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Hi everyone, hope everyone is having a great week, as I certainly am. I got this story in an email a couple of days ago and I'm sure many of you have already seen it but for those of you that haven't, I think you will find it a very touching story.
The Crocheted Tablecloth.........beautiful story.....
makes you understand that things happen for a reason ..
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 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 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
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 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 Reid
Who says God does not work in mysterious ways....