posted on Dec, 18 2005 @ 02:25 PM
In a hurry to catch their flights after a convention in Chicago, a group of salesmen rushed, with tickets and briefcases to their gate. One of
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.
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 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 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."
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 (i.e. truth and love) as life unfolds day
to day.
Author unknown. Variations of this story appears in dozens of sites and message boards with no author credits.
There is alot to ponder on about the character of Jesus and what kind of witness we are to the world.
*my sole addition to that is in bold text.
I also say this: whether He really lived or not--is this not still the best example we have?