Monday, December 20, 2010

12-20-10 The Tablecloth


   
  If you missed my guest appearance on Dec. 24th on the TCT TV broadcast  ‘I’m Just Sayin,’  You can watch a video podcast of the show by Clicking on”  http://podcasts.tct.tv/ijs.xml  These video podcasts are free to view and are archived for approximately two weeks after the initial live broadcast.  Note: The Dec 24th broadcast with me as a guest was a new broadcast, not a re-run of the 1/2  broadcast.
Merry Christmas, 2010 . . . from my heart to yours!
     Hands down, December is my favorite month of the year and Christmas is my favorite celebration of the year!   I do have some other favorites that would be included in "A Few of My Favorite Things” list however,  I'm sending one of my all-time favorite inspirations.  I’ve shared this before and if you've already been blessed by it, wonderful!   Do yourself a favor and re-read it!  If this is the first time you've received it, enjoy!!! 
     I've come to realize that in God's economy, there is no loss . . . and no mistakes!   I wonder how God is working in your life to bring a puzzle together to bring glory to him.  When God moves on your spirit to do a certain something that goes outside your normal routine or comfort zone . . . don't question God . . . just do it!!!!   and then know that God is at work in not only your life . . . but in all of the lives that you may come in contact with and all, of whom, become a part of a bigger picture puzzle that God wants to complete.
Lanny Wolfe
P.S.  If I had sent this anytime before Christmas you would have been so busy with last minute details in your schedule and obligations, that neither your  head nor your  heart would  be fair to this true story.  Now that hopefully all of the preparations for the special day are behind you, take a well-deserved “break” and read this favorite inspiration of mine right now and then allow me to comment at the end!
                                                       THE TABLECLOTH!

       
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 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 - by Pastor Rob Reid
     I can never read this story without my heart swelling up and my eyes tearing up . . . and I’ve read it so many times because each time I read it anew I am overwhelmed at the God we love and serve and how much he cares for ALL the details of our lives.  So many times we get so caught up in trying to make sense out of our details and disasters  that we impulsively think that God may be somewhere else at the moment or that HE has so many more important things to worry about.  STOP RIGHT HERE!!  . . .
     YOU and every detail of your life in every single moment are the most important thing to God!  Yes, I know we can’t get a handle on this . . . but, that’s why He’s God  . . . and we’re not.  His ways are far above our  ways.  I know you’re busy but let me submit for your consideration what I call my “What If” list!
What if--
… it hadn’t stormed in New York on December 19th of this particular year?
…the damaged part of the church had not been in the sanctuary, but in a
     Sunday School room?
... the local flea market was not having a sale to catch the pastor’s attention?
... the pastor had not stopped at this particular flea market?
…the pastor had not seen or bought this particular tablecloth?
…the tablecloth had not been big enough to utilize to cover the hole in the   
    wall?
…it had not snowed on December the 21st?
…the older woman had not ended up living in New York city?
…the older woman would have had her cleaning job on a different day when it
       wouldn’t have snowed, or when she might not have missed her bus or  
       would have crossed paths with this  pastor?
…the older woman had  NOT MISSED  HER  BUS?
…the older woman’s bus stop had been at the next block instead of this one?
…the pastor had not crossed paths with the older woman?
…the pastor had not invited the woman to sit in the warmth of the church to
       wait for the next bus that would come 45 minutes later?
…the woman would have taken the tablecloth that the pastor had offered to
       give her on December 21st?
…the older man wouldn’t have attended the Christmas eve service,   Dec 24th
       at this particular church out of all of the churches he could have chosen?
…all of the above were in place and had happened except for one detail—
  
What if --
     the husband had somehow ended up living in any place than the neighbor-   
     hood in  which THIS  particular church was located.  All of the other pieces
    of the  puzzle would have been for naught!
Yes, my mind asked all of these “What if’ questions” . . . and then my spirit  reminds  me that  . . . with God there are No “What if’s!” and  NO coincidences!
I wonder what puzzle God may be putting pieces together on your behalf today.--a puzzle to which you may be completely oblivious to today . . . but someday! . . you will see the puzzle put together.   If not here . . . then  There!
MP3 file attached: Romans 8:28 (Words and Music by Lanny Wolfe, Lanny Wolfe Music Co., ASCAP) Artists “The Lanny Wolfe Singers” Soloist: Vonnie Ewing Lopez
It’s not a Christmas song but you might need to be reminded that “all things work together for your good . . . all year long.” 
Merry Christmas, 2010
Lanny Wolfe
P.S. Sometimes it’s okay to miss the boat . . . or the bus!