GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS…

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

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