A Perfect Mistake

[Guest guest]

A touching little story.....sent in by a dear friend!

 

A Perfect Mistake

 

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 realised 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

co-workers 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 realised that the Master Carpenter had used him in an extraordinary

way.

 

 

Remain Blessed!

 

 

Duty is God, Work is Worship