Note: This is a true story that helps us understand that
things happen for a reason. Submitted by Pastor Rob Reid who says
God does work in mysterious ways.
A BEAUTIFUL STORY
The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first
ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early
October excited about their opportunity.
When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much
work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their
first service on Christmas eve.
They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc,
and on December 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished.
On December 19 a terrible tempest - a driving rainstorm hit the area
and lasted for two days.
On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when
he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster
about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary
just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high.
The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what
else to do but postpone the Christmas eve service, headed home. On
the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market
type sale for charity, so he stopped in.
One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted
tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a cross embroidered
right in the center. It was just the right size to cover the hole in
the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.
By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the
opposite direction was trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The
pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45
minutes later.
She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a
ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry.
The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it
covered up the entire problem area.
Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face
was like a sheet. "Pastor," she asked, "Where did
you get that tablecloth?"
The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right
corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They
were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this
tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria.
The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just
gotten "the tablecloth". The woman explained that before
the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria.
When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going
to follow her the next week. He was captured, sent to prison and she
never saw her husband or her home again.
The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor
keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home.
That was the least he could do.
She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn
for the day for a housecleaning job.
What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was
almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the
service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and
many said that they would return.
One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood
continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor
wondered why he wasn't leaving.
The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall
because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago
when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two
tablecloths so much alike?
He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee
for her safety and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested
and put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home again all the
35 years between.
The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little
ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the
pastor had taken the woman three days earlier.
He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's
apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas
reunion he could ever imagine.
“God Works In Mysterious Ways His Wonders To Perform.”
(William Cowper – 1774)
Romans
11:33 (NASB) says “Oh,
the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How
unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”
End
Of Post