Who can provide for my needs?

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.
- Proverbs 19:21 (NIV)

Never before have I understood the true meaning of this verse than I did on Sunday, May 17. Before I get into that, I must take the story back to February 20, where this whole thing began.

Our baseball team had taken the journey to Mayfield, Kentucky to play Mid-Continent University in our first series of my senior season. It was the first game of our two-day, four-game set.

I was standing on second base waiting for the pitcher to deliver his pitch. As he released the ball, his pitch dove straight into the dirt in front of home plate and kicked away from the catcher. I immediately took off for third base. From what I was told, the catcher reached back, grabbed the ball (Without actually looking), and fired a shot to third base. I tried to slide around the tag, and in the process, did my best Chuck Norris impression and karate chopped the ground. At the time, I just had some pain in my hand. Four hours later, I was sitting in the emergency room at Jackson Purchase Hospital looking at an X-Ray of my hand and the fracture that had occurred when I tried to show the ground just how strong I was (or wasn't).

Then, the doctor said four words that rocked my world, "Six to eight weeks"....

Six to eight weeks translated to me missing the vast majority of my senior year of baseball. A senior year I chose to come back for the sole purpose of playing baseball. I had a wife at home, all of the requirements I needed to graduate, and yet, here I was. Fortunately, God had a different idea. When I got home and went to the hospital to get my cast put on, I found out that if I underwent surgery, I would only miss 2-3 weeks. As you can imagine, I got the surgery, was out a little more than two weeks, and finally got to play- all the while, asking God why I had broke my hand the first game of the season. That brings us to May 17.

Because I broke my hand playing college baseball, the school's secondary insurance policy covered what our insurance company would not. We met our deductible and then some with the surgery, and the school picked up the rest of the tab.

On May 17, I had an appendectomy (for those of you who don't know what that it is- they remove your appendix because it is infected, inflamed, and/or ruptured). Because our deductible was met with the hand surgery, we will be responsible for no more than 20% of the cost of the medical bills for the appendectomy. Had I not broken my hand while I was in school, we would have no way to pay the thousands of dollars of medical bills for the appendectomy.

As soon as I realized this, I immediately went to God in prayer and thanked Him for not just providing at this moment, but for always providing. Sure, I was upset when I broke my hand. I had no idea why I broke my hand and "ruined" my senior season of baseball; but God knew. He knew the ultimate plan. It is for this reason that I will never doubt the power of God. I will always know that it is He who can provide for all of my needs.