The cork board. Just for notes to friends.

[everymansmedium]

Hello Friends:
I know I promised to stop by more often. Maybe the year 11 will give me a bit of time and something that I must put on the board here. Right now I found a Christmas story that I must share with you. Just because it will make you feel good as you gaze at all of those Christmas lights and decorations. Here is your true Christmas story to warm your heart a bit. Bless you all and Merry Christmas!
Everymansmedium.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The tablecloth.... a 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.
> T hey worked hard, repairing pews, plastering
> walls,
> painting, etc, and on December 18
> were ahead of schedule and just about finished.
> O n December 19 a terrible tempest - a driving
> rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.
> O n 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.
> T he 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.
> 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.
> T hen 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 she 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 other
> side 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.
> 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?
> 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 between.
> T he 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.
> H e 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.
==============================================
Have a wonderful holiday
Seeya, John EMM

[Graybeard]

merry Xmas John ........ Got Goosebumps readin that story

greg