Historic Christmas 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 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 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  in 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.   T rue story - submitted by Pastor Rob Reid  who says God does work in mysterious ways. I asked the Lord to bless you as I prayed for  you today, to guide you and protect you as you go  along your way. His love is always with you. His  promises are true, and when we give Him all our  cares we know He will see us through.   So when the road you're traveling  seems difficult at best,  just remember I'm here praying and God will do the rest.  Pass this on to those you want God to bless  and remember to send it back to  the one who asked God to bless you first.   When there is nothing left but God, that is when you find out that God is all you need.