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GOD BLESS US ALL>
-- Forwarded Message: --
From: Jason Wilson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Crystal Swan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Heather Kessler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
jackie powers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, james delashmit <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Larry
Stark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Petiteangel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Randall <[EMAIL
PROTECTED]>, Rick Ashford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Jason W.
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, JD <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Beautiful story
Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2007 18:42:34 +
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> T he brand new pastor and his wife, newly
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> 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
> hadleaked, 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.
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> He bought it and headed back to the church.
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> B y 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.
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> 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 T
> he
> 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 never saw her husband or her home again. T he 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
> otherside
> of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning
> job. W
> hat 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.
>
> T he 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. H e 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 onthe 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.. I asked the Lord to bless y
