A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They assured
their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday Night's Dinner. As such things go,
one thing led to another. the sales meeting lasted longer than anticipated.

Their flights wer scheduled to leave out of Chicago's O'Hare Airport, and they had to race Pall Mall to
the airport. With tickets in hand, they barged through the terminal to catch their flight back home. 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 managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed
boarding. All but one. He paused, took a deep breath and experienced a twinge of compassion for the
girl whose apple stand had been overturened. He told his buddies to go an without him and told one
of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination to explain his taking a later flight.

He then returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the floor. He was glad he did. The
16 year old girl at the apple stand was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running doewn her
cheeks in frustration, and at the same time, helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd
swirled about her, no one stopping or 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 may 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 chruch. 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.