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GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS
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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
opportunities. 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 Dec 18 were ahead of schedule and
just about finished. On Dec.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 sunk when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing
a large area of plaster about 6 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. |
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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 up 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.
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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. She was captured, sent to prison
and 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 or all
the 35 years in 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.
True Story-submitted by Pastor Rob
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