My Grandpa Nybakken loved life—especially when he could play a trick on somebody. At those times， his large Norwegian frame shook with laughter while he feigned innocent surprise， exclaiming， “Oh， forevermore！”But on a cold Saturday in downtown Chicago， Grandpa felt that God played a trick on him， and Grandpa wasn’t laughing.

Mother’s father worked as a carpenter. On this particular day， he was building some crates for the clothes his church was sending to an orphanage in China. On his way home， he reached into his shirt pocket to find his glasses， but they were gone. He remembered putting them there that morning， so he drove back to the church. His search proved fruitless.

When he mentally replayed his earlier actions， he realized what 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 twenty dollars for those glasses that very morning.

“It’s not fair，” he told God as he drove home in frustration. “I’ve been very faithful in giving off my time and money to the poor， and now this.” Several months later， the director of the orphanage was on vacation in the United States. He wanted to visit all the churches that supported him in China， so he came to speak on Sunday night at my grandfather’s small church in Chicago. Grandpa and his family sat in their customary seats among the sparse congregation.

“But most of all，” he said， “I must thank you for the glasses you sent last year. You see， they 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 orphanage director 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 director 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， my grandfather， an ordinary carpenter， realized that God had used him in an extra-ordinary way to help someone whose need was bigger than his！

外公尼拜肯達(dá)觀、幽默，尤其是在他與人開玩笑的時(shí)候，常假裝一臉茫然無辜的驚訝狀，那魁梧的挪威人的體魄，隨著他的笑聲抖動(dòng)著，“哦，就是這樣的！”可是，在芝加哥商業(yè)區(qū)那一個(gè)寒冷的星期六的冬日，外公感到上帝跟他開了一個(gè)玩笑，讓他怎么樣也笑不起來。

外公是個(gè)木匠，這天他正在給他所在的教堂趕制木箱，準(zhǔn)備裝上衣服送往中國的一家孤兒院。在完工后回家的路上，他伸手摸襯衣胸袋時(shí)，發(fā)現(xiàn)眼鏡不見了。他記得早晨將眼鏡放進(jìn)了衣袋，于是連忙開車回教堂去尋找，可尋遍教堂的每一個(gè)角落也沒有找到。

外公仔細(xì)回憶了這一天的情景，意識到眼鏡一定是在他干活時(shí)滑落掉進(jìn)其中的一只木箱里了。他的嶄新眼鏡要跟著運(yùn)往中國了！

那正是經(jīng)濟(jì)大蕭條最嚴(yán)重的時(shí)候，外公養(yǎng)有六個(gè)孩子，而那副眼鏡是他那天早晨剛剛花了20美元才買的！

“真是不公平，”外公沮喪極了，驅(qū)車回家時(shí)一路上都在向上帝抱怨，“我一直真誠地奉獻(xiàn)我的時(shí)間和金錢幫助窮人，現(xiàn)在又搭上了我的眼鏡！”

幾個(gè)月后，孤兒院的院長來美度假，希望參觀幫助中國孤兒院的所有教堂。這個(gè)星期日，他來到了芝加哥我外公所在的那個(gè)小教堂作演講。在這個(gè)人數(shù)不多的集會上，外公他們一家子坐在他們常坐的座位上。

“我首先要感謝你們?nèi)ツ杲o我們捐贈(zèng)的那副眼鏡，”院長說，“當(dāng)時(shí)我們孤兒院剛遭劫難，什么都被砸壞了，包括我的眼鏡。我當(dāng)時(shí)簡直絕望到了極點(diǎn)。”

“要知道，即便有錢我也難買到眼鏡呀。沒有眼鏡我不但看不清東西，還頭疼。我和我的同事們天天祈禱，結(jié)果，你們捐贈(zèng)的箱子到了，我的手下打開箱子，發(fā)現(xiàn)最頂層放著一副眼鏡。”院長頓了一會兒，會場啞雀無聲，大伙兒屏息靜氣。院長接著說，“伙計(jì)們，我?guī)涎坨R試了試，嗬！簡直就像是為我定做的！真是太謝謝你們了！”

大家靜靜地聽著，為那神奇的眼鏡高興，可心里都在想，院長一定是弄錯(cuò)了，去年，他們的捐贈(zèng)物品單上并沒有眼鏡這一項(xiàng)。

此時(shí)，坐在教堂一角的外公正在靜靜流淚。我外公，一位普通的木匠，正在為上帝以一種超凡的方式，借他來幫助一位比他更需要幫助的人而欣喜呢！