Excuse me, are you Jesus?
Posted on September 25, 2008, by lisa hudson, under church.
I very rarely read emails that get forwarded to me, but this one caught my eye for 2 reasons. One, it was from my Dad, and he doesn’t email me very often. Two, I found the title interesting. As I read it I couldn’t believe how pertinent it was to the current series we are going through, Be The Church. So I had to share…
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 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 $40 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.
If we LIVE His word, then we ARE the Church!
Lisa
5 Replies to "Excuse me, are you Jesus?"
Danny on September 26, 2008
Great posting Lisa! I loved it!!
Angela MacNeill on September 29, 2008
Wow Lisa, This really spoke to me. Thanks for passing it on.
Chris Stout on September 30, 2008
Hey Lisa,
That was really awesome! I think it does fit our current teaching series. Hope you get more e-mails like that.
Kelly Hopkins on October 5, 2008
Lisa,
Thank you for sharing that with us. It is so true. Sometimes we get so caught up in our busy lifes we forget to stop and help the people around us. It could be as close as your own children needing something.
Kendra Watson on September 25, 2008
LOVE it! What an encouragement to me today Lisa :o)