During World War II our bombers wreaked havoc over Europe to help 
bring an end to the war. In a small village near an industrial plant, 
one of our bombs fell off-course and destroyed the village cathedral. 
After the war, the people of the village gathered any items that they 
had of any value and gave them to the pastor to sell, in order to buy 
materials to rebuild their place of worship. A year passed and the 
pastor hired an architect to draw up the plans for the new building. 
After the drawings were completed and the townspeople had given to the 
pastor everything but the bare necessities that they needed to live 
on, a contractor was hired to rebuild the cathedral. 

The contractor was given a strict time frame in which to complete the 
building. He had no trouble finding brick masons, stonecutters, 
carpenters and other craftsmen to work on the project. He needed 
three stained glass artisans to complete the project on time, but 
could only find two in postwar Europe. One day a disheveled-looking 
little man came to the contractor and said he was a stained glass 
artisan and had heard the contractor needed a third worker. The 
contractor scoffed at the little man with tattered clothes, unkempt 
hair and a rough face covered with stubble of a beard: You? You are 
a stained glass artisan? "Yes," replied the little man with a smile. 
"Not only that, I will work for three meals a day and a place to sleep 
at night. When my window is finished and if you and the townspeople 
approve of it, then pay me the same rate of pay that you are paying 
the other two artisans." The contractor felt like he could not lose 
and agreed to the man s requests. As the little man was leaving, he 
asked for one more item. Could you put a curtain around the window 
where I will be working? I don t like people watching me work. 
Sure, okay, replied the contractor. He asked the man s name, but he 
said his name was not important. 

Months went by and the building rose from the ashes. Every morning 
the little man would speak to the other two stained glass men and then 
quietly go behind his curtain to work. As the contractor s deadline 
neared, he grew more and more nervous about what the window would look 
like or if it would even be finished on time. Finally the day came 
for the townspeople to inspect their new cathedral. The contractor 
showed off the fine woodwork, the precision cut stones, the glistening 
marble and then moved over to the first two stained glass windows. 
The beauty of their new church home astounded the people. A quiet 
hush fell over the building as they approached the curtain covering 
the third window. All they heard was the tapping of a hammer. The 
contractor barked out, Are you finished yet? The little man tapped 
his hammer one last time and said, Sure, take the curtain down! 

There before the people was the most magnificent, most wonderful, most 
elegant and most beautiful stained glass window anyone had ever seen. 
Tears welled up in their eyes as they admired the craftsmanship and 
the pure beauty of the glass used to make the window. The contractor 
was relieved to see the astonishing work. He asked the little man for 
his name again. Yet once more, the little man said his name was not 
important. Then the contractor asked him if he could at least tell 
them were he got the glass to make the window. It was far superior to 
all the glass in the other two windows. "Sure," replied the little 
man. "Every morning as I talked to the other two workers, I would 
reach down into their trash barrels and take out the broken, unwanted 
pieces of glass. I used those discarded pieces to make my window." 

That is just a story, but it is a story that has a lot of meaning to 
me. It is my story, it is the story of some of you and it s a story 
that someday will have meaning for others of you. It is a story that 
tells how God, working through others, can take whatever you have 
become and make you whole again. It does not matter how shattered, 
broken or discarded you feel, nor does it matter what sins you have 
committed. He can put you back together in a far superior manner than 
you alone can. 

So who are you in the story? Are you feeling like a discarded piece 
of glass that will never amount to anything? Perhaps you are the 
skeptical contractor, not believing that something can be made of what 
seems to be nothing? Maybe you are one of the townspeople, giving all 
you can to help rebuild other people s lives. Perhaps you are like 
the other two stained glass artisans. Your life is acceptable, but 
maybe you have become complacent. You stopped striving to be the very 
best. Maybe you are the almost-completed window and God is taping the 
final pieces into place, crafting you even more into the image of the 
greatest Masterpiece ever, Jesus. I don't know who you are, but I do 
know that if you will let Him, God is not going to stop working on you 
and He will never give up on you until you become all that He intends 
for you to become.