Excuse me, are you Jesus?

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.

Nothing good comes easy ...

...and it rarely comes quickly.

Sometimes we get all caught up in the idea that the enemy is attacking us when things aren't going exactly as we had hoped. We give Satan and his minions credit for every little thing that comes against our simple little existence.

When life just keeps coming at us with one set back after another, when the car breaks down … the hot water tank needs replaced … you’re late with the gas payment … a child ends up in the emergency room … and the dog bites the neighbor – the idea that God is trying to prove us righteousness escapes us. We find ourselves functioning with the mind of man wondering how we will get out of this situation. It’s all ME, ME, ME.

The mind of God would stay fixed on His having a purpose and calling for us. God wants life and all of its experiences to change us, He is not looking for us to just survive or get by. Struggles will forge the character of God in us. Perseverance, self-control, being led by the truth, walking by faith, … all attributes of Godly character – all made complete in us through character building challenges.

We go through trials and tribulations to grow into the purposes that God has for us. But we have a tendency to race through a situation as fast and painlessly as possible. We need to take as much time as is necessary in the desert to allow God to accomplish His intended purposes for our lives. We need to ‘walk by faith and not by sight’ [2 COR 5:7] into the calling that is on our lives.

"The Lord is not slow about His promises, as some would count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" [2 PET 3:9]. He gives us what we need – wisdom, spirit, grace, the body.

He knows we can handle it. "No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; He’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; He’ll always be there to help you come through it" [1 COR 10:13].

He will use this situation not to just grow you for yourself, but to be able to help someone else later. "All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes along side us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, He brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us" [2 COR 1:3-4].

Life might come at you fast, in ways that can seem overwhelming … take the time to find God’s purposes in your trials and grow into all that He wants you to be.

Welcome

Voice of the Bride is entering the blog world in an attempt to increase our communication potential.

Apparently a degree in Visual Communications only goes so far and shows that I just can't communicate without any visual assistance. Since this blog is visual, we could just leap into a whole new dimension.

More info will be coming as this blog expands.
Peace.
-jim

http://www.voiceofthebride.org