pepsi and Jesus.

Love,

Jessica