ONE NEVER KNOWS
If any among you are tempted to feel
sad or depressed during this Christmas
season due to a lack of adequate resources or the absence or loss of a
loved one, you must read and share the following story written by an unknown
author. It will surely inspire and bless
you.
A pastor and his wife were given
their first assignment, to reopen a church in Brooklyn, New York. They arrived in early October, thrilled beyond
measure to be entering an exciting ministry opportunity. However, when they entered the church their
enthusiasm faded because they found the building to be run down and in dire
need of restoration and repairs. But
right then and there, they set a goal to have all the necessary work done in
time to have their first worship service on Christmas Eve.
They worked ever so diligently, repairing
pews, plastering, painting, etc., and on December 18th they were well ahead of
schedule, just about finished. Nevertheless,
on December 19th a tempestuous storm hit the area and lasted for two full days.
On the 21st of December, the pastor
went to inspect the edifice. His heart
sank immediately when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of
plaster to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary, just behind the pulpit. He swept up the mess on the floor, and not
knowing what else to do, headed homeward, planning to postpone their first
service. On the way home he noticed a
local business sponsoring a flea market for charity, so he decided to stop by.
One of the items on sale was a
beautiful, hand-made, ivory colored, crochet table cloth. It was truly an exquisite work of art, with
striking colors and an ornate cross embroidered at the center. The new pastor thought, ‘It’s just the right
size to cover up the hole in the front wall of the sanctuary and it has a
Christian theme!’ So he bought it and
quickly headed back to church.
By this time it had started to snow.
An older woman hurried from the opposite
direction, trying to catch a passing bus, but missed it. The pastor invited her to wait inside the warm
sanctuary for the next bus, which was due to arrive 45 minutes later. The grateful woman sat in a pew and paid
little attention to the pastor while he gathered a ladder and wall hangers to
mount the gorgeous tablecloth as a church tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful
it looked and how perfectly it covered the entire problem area. Just then, he noticed the woman walking
slowly down the center aisle, wearing a shocked facial expression.
“Pastor,” she inquired, “Where…where…did
you get that tablecloth?”
The pastor related the story of his
recent purchase. The woman asked him to
check the lower right corner to see if the initials “EBG” were present there,
and they were. These were actually the
initials of this woman, who had crafted the ornate tablecloth 35 years
previously in Austria.
The woman explained that before the
war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis arrived, her husband sent her
to safety, and planned to follow the next week. Unfortunately, she was captured, detained in a
camp, and never saw her husband or her home again.
The pastor offered to give her the
tablecloth, but she insisted that he keep it for the church. He said “Then I will drive you home; that is
the least I can do.” The woman lived on Staten
Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day doing a housecleaning job.
Christmas Eve arrived, and what a
wonderful service they had! The church
was practically full, and the Holy Spirit moved upon the hearts of all who
attended. At the close of the service,
the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many people promised
to return often.
One older man, whom the pastor recognized
from the neighborhood, stayed afterwards, sitting in one of the pews with a
blank stare on his face. The pastor
wondered why he had not left with all the rest.
The man asked, “Where did you get the tablecloth on the front wall? It is identical to one my wife made before the
war when we lived in Austria. Could
there be two tablecloths so much alike?”
He told the pastor how the Nazis
came, how he forced his wife to flee for safety with plans to follow, but then
he was arrested and placed in a concentration camp. He never saw his wife or his home again for
all the 35 years in between.
The pastor smiled inwardly and asked
the gentleman if he would accompany him on a ride. They drove to Staten Island, to the same building
where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the elderly man climb three flights
of stairs to the woman’s apartment, knocked on the door and saw the greatest Christmas
reunion anyone could possibly imagine!
What a miraculous story this is – a
saga of the matchless grace and marvelous love of God! Consider this.
None of this heartwarming story would have been possible without that
terrible storm and the hole it caused in the church sanctuary! Oftentimes, our apparent 'storms' are divine
appointments that ultimately serve to bless us and others. In truth, ONE
NEVER KNOWS what GOD has in store. So…please…please…do not surrender to doubt or
despair. God is in control. It
is our sincere prayer (Belinda’s and mine) that your Christmas will be generously endowed
with the love, grace, peace and joy that is the life legacy of believers
through OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST.
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