|
Power Verses……
"Behold, ...unto you is born this
day in the City of David, a Saviour,
which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11) |
I've
always thought how wonderful it would
have been to see Jesus perform a
miracle. To witness firsthand as he
restored a blind man's sight, healed
someone with leprosy, or brought a dead
child back to life.
We talk a lot
about Christmas miracles this time of
year, perhaps because the circumstances
surrounding the babe of
Bethlehem—the virgin birth, a chorus of
angels, the brilliant star—the wise men,
the lowly shepherds, involved one
miracle after another.
Though the
Christmas season can be a time of great
joy and untold blessings; for those who
have lost a loved one, it can also be a
time of acute lonliness, sadness and pain. However, the
true story you are about to read turned
35 years of sadness and pain into
unsurpassed joy and a miraculous
reunion.
A
new pastor and his wife were assigned to
their first ministry to re-open a church
in down-town Brooklyn, New York. Their
enthusiasm was soon dented when they
arrived in October and saw the church in
a dilapidated state in need of a lot of
restoration.
They set a target to complete the work
in time to hold their first Christmas
Eve Service. Along with dedicated
helpers they worked hard, repairing
pews, plastering walls, painting,
replacing windows and with a few days to
spare they were thrilled to see the
finished article. On the 19th
December a terrible storm of wind and
rain hit the area, and for two days
their community was battered.
Three days
before the service the pastor went to
the church , and on entering, his heart
sank when he say that the roof had
leaked, causing a large area of plaster
about 6 feet by 8 feet to fall off the
front wall of the church, just behind
the pulpit. The pastor cleaned up the
mess but felt he was left with no
alternative other than to postpone the
fist Christmas Eve service. He went home
deeply disappointed.
On the way home he noticed a local
business was holding a charity sale, so
he felt compelled to take a look. One of
the items was a beautiful, hand-made,
ivory coloured crochet tablecloth, with
exquisite intricate work, fine colours
with a cross embroidered in the centre.
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 the weather turned colder and it
began to snow.
An older
woman hurrying from the opposite
direction was trying to catch a bus, but
sadly failed. The pastor invited her
into the church to wait in the warmth
for the next bus to arrive. She sat in
the pew while the pastor climbed the
ladder, and after a struggle, hung the
table cloth he had just purchased, as a
wall tapestry. He was delighted as he
stood back to admire the cloth, it was
ideal for the job. Then he noticed the
woman walking down the isle, unable to
take her eyes off the tablecloth.
“Pastor”,
she asked, “Where did you get that
tablecloth?” The pastor told her the
story. The woman, still staring intently
at the tablecloth, asked him in a soft
whisper to check the lower right hand
corner to see if the initials EBG were
embroidered there, and they were. They
were the initials of the woman, and she
had made the tablecloth 35 years before,
in Austria.
She
explained that before the war she and
her husband were successful business
people in Austria. When the Nazis came
she was forced to leave. Her husband was
to follow her the following week. She
was captured, sent to prison and never
saw her husband or her home again. On
hearing the story the pastor wanted to
give her the tablecloth, but she wanted
him to keep it for the church. He
insisted on driving her home - that was
the least he could do. She stayed on the
other side of town and had been in
Brooklyn that day on a house cleaning
job.
What
a wonderful service they had on
Christmas Eve! The church was almost
full. The music, carols and the spirit
of Christmas was great. At the end of
the service the pastor and his wife
shook hands with everyone as they left
the church and were encouraged to know
that many planned to return. However,
one older man, whom the pastor
recognized as being from the
neighbourhood, continued to sit in one
of the pews and stare, and the pastor
wondered why he was not leaving.
The man asked where he had obtained the
tablecloth on the front wall, because it
was identical to the one his wife had
made years ago when they lived in
Austria before the war. He told the
pastor how the Nazis came and how he
forced his wife to flee for safety. He
was supposed to follow her, but he was
arrested and put in a concentration
camp. He never saw his home or saw or
heard of his wife again.
He asked the man if he would allow him
to take him for a little ride. They
drove to the 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 witnessed the
greatest Christmas reunion he could ever
imagine!
There are those who would ask, “Why did
it take 35 years for this couple to be
re-united?” Well, I believe it took that
amount of time for all the components
required to perform that miracle, to be
in place. I am also reminded that the
Bible says “….Do not forget this
one thing, that with the Lord one day is
as a thousand years, and a thousand
years as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8).
God
is not bound by our understanding of
time expressed in seconds, minutes,
hours and days.
Many reading this
Christmas message may have ‘celebrated’
more Christmases than they
care to remember; but to them, Christmas
is still shrouded in mystery.
My prayer for you this Christmas is that
you will solve the mystery by accepting
Jesus Christ for who He claims to be, the Son of
God, come from heaven a Saviour of men,
but above all, your own Saviour.
I pray you will learn to embrace the
angel's words: "Behold, ...unto
YOU
is born this day. ..a Saviour, which is
Christ the Lord." If you have learned
that great truth this Christmas then you
will understand, "though Christ a
thousand times in Bethlehem be born if
He's not born in you, your soul remains
forlorn."
May that be your miracle this Christmas,
2008
Immanuel……….God
with us
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you feel convicted to know more about
becoming a Christian?
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