Mother's father worked as a carpenter. On this particular day, he was building
some crates for the clothes his church was sending to some orphanage in China.
On his way home, he reached into his shirt pocket to find his glasses, but they
were gone. When he mentally replayed his earlier actions, he realized what
happened; the glasses had slipped out of his pocket unnoticed and fallen into
one of the crates, which he had nailed shut. His brand new glasses were heading
for China!
The Great Depression was at it's height and Grandpa had six children. He had
spent $20 for those glasses that very morning. He was upset by the thought of
having to buy another pair. "It's not fair," he told God as he drove home in
frustration. "I've been very faithful in giving of my time and money to your
work, and now this."
Several months later, the director of the orphanage was on furlough in the
United States. He wanted to visit all the churches that supported him in China,
so he came to speak one Sunday at my grandfather's small church in Chicago. The
missionary began by thanking the people for their faithfulness in supporting the
orphanage. "But most of all," he said, "I must thank you for the glasses you
sent last year. You see, the Communists had just swept through the orphanage,
destroying everything, including my glasses.
I was desperate. Even if I had the money, there was simply no way of replacing
those glasses. Along with not being able to see well, I experienced headaches
every day, so my coworkers and I were much in prayer about this. Then your
crates arrived. When my staff removed the covers, they found a pair of glasses
lying on top.
The missionary paused long enough to let his words sink in. Then, still gripped
with the wonder of it all, he continued: "Folks, when I tried on the glasses, it
was as though they had been custom-made just for me! I want to thank you for
being a part of that."
The people listened, happy for the miraculous glasses. But the missionary surely
must have confused their church with another, they thought. There were no
glasses on their list of items to be sent overseas.
But sitting quietly in the back, with tears streaming down his face, an ordinary
carpenter realized the Master Carpenter had used him in an extraordinary way.
Author unknown. If anyone has a proprietary interest in this story please
authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as the circumstances
dictate.
Send by Julie Carraway JTCARRAWAY@aol.com
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