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http://cnn.com/US/9705/08/fringe/jesus.bracelets/index.html
May 8, 1997, From Correspondent Ed Garsten
HOLLAND, Michigan (CNN) -- Hang on for the latest fad.
Think of them as biblical Beanie Babies, only you won't find these in a Happy Meal, Instead, they're worn on the wrist.
Kids at Woodridge Elementary School have them hanging off their wrists in all different colors, but the question stitched into them in abbreviated form is always the same.
"WWJD -- What would Jesus do?" explains bracelet-wearer Josh Ash.
It's sort of fashion conscious ... conscience.
"I look at it when I'm tempted and look down and think, 'What would Jesus do?' and you know, he's so perfect, he'd do the best thing," explains Laurie Hekman.
What if someone offered you cigarettes?
"(I would) not do it and go off and tell someone," says Tommy Yamaoka. "It's illegal, and you could get busted for it."
How about if you were tempted to cheat on a math test?
"He would try to figure it out," Emily Kruithoff says of Jesus.
Or even if your little sister was bouncing on your bed.
"I just wanted to slug her, but I looked down and God wouldn't do that," says Laurie Hekman.
The bracelets were born from an idea in a book called "In His Step," written in the late 1800s by Charles Sheldon.
"He preached a sermon, 'What would Jesus do?' and oddly enough it was to youth," says Dan Edgerly, pastor of youth education at the Calvary Reformed Church.
A member of the church decided that phrase would make a good bracelet for youth.
Custom has it, if someone asks you what the initials mean, they can walk away with one of their own.
"That's the neat part of the bracelets; when we say, 'What would Jesus do?'... we give that bracelet to the person for free," Dan explains.
In the beginning, only a few hundred bracelets a week were made, but now they're being produced at a rate of 10,000 to 20,000 a week.
The initials come in both English and Spanish.
And at only a buck and a half apiece, they're flying off the shelves at Christian bookstores around the country.
"We've been selling, I'd say, almost 800 to 900 a week," says Arlene Popma, manager of the Baker Book House. "I've been ordering them by the thousands. It's been unbelievable."
So what would Jesus do? Be thankful for the bounty.
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