A bit long, but it's a remarkable story you will never forget.

THE TABLECLOTH

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first
ministry, to reopen a church in suburban 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 sank when
he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about
20 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 type sale for charity so he stopped in.
One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted
tablecloth 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
it 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 prison. He never saw his wife
or his home again 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

What a lovely story, thank you.

Randall I want to thank you for sharing such a heartwarming story,this was a beautiful start to my day.A perfect example of fate.By the grace of God these to people were brought together.Here is a little thought I want to share with y`all a little thought, next time your running late,your battery goes dead in your car,you may forget to get something from home and have to turn back consider it a blessing not a curse.I feel its Gods way of keeping us out of a bad situation.I use to get pretty fraziled about that kind of situation and my Dad told me one day just think of it that way. Speaking of my Dad whom is a pretty wise old soul told of a story I`d like to share with my knowflakes.Our family was making a trip to Indiana to visit our family and a new Interstate had just been open which would of made the driving better for my dad considering the old highway we normally traveled was narrow and curvy.Something told Dad to stay on the old road instead of taking the better road.Miles on down the road my Dad saw a tremendous line of traffic on the new interstate backed up and at a stand still,which the new road could be seen from the old road we were traveling.There had been a terrible accident and the odds being if Dad would of took the new road we could of very well been in that accident.He has told this story several times.That day reminds me of the license plate you see on vehichles "GOD IS MY CO-PILOT".Just wanted to share that with everyone.I know this really doesn`t pertain to Synchronicity but I felt I need to share it.Thanks again Randall for your story. Luv to all CHAKRENA

Chakrena, a very similar thing happened to an Aunt of mine, only it was an airplane she was racing to catch. She was late getting to the airport, and pushed the car above the speed limit to get there in time, something she normally NEVER did. Of course she was stopped by a policeman and got her first and only speeding ticket. The delay set her back just enough that when she arrived at the gate, the plane was just pulling on to the runway for takeoff, she had missed it. Cursing her luck, she rescheduled the flight for thenext day and started the trip home. Before she arrived home, she heard the news on the radio - her plane had crashed on takeoff, killing everyone aboard!

Randall, that story brought tears to my eyes. Real miracles DO happen all the time, don't they? How wonderful!

I bet that pastor's next service was about how "the Lord works in mysterious ways!"

Love,
Greg

Thanks Randall...it's encouraging to know that things like that really happen. I wish they would focus more on stories like that for the evening news!

I came onto this thread thinking...oh wow, someone started a thread about that old Police album!!

The silly things that pop into my head sometimes....

I recieved a phone call from a friend of mine tonight that is a strange coincidence wanted to share it with you all. She works at a shop where they transfers on T-shirts,etc.They also embroider items. She told me her daughters 2nd grade teachers 18 yr old daughter was killed in an automobile accident last night.The ironic part of this was about the time of the accident my friend was doing some embroidering on a hand bag for the girl that was the victim of the accident and the machine quit functioning.My friend was down to the last 2 letters in the name and the needle on the machine got stuck.It would`nt go to the next letter it repeatedly kept going up and down on the third from the last letter. I feel the girl was telling my friend there was no need to go on and finish that hand bag.On a lighter note, I recieved a thank you card from Troy and Kel today thanking me for a picture I gave them for a wedding gift.This is synchronicity,the picture was a quilted pattern of checks with each having a love is... example in each of them.Kel said she had bought the same picture years ago the only difference being the color scheme.I thought this was a pretty cool story to share with my friends here at Lindaland. Luv to all Chakrena

I Love how this thread has evolved into such incredible stories of synchronicity.

Greg, you could truly write a book just on your experiences (and of those close to you).

Dear Randall,
What a story!! That one's a keeper.
Synchronicity--we have all known miracles with it, right?
Hey Greg, was that plane in Detroit? If so, it may have been the same one my brother had a ticket to be on. He was on a business trip. Someone was desperate to get on the plane, and the airline asked my brother if he would trade his ticket for the next flight. They threw in a future free flight offer, so he said okay! When the plane crashed, people at his office were so upset because they assumed he was dead and called my mother. We were all relieved to unexpectedly hear from him a few hours later reassuring everyone he was okay.
Love,
Piscesdreamer

Wow, PD! No, this was not the same flight, this was the Pan Am that crashed in New Orleans in 1982. But I've heard many stories of this kind of thing happening with airline disasters, where unusual circumstances serendipitously kept particular people from being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It's really beyond logical analysis - I guess the most that can be said is as Desiderata put it: "Whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the Universe is unfolding as it should."

Love,
Greg

Love,

I would like to share another example of synchronicity.There is a community in our county called Pine Knob and a family back in the early 1900`s lived on this farm.A member of this particular family was saving money to sail on the ever so popular ship
"THE TITANIC" When it came time to purchase these costly tickets this particular person liked mere dollars having enough to purchase the ticker and had to pass up the opportunity to sail this extravagant cruise ship.Little did this person know those mere dollars could of very well saved this persons life. "FATE" Chakrena