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 for Christmas. 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 must have
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 of the
1930's was at its height in the U.S., 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 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 Christmas 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. However, they thought the missionary surely must
have confused their church with another. 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.
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