The Leaky Roof

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, May 13.

By Andrew McChesney

G

randmother Brigitte loves her house in Germany.

Her parents built the house before she was born. It was a small house, and it had one kitchen, one big bedroom, and one very small children’s bedroom.

When Grandmother Brigitte was little, she slept in the very small children’s bedroom, and her parents slept in the big bedroom.

When she grew up and got married, she and her husband didn’t have enough money to buy their own house. So, they stayed in the big bedroom, and her parents moved into the small children’s bedroom.

Then Grandmother Brigitte became a mother. She gave birth to two children, and there were four people living in the big bedroom: Grandmother Brigitte, her husband, and their two children. Her parents were now grandparents, and they still lived in the children’s bedroom.

There was barely enough space for everyone to fit inside the little house! One year passed. Two years passed. Three years passed. Grandmother Brigitte thought it was time to build a bigger house. Her husband thought it was time to build a bigger house. The two children and their grandparents thought it was time to build a bigger house.

So, two more bedrooms were built onto the house. The little house became a larger house. Now it had one kitchen, one big bedroom, one very small children’s bedroom, and two new bedrooms.

Even though the house was bigger, the rooms quickly filled up. Two more children were born.

As the children grew older, the family needed more space. So, they removed the roof from the house and built a comfortable loft where the children could sleep in the space between the ceiling and the new roof. Everyone liked the new roof. It was splendid! The builders promised that the roof would last for many, many years.

Ten years passed. Twenty years passed. And the house saw many changes. The four children grew up and moved into their own homes. Grandmother Brigitte grew older and became a grandmother. The house grew old and needed a new roof. The hot sun caused cracks to form in the roof. When it rained or snowed, water leaked into the house.

Grandmother Brigitte desperately needed a new roof. She found out that a new roof would cost a lot of money.

Around that time, Grandmother Brigitte heard about a wonderful mission project at church. Money was being collected to tell people in another country that Jesus is coming soon. Grandmother Brigitte wanted to give money to the mission project. “But,” she thought, “I cannot give any money because we need a new roof.” She needed to save money to buy the new roof.

Still, Grandmother Brigitte wanted to give money to the mission project. She thought, “God will give me a new roof even if I give my money to the mission project.”

She gave her money to the mission project.

A few days later, a letter arrived from the German government. Because Grandmother Brigitte had retired and no longer worked, the government sent money every month to help her buy food and other important things. But this was an unexpected letter.

Grandmother Brigitte opened the letter and read, “We just found out that we have to give you this additional payment.” Inside the letter was the exact amount of money that she needed for the new roof!

Grandmother Brigitte was so happy. She loves her house in Germany, and now she can live in it for many more years.

“The money was a great miracle,” Grand-mother Brigitte says. “I thank God for it.”

Thank you for your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering that went for a mission project in Grandmother Brigitte’s homeland of Germany three years ago. Germany has sent many Seventh-day Adventist missionaries around the world, and the offering will help send even more by renovating the main building at Marienhöhe Academy, a place where new missionaries are trained, in Darmstadt, Germany.