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Unknown Author
A few years ago 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 baskets of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without
stopping or looking back, they al 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
goodbye, 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 into the baskets, and helped
set the display up once more. 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 $20 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 yo 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.
~~Author Unknown~~
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