Spiritual story: THE PERFECT MISTAKE

My Mother's father worked as a carpenter..

On this particular day, he was building some crates for the clothes
his church was sending to orphanages 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 had 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 its 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." 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. There are times we want to blame God instead of
thanking him!