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.


Be warm and merciful and let no one go from you empty-handed.
The least you can offer is your time and patience, your affection and your prayer.  ~ Anonymous 

I’ll be back soon to catch up with you all … haven’t been feeling real good, and I know many of you out there, don’t either!  I hope you’re staying warm … here it’s been pretty cold, with freezing rain and some snow … there have been accidents everywhere, and my car is coated in ice … no worry, I’m not going anywhere, until tomorrow for church, that is, if I’m feeling up to it!  Also, our Dave Ramsey seminar starts later in the afternoon tomorrow, so I’m hoping to be able to go … my dear hubby will if I don’t, but, I really don’t want to miss it!  So to help me get better, I did what my mother used to do for me and my sister, when we were sick with the flu … I made a big pot of homemade vegetable beef soup yesterday!  It really seemed to help get us on the road to recovery!   

As you can see I’ve been making some changes here, so for a little while, you’ll be in the ‘construction zone’ while I figure out what to add!  I was wondering if anyone knows how to get the music on the new Xanga themes page?  I’m still going to keep the old theme here, but I have another site I’m playing around with for my photos, and it’s much more difficult to figure out … it’s like you have two sites in one … the old page, that only you can see, and then the new one, do you know what I mean!?  I went to the comment page on the new Xanga themes, and not too many people are happy with them.  Is there an instruction page I could go to?  I remember when they first started it, there was a how-to video, but I can’t seem to find it now.  So those of you who switched to the new theme, what are your thoughts on it?! And, if anyone who has the new themes can help me, that would be so appreciated!  Anyway, I’m still working at getting photos loaded from Ian’s visit and the wedding, so I’ll be sharing more of those soon.  He’s back in California and busy as ever … I so appreciate your prayers for him, for God’s perfect will in his life.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend … stay warm, healthy, and well! 

Hugs,
~ Deborah <><