Wow, what a way to start a new year. All of you are either right handed or left handed and maybe a few of you are ambidextrous. I never thought much about what it might look like to NOT have the use of my right hand. Guess what, I now know the answer to that question. If you will understand and be patient with me, I will forego capital letters for the remainder of this piece.

it had to happen sometime. i have been the steward of a small lawn maintenance and tree service for the past twenty years. on January 11, 2007 i was taking care of a tree job and it happened. i have come to realize in very short order that as human beings, we look at life’s challenges in two basic categories. there are me-sized problems. these would cover anything we can take care of with wit, wisdom or cash. then there are those God-sized problems. those are the ones where we might promise to do something BIG in return for His help or just something so big, we just can’t come to terms on how to cope with it on our own.

well there you have the dilemma. i woke up that morning, just going to work as normal. by noon i was in the emergency room with a massive hole in the top of my hand. when the doctor came in to look at my hand, and in a matter of fact manner, he told me he could fix the damage to the tendons, but i would not be able to use my hand for 3 months. as the “chief cook and bottle washer,” sole employee of the company, i was faced with disaster. my mind raced to the worst possible scenario. there i was, waiting for surgery later that day.

my wife, Debbie, and i both felt much like Joseph in the bible might have felt when his brothers threw him into that well. this story is found in Genesis chapter 37. we just talked and cried, cried and prayed, prayed and talked and just cried out in desperation. here we were in a very clean and sterile emergency room, surrounded by medical professionals and yet all alone. we both felt like we were in a well, so very deep, that if we dared to look up, we would just be looking at the beginning of bottom. THAT IS FEELING PRETTY LOW!

now while Debbie and i were just hanging out and not knowing how this dark cloud could ever have a silver lining, God was already preparing a way to meet our need. i went into surgery figuring that i would lose the business and the house and that chaos would win the day.

during the surgery, our oldest son, who we tried to reach earlier in the day, retrieved his voice mails and went into action. he arranged with his professors to be excused from this semester to come home and help me run the business while i recovered. i found this out when i came out of surgery and was humbled by his willingness to help in spite of the rigors of his engineering studies.

six weeks into the recovery i thought i was making remarkable progress with a minor hitch in the retraction of my middle finger. I did not think much of it, but the doctor was concerned enough that two days later i was having another surgery to try and fix the tendon problem. when will it ever end? i don’t know! as of the writing of this Inside Out, i am almost 7 weeks post accident and am wondering what the future will hold. i want to believe. i just need help in my unbelief.

God has very creative ways of getting the attention of His flock. as i have been told, sheep are not numbered among the MENSA crowd and i fall into that sheep mold sometimes. i pray that God in His wisdom will see fit to give me another chance to serve in His time and in His way. Let me know how i might help you, if you are having a low time. i am in no way the one who has all the answers, i have just been in the university of adversity, formerly known as the school of hard knocks, for a long time. i hope i might have some encouragement to share with you.

As always, your fellow servant in HIS service,

Tim Meyer

ps. OOOOOPS! the surgery failed. if this is what it took to make me a better servant in the kingdom, then so be it and amen.