Are You Jesus?
A few years ago a group of
salesmen went to a regional
sales convention in
that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night's
dinner. Well, as such things go, one thing led to another.
The sales meeting lasted longer than anticipated.
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Their flights were scheduled to leave out of
O'Hare Airport, and they had to race pall mall to the
airport.
With tickets in hand, they barged through the terminal to
catch their flight back home. In their rush, with tickets and
brief-cases, 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 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 and told
one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home
destination and explain his taking a later flight.
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Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all
over the floor. He was glad he did. The 16 year old girl at the
apple stand 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 or to care for her plight.
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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."
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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?"
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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 meeting. It's actually living the Word as
life unfolds day by day.
THANK YOU JESUS.