Brennan Manning tells a story...

that I used last Sunday and seemed to have a profound impact on a couple of people so I wanted to share it here...

Five salesmen were rushing to catch a comuter train home in Chicago. As the salesmen raced through the terminal, one of them inadvertently kicked over a slender table on which rested a basket of apples. A ten-year-old boy was selling apples to pay for his books and clothes for school. With a sigh of relief, the five clambered aboard the train, but the last felt a twinge of compassion for the boy whose apple stand had been overturned.
He asked one of the group to call his wife and tell her he would be a couple hours late. He returned to the terminal and later remarked that he was glad that he did. The ten-year-old was blind. The salesman saw the apples scattered all over the floor. As he gathered them up, he noticed that several were bruised or split. Reaching into his pocket, he said to the boy, ‘Here’s twenty dollars for the apples we damaged. I hope we didn’t spoil your day. God bless you.’
As the salesman started to walk away, the blind boy called after him and asked,

‘Are you Jesus?’

Advent is true when Jesus is personified in our broken, everyday world.