Apples

Apples...

 A few year 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 in hand, one of the men accidentally kicked over a table which held a display of apples.

 Apples flew everywhere.  Without stopping or even looking back, they all managed to reach their 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, and told one of them to call his wife when they arrived home 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 girl with the apple cart was 16 years old, and was totally blind!  She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration as she helplessly groped for her spilled produce. The crowd swirled around her with no one stopping to help, or even 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 walked away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him: "Mister..." He paused and turned to look back into those sightless eyes.  She continued: "Are you Jesus?"

 He stopped in mid-stride...and he wondered. He went back and softly 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, and said "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.

We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:20-21).