Monday, July 26, 2004
apples
these emails keep my blog going. thanx auntie enid!
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 briefcases, 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
this really touched me. as most of you know, life and perspective has changed an awful lot this past year. i've met and gotten close to so many people who have been living their life with/for the Lord for so much longer than i. and no, i can't spout verses, or preach, or give good talks. but to love... to give love... to accept love... to recognize love... to be love... i think i've definitely learned and grown in that aspect.
Whoever invented God is a genius.
~Plato
some people think religion is really just society's way of getting people to behave well and basically be "good". but that's missing the point. we are "good" to each other because we love each other. and we love each other because we love the Lord. we love the Lord in response to the Love he sent us. the quote above was a funny lil thing that was posted up on the board during my religious ed teaching class. it was funny cuz if you think about it in a secular way, it's true. plato was a great thinker and philosopher. whoever came up with the concept of God was a genius, cuz that's how you got people to listen or do what you want. in the middle ages, people killed for God. before vatican II, people paid to be right with God. people will do a lot for their God. even now, with september 11, those people thought they were doing what their God wanted them to do. people have abused this idea throughout history. but they really didn't get the point. we are not good so that God will love us. He loves us regardless of our mistakes, imperfections, sins- our bruises, like the apple story. we are good because we love God and want to show Him and His people our love.
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 briefcases, 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:
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
this really touched me. as most of you know, life and perspective has changed an awful lot this past year. i've met and gotten close to so many people who have been living their life with/for the Lord for so much longer than i. and no, i can't spout verses, or preach, or give good talks. but to love... to give love... to accept love... to recognize love... to be love... i think i've definitely learned and grown in that aspect.
~Plato
some people think religion is really just society's way of getting people to behave well and basically be "good". but that's missing the point. we are "good" to each other because we love each other. and we love each other because we love the Lord. we love the Lord in response to the Love he sent us. the quote above was a funny lil thing that was posted up on the board during my religious ed teaching class. it was funny cuz if you think about it in a secular way, it's true. plato was a great thinker and philosopher. whoever came up with the concept of God was a genius, cuz that's how you got people to listen or do what you want. in the middle ages, people killed for God. before vatican II, people paid to be right with God. people will do a lot for their God. even now, with september 11, those people thought they were doing what their God wanted them to do. people have abused this idea throughout history. but they really didn't get the point. we are not good so that God will love us. He loves us regardless of our mistakes, imperfections, sins- our bruises, like the apple story. we are good because we love God and want to show Him and His people our love.
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quotable quotes
-
"To try is to risk failure. But risk must be taken because the
greatest hazard of life is to risk nothing. The person who risks
nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. He may avoid
suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change,
grow, live, and love."
~unknown
"It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues."
~ Abraham Lincoln
"live a life that others will remember years from now, NOT because it pointed to you but because of how it pointed to the One who made you."
~ Mark Hart, the Bible Geek
"we grow up learning to become self-reliant, but really we need to be God-reliant"
"we could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors....but they all exist very nicely in the same box"
"never wound hearts that love u, never give them the endless pain, because wounded hearts are like roses that never bloom"
"there comes a time when we have to stop loving someone not because that person has stopped loving us but because we have found out that they'd be happier if we'd let go"
