11/13/2023
BE KIND AND COMPASSIONATE TO ONE ANOTHER, FORGIVING
EACH OTHER, JUST AS IN CHRIST GOD FORGAVE YOU.
( EPHESIANS 4:32 *NIV )
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 to catch the plane home and 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 $50 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,
Thank you for hearing Jesus, 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.
The nicest place to be is in someone's thoughts, the safest
place to be is in someone's prayers, and the very best place
to be is ......... in the hands of God.
Have a Wonderful day, stay Safe and stay kind.