They worked hard, 
repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc., 
and on Dec 18 were ahead of schedule 
and just about finished. 
On  Dec 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. T
he 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. 
She was captured, sent to prison 
and 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 had gotten 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, 
New York, NY

( Thank You ..  Wanda )
for sending me this story

Who says God does not 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 
you know He will see us through.

So when the road you're traveling on 
seems difficult at best,
Just remember I'm here praying, 
and God will do the rest.