Just to Ponder .....

A toastmaster friend, Pradeep, often sends me thought provoking articles. This is one which I feel is worth sharing. I love reading good materials because they arrest my attention and cause me to ponder even as I buzz around like a bee-sy bee!

"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
up you and me on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for
our damaged fruit.

Please share this, {IF you feel led to do so}.

Sometimes we just take things for granted, when we really
need to be sharing what we know. Thanks."