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, 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. He gently went back and
said, "No, I am nothing like Jesus - He is good, kind, caring, loving, and
would never have bumped into your display in the first place.
"The girl gently nodded: "I only asked because I prayed for Jesus to help
me gather the apples. He sent you to help me, so you are like Him - only He
knows who will do His will. Thank you for hearing His call, Mister."
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 you, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked up you and me on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.