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A group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in
Chicago. They had assured their wives that they would be
home in plenty of time for Friday night's dinner. In
their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these
salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a
display of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without
stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the
plane in time for their nearly missed boarding.
ALL BUT ONE !!!
He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his
feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the
girl whose apple stand had been overturned. He told his
buddies to go on without him, waved good-bye, told one
of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home
destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then
he returned to the terminal where the apples were all
over the terminal floor.
He was glad he did.
The 16 year old girl was totally blind! She was
softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in
frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for
her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no
one stopping and no one to care for her plight. The
salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the
apples, put them back on the table and helped organize
her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of
them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside
in another basket.
When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and
said to the girl, "Here, please take this $40 for the
damage we did. Are you okay?" She nodded through her
tears. He continued on with, "I hope we didn't spoil
your day too badly."
As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered
blind girl called out to him, "Mister...." He paused and
turned to look back into those blind eyes. She
continued, "Are you Jesus?"
He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then
slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with
that question burning and bouncing about in his soul:
"Are you Jesus?"
Do people mistake you for Jesus? That's our destiny,
is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot
tell the difference as we live and interact with a world
that is blind to His love, life and grace.
If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as
He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting
Scripture and going to church. It's actually living the
Word as life unfolds day to day.
You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have
been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and
picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid
in full for our damaged fruit.
Let us live like we are worth the price He paid!!!!! |
