The tablecloth

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#CC9922" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="260d2962dakdei.gif"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Welcome to AVesselofhonor.com</B><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >     |    </FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#0000BF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome to AVesselofhonor.com"><U> home</U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Happy Tidbits"><U>Happy Tidbits</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="enriching thoughts"><U>enriching thoughts</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="uplifting stories"><U>uplifting stories</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The power of 1"><U>The power of 1</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cans of success"><U>Cans of success</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ALphaBet"><U>ALphaBet</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Remember this..."><U>Remember this...</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gods Garden of Flowers"><U>God's Garden of Flowers</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jesus pictures"><U>Jesus pictures</U></A>   |   <B>The tablecloth</B>   |   <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sponge"><U>Sponge</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="This too shall pass"><U>This too shall pass</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id58.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="butt prints in the sand"><U>butt prints in the sand</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id100.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rainbows"><U>Rainbows</U></A></div> <div> The tablecloth</div> <div> <U>THE TABLE CLOTH</U><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#800080" FACE="Book Antiqua" >: Authour Unknown</FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <div> The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first </div> <div> ministry to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in </div> <div> early October excited about their opportunities.</div> <bR> <div> When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much </div> <div> work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have </div> <div> their first service on Christmas Eve. </div> <bR> <div> They worked hard repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, </div> <div> etc., and on DEC 18 were ahead of schedule and just about </div> <div> finished.</div> <bR> <div> On DEC 19 a terrible tempest -- a driving rainstorm -- hit the </div> <div> area and lasted for two days. On the 21st, the pastor went over </div> <div> to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had </div> <div> leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet </div> <div> to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the </div> <div> pulpit, beginning about head high.</div> <bR> <div> The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor and not knowing what </div> <div> else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home. </div> <div> On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea </div> <div> market type sale for charity so he stopped in. </div> <bR> <div> One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, </div> <div> crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a </div> <div> Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right </div> <div> size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and </div> <div> headed back to the church. </div> <bR> <div> By this time it had started to snow. </div> <bR> <div> An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to </div> <div> catch the bus. She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait </div> <div> in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later. </div> <div> She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he </div> <div> got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall </div> <div> tapestry. </div> <bR> <div> The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it </div> <div> covered up the entire problem area. Then he noticed the woman </div> <div> walking down the center aisle. </div> <bR> <div> Her face was like a sheet. </div> <div>  "Pastor," she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?" </div> <div> The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted </div> <div> into it there. </div> <bR> <div> They were. </div> <bR> <div> These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this </div> <div> tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria. The woman could hardly<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> Believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the </div> <div> tablecloth. </div> <bR> <div> The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were </div> <div> well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was </div> <div> forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next </div> <div> week.</div> <bR> <div> She was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or </div> <div> her home again. </div> <bR> <div> The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> pastor keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving </div> <div> her home, that was the least he could do. She lived on the </div> <div> other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day </div> <div> for a housecleaning job.</div> <bR> <div> What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church </div> <div> was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the </div> <div> end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at </div> <div> the door and many said that they would return. </div> <bR> <div> One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood, </div> <div> continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> wondered why he wasn't leaving. The man asked him where he got </div> <div> the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one </div> <div> that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria </div> <div> before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much </div> <div> alike? </div> <bR> <div> He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to </div> <div> flee for her safety, and he was supposed to follow her, but he </div> <div> was arrested and put in a prison. </div> <bR> <div> He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years in </div> <div> between.</div> <bR> <div> The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a </div> <div> little ride.</div> <bR> <div> They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the </div> <div> pastor had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the </div> <div> man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, </div> <div> knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he </div> <div> could ever imagine.</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>