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INFORMASI
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PRESENTASI - POWER POINT
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KHOTBAH / RENUNGAN
PENDALAMAN ALKITAB
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The Tablecloth
» PENULIS: Pdt. Sammy Lee
» BAHASA: English
[Sedang diterjemahkan kedalam bahasa Indonesia ...]
» FORMAT FILE: HTML
[Sammy.GMAHK.ORG],
The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry,
to reopen a church in urban 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 sunk when he saw
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 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 sale for charity so he stopped in.
One of the items was a beautiful, hand-made, ivory colored, crochet table cloth
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
t 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 concentration camp. He never saw his wife or his home
again for 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
___________________________________________________________________
Unforgiveness is a poison we drink hoping somebody else will die from it-
Sikap tidak mengampuni adalah racun yang kita minum sementara kita harapkan
orang lain akan mati dengan itu.
Sammy Lee
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