From:
Sent:
Monday, July 04, 2005 11:20 AM
Subject:
Parable or true story.. doesn't matter...
This is really powerful and makes you think.... Could I be mistaken
for Jesus?
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 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 allover 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 bl! ind 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.
Thank you, Sweet Jesus.
~I can do all things through
Christ who strengthens me~ Phil 4:13