Sunday, January 06, 2013
APPLES
APPLES
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 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, 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 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.
-- Author Unknown
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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believed to be free for circulation or public domain. All messages come
in either by email in original form or copied from the internet sites.
The work was submitted to us as an item for distribution, and it was
posted solely on the basis of its quality.
© 2013 FoodForThought
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 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, 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 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.
-- Author Unknown
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Join our group on Facebook and post your comments on the reflection: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=142903436398
Group Address: http://groups.google.com/group/dailyfoodforthought
GROUP CONTACT:
To subscribe from this group, share a reflection or feedback
on the reflection of the day, send email to: foodforthought2@earthlink.net
To unsubscribe : dailyfoodforthought-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
DISCLAIMER: FoodForThought shared this message as submitted and do not
claim to own any copyright privileges on it. All the messages are
believed to be free for circulation or public domain. All messages come
in either by email in original form or copied from the internet sites.
The work was submitted to us as an item for distribution, and it was
posted solely on the basis of its quality.
© 2013 FoodForThought
