“Are You Jesus?”
(A close friend sent me this. I didn’t live it or write it. I wish I had)
A few years ago, a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their wives they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night dinner. In their rush through the crowded concourse, with boarding passes and briefcases, one of the men 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. He gently went back and 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: “I only asked because I prayed for Jesus to help me gather the apples. He sent you to help me, so you are like Him – only He knows who will do His will. Thank you for hearing His call, 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?”
Question: Are you Jesus? Do you stop for people? Will you listen for his minute-by-minute call and answer it with action? Love does. Tell us here.
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Responses (16)
I am deeply moved by the story. Thank you so much for sharing it – and for the life lesson. There are times when it’s more important to stop, drop and roll than stay the course. This is a great reminder with a calling to accountability – thank you!
If life is anything, it’s daily. And us Jesus-followers have so many chances each day to live different. We just gotta’ focus.
As I continue my walk, I can point to a few key times in the recent years when I stopped in my tracks when prompted by Jesus to take action, usually way out of my fleshy comfort zone. Last year I was at the water park with my family and I walked by a guy with an oxygen tank and thought little of it. The Spirit grabbed me over the next 10 minutes instructing me to literally go lay hands on the guy’s chest. “No way” i pleaded. The Spirit might as well of physically lifted me over to the guy because 5 minutes later, I found myself backtracking a quarter mile to find him and lay hands on him, in front of his wife, kid, a line of curious on lookers. In moments like that, I have no doubt that somehow I caught a glimpse of what it looks and feels like to surrender to the Spirit. I know that if I focused more on NOT doing all the things that God didn’t tell me to do, and more time asking him what he wants me to do in each moment, He could do much more through me.
Having been obedient to those little simple things like that though I’m finding He brings more opportunities like that my way and I pray that I don’t chicken out in the flesh. I’m not much of a risk taker in the flesh, you’ll never catch me on a bungi cord, or jumpin out of a plane, so I’m very grateful that God would provide me with spiritual risk taking to help me grow!
Thanks Regi.
The wisdom to know His voice and the courage to obey….
What an amazing story!
It’s convicting and inspirational at the same time.
I do what I can to listen to the spirit, but some times I get confused is this really what God wants or am I just imagining things.
God definitely shows his love through his children – us.
Thanks Hoo….
Regi,
I just wanted to thank you for writing this post. I read it yesterday morning and it stuck with me all day. I copied it into a folder for reference, but I thought it about several times through my day.
It turned out to be a pretty difficult and stressful day. With several large and pressing matters building on me and looking at a late night and missing dinner with the family coming, my wife called me. The mother of one of daughter’s friends had called her in panicked tears. She was stuck at work and was going to be late picking up her 5 year old daughter from school. At the end of her own terrible stressful day, with her husband out of town on travel and with no other options she called me wife in a panic. My wife wasn’t close enough to pick up her daughter either and so she called me.
Normally I would have seen this as a huge inconvenience. While I might have reluctantly volunteered to help, I would have been annoyed and it would have put me in an even worse mood. Yesterday, with your words echoing in my head, I closed up my computer without hesitation and headed out the door. With the right frame of mind and clear purpose on who I was serving in that moment I was filled with joy and able to focus on the task at hand making a little girl comfortable and not freaked out by the situation. I got her home and with complete sincerity tell her mother is was a pleasure to help and she shouldn’t hesitate to call us again.
So thanks again Regi for the story, and helping me refocus on the right job at right time and hear God’s calling in a very busy moment.
I appreciate your taking the time to share your story. God has a rich life for each of us, but it’s only discovered when we slow down, focus, love, serve and give selflessly to others. I’m taking the challenge right alongside everyone else.
After sharing the link to your post I’ve received many responses that the story is a powerful reminder of the opportunities God gives us each day to be a light to the world. We would be wise to be looking and listening. Great teaching.
Like many man, I feel the same way this businessman felt. I am no where good enough to be Jesus. But like or not, I am Jesus to some people. Regardless of whether I am worthy, some people will see in me a person akin to Jesus.
Satan is the one who tells us we can’t be Jesus. He does this to men by saying to their hearts ” you can’t be Jesus, because you are dirty, sinful and you have done____________”
The reason we need to mentor and be Jesus to other men is even though we have had our issues with sin, we are cleansed. This story was a great illustration of who Christ is. The girl was blind, but what she could hear in the man’s voice, feel in his hands gathering the apples, and feel in her her heart by him paying for them, along with his apology…..she could hear and feel Jesus in that man. Maybe if she saw him with her eyes, she would not have asked the question.
A lot of men feel unworthy, and we are in our own strength, but the worthiness comes from the blood of Calvary.
so….are you intentionally mentoring for other’s good and His glory?
When Jesus, at the right hand of God, encountered Saul on the road to Damascus, His words were “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting ME?” Jesus did not ask Saul why he was persecuting His Church, His followers, His disciples or His people. Jesus identifies Himself with those who identify with Him. It is more than just a “personal relationship”, and even more than “Lord and Saviour”. It is identification with the person of Jesus, especially when persecuted or under pressure, and possibly the greatest test for the Christian. If I was asked the question I hope that I would have the courage and conviction to say “Yes, it is Jesus in me who has just shown up”. Are you the ME?
spot on
I did a Google search for “Are you Jesus?” lyrics a few minutes ago, and found this site. My thoughts for today – I went out to El Pollo Loco for dinner the other night. I was just enjoying a quiet meal when I noticed a guy probably in his 40’s or so pushing some type of walker as he wobbled through the parking lot outside the window. Holding onto his arm was a young Asian woman with beautiful long black hair tied neatly in a ponytail. I thought, how sweet of her to help him walk along. As they continued walking closer to the entrance I noticed she was using a blind cane. When they walked through the door I realized that even though he appeared to have considerable difficulty in walking even with the help of his walker, he actually was holding her arm and helping her order her meal, fill her drink cup and then carry the two orders on trays balanced precariously on the seat of his walker to their table.
It’s been a busy week at work with 3 cars tested on the track, but I’ve got a free test car for the weekend (Friday and Monday are vacation days for me), and the car I have has Sirius/XM radio in it. While I was sitting in the car moments ago filling out the paperwork for my evaluation, I was listening to enlighten (Channel 18) and heard a song I had never heard before. I didn’t catch the name of the artist. Basically, the words tell the same story you described above, where a guy is rushing through an airport, desperately trying to catch his flight. In his hurry, he knocks over a fruit stand where a girl is selling apples. Apples fly everywhere, and he looks back just briefly to see a young woman on the ground, groping around, trying to pick up the apples. He stops and helps her, and then realizes she is blind. As he finishes picking up the fruit, she asks him, “Are you Jesus, because you stopped to help me? You helped me put my life back in order.” At that moment I lost it.
I feel the Lord is trying to teach me something here. I just wish I could get it through my thick skull what it is. Lord, help me to be sensitive to those around me who just need to see Jesus, whether they are physically blind or not. I know I’m no saint, and I certainly don’t want to play God, but perhaps Your light will shine somehow through me to point someone to You.
I think you’ve got what He’s telling you. Now it’s slowing down and living it, one person and one moment at a time. Same challenge for me….for all of us.
This story, was it changed around a little? Because I have heard it happened to a pastor on his Lenten mission lecture. I just want to know who did this story originally happened to.
Thank you!