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 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, 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. Praise His Holy Name!
A personal account:
When I first read this story ....I was completely humbled.... It made me start thinking... Have I ever even done one thing like this in my life??? I was feeling kind of down about that....wishing I hadn't missed opportunities... not feeling particularly good about my lack of.. Along with the admonition to do more and try harder....God mercifully let me remember a time I did do that.... which I feel so grateful for.... It is pretty sad that I can't think of more in 61 years...but grateful that I was a vessel at least once... :) Read on about this true incident.... and this isn't about me.... it is about what Christ can do if we would just be willing to stop and pay attention to that inner nudging from Him.... Hope it encourages you too... ( be sure and read the bottom short story too....def. worth the read)
I was driving a catering truck Larry had purchased in a government auction when he decided we should corner the market in the catering business... ;) I had my little Josh at my side ( who was still baby talking....."bigger truckers! " lol! ) ... I had stopped for a crew doing paving work. The majority of them were Hispanic. They were very loyal to our little business ... and one of the reasons is that I would do the money exchange in Spanish so they could understand what they owed. ( not as many folks knew Spanish in them ole' days. :) I was giving change back to one of the workers.... out of a $20 bill... and the money fell from his hands... and it was a good part of the $20. Money went everywhere and everyone scrambled to the ground to get the money. ( there were probably 20 men there waiting to pay ) Problem was... no one offered to give the Hispanic worker his money back when they picked it up....
I remember looking at the crowd of men standing before me.... with little Josh and I facing them.... and I knew they had just stolen the man's money. I only had X amount of minutes at each stop.... This business was carefully timed to be at the time allotted for the men to take a break....and they depended on me to be there for that. I desperately needed to be done with this stop and drive quickly to the next stop. I don't remember really making the decision.... but felt compelled to move forward toward the crowd. I silently walked up to every man and held out my hand...Josh trailing... I never said one word and neither did they speak....but they each one handed over the Hispanic man's money. After I collected all the change....I handed it back to the Hispanic man....who was ...overflowingly grateful... lol... You would have thought they were using drum beats to get out the story..( this was pre- cell phone days ) because from that day forward...my business nearly tripled... I would love to say I knew what I was doing.... or that I planned that action...or I was just that good... but it wasn't any of that.. It was purely the Holy Spirit who urged me to go forward and do the right thing. I am grateful for that guidance and inner nudging that He gives to us.... and think this story mirrors the many times the Lord offers us those opportunities in our life...if we will only stop long enough...to let His love and charity minister to another person... so that they wonder.... " Are you Jesus? "
'Excuse me, Are you Jesus?'
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