This is absolutely the best message ever. Thank you Ashley for sharing it with us! I've passed it on--several directions in fact! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ashley Tiwara" <grubisic@netwurx.net> To: <LIVING-L@rootsweb.com> >Forwarded many times, sent to me by a possible cousin, who sends >lots of interesting stories along the lines. Anyone researching >KUCHAN, from northern Croatia? Would appreciate hearing from you. Ashley > >Subject: The Table Cloth With a Cross > >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 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, 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. 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 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. > > 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. > >Pass this on to those you want God to bless, and don't forget to send it >back to the one who asked God to bless you first. -- --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.314 / Virus Database: 175 - Release Date: 1/11/2002