Master's Prayer Network

Part 1 — When I Am Weak, Then Am I Strong

Just a few weeks after my promotion to Assistant Superintendent of the Springfield, Ohio Wastewater Treatment Plant in June of 1971, we began a major contract construction project to upgrade preliminary and post secondary treatment processes. By 1973, I had written procedures for the new equipment and processes to comply with Ohio EPA regulations, and I directed process and safety training for the 24/7 continuous plant operations staff. By mid-1973 my eyesight had declined so much that I had trouble reading print even in the best lighting conditions. I had been using felt tip pens to get high contrast for my notes and draft reports as I tried to keep up with my daily tasks in supervision and management. It was becoming increasingly difficult for me to review the daily logs and laboratory data that was all hand entered by various personnel on preprinted forms.

Had I not been in a management position, I would have been past the point of remaining employed due to my vision disability. The many sight-related job duties that I had in previous positions on the Operations staff and in the laboratory would have been inaccessible to me and not amenable to alternative techniques. The Lord’s timing was already at work in my life, but at this point I was not acknowledging Him. The Psalms are a rich repository of emotional expression, and there was a very applicable verse for me, but I knew it not.

I was discouraged and depressed, and I was expecting that soon I would be forced to leave the work I enjoyed, and go onto disability retirement at the age of twenty-seven. The Plant Superintendent and the Assistant City Personnel Director both encouraged me to seek rehabilitation before making a decision, because they believed I could remain on the job with assistive technology and with their full support. I reluctantly prepared to enter a state rehab program in January 1974, but did not really have confidence that I would be able to continue in my position. The only thing I knew for sure was that I did not want to be blind! Without knowing the Lord personally, I could not then take comfort in a verse that later would become very precious to me.

As I end this description of the early part of my sight loss experience and how it affected my work career, my desire is that this next verse be fulfilled.

Part 2 — Rehabilitation for the Adventitiously Blind

Arrangements were made by my local BSB counselor for my enrollment in a newly started private agency program under contract with the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission, Bureau of Services for the Blind (BSB). In January 1974 I temporarily moved to a residential center in the greater Cincinnati area to enter the program that was structured specifically for adventitiously blinded adults. The State of Ohio was using the term adventitiously blind to differentiate them from persons who were congenitally blind — that is, anyone not born blind, but who became blind at some random point in life through a health related cause or an injury.

In my case, I was born with retinitis pigmentosa that resulted in a gradual loss of eyesight, and at age twenty-seven I was physician certified as legally blind. My group for the planned fifteen week session had four men and three women, ranging in age from the twenties to the fifties, with all but one client having some useable residual vision.

I arrived on a weekend to settle in to my room before the start of the first week of regular classes. As I entered this rehabilitation program I was not yet a Christian, and after I became a Christian, I would need some definite maturing to counteract the long-term influence of the world system on my thought processes. At the same time, the term adventitious doesn’t really fit the condition of spiritual blindness because there was no random aspect to my need, and that need for salvation was present from the very beginning of my life.

It is also interesting to me now to realize that even my physical blindness was not by chance, for the Lord is in control of all things. Neither having physical sight nor being physically blind is worthy to be compared with the absolutely critical importance of receiving our spiritual sight from the Lord.

Part 3 — Elements of the Sight Loss Rehab Program

In 1974 when I entered the rehab program specifically designed for people who had become blind as adults, I had been told there would be training for Braille, touch typing, mobility with a cane, adaptive independent living techniques, and regular counseling sessions. The lead Braille teacher had been born blind, and she had a university master’s degree. She was a very pleasant person with a keen intellect and a good sense of humor, and she could work with two or three students at the same time. This young woman impressed me greatly in the way she seemed so satisfied with life.

Braille instruction started with learning a few letters, then combining them to make words, and gradually building to simple sentences. Later we learned how to use a Perkins Brailler which had only six typing keys along one parallel row, pressed in simultaneous combinations as necessary to make any combination required in the six dot pattern of a Braille cell. Touch typing was to provide a means of providing a readable form of our words for sighted people, and “Talking Book” machines (record and cassette tape players with variable speed controls) were available for listening access to certain transcribed print material.

When we become Christians, there are alternative techniques that we need to learn for better understanding of the Lord through the Bible, and the way He would have us to conduct ourselves.

A scholarly study of the Bible without eyes of faith will not reveal the true character of our Lord. But, because a Christian has a personal relationship with the author of Scripture, we can go directly to Him for a more complete understanding.

Part 4 — Using Visually Impaired Mobility Techniques

After some basic training inside buildings, the instructor moved us to the environs of neighborhoods and light business districts. There are new challenges for cane travel in an outdoor setting since the cane can only detect obstacles from the waist down. My night vision was very poor, and correct interpretation of my fragmented visual information could be disrupted if I became rattled. Trying to balance use of my ever decreasing eyesight with the newly acquired cane technique required continual re-adjustments.

The first thing that grabbed me between the waist and the shoulders, as I approached a street corner with a traffic light, was a pole mounted control box. My mobility instructor came up quickly behind me and said, “I hate those things! I was too far behind you to give you warning.” As I rubbed the area of impact I simply quipped, “You? hate those things? I don’t exactly like them myself!” Does the Christian walk ever seem this way to some of God’s children? There are many unexpected events in life that will happen to the Christian, even though our heavenly Father walks much closer to us than any mobility instructor.

For practice, I was assigned to enter a certain bank branch and obtain a free brochure from a teller. As I entered the building, I did not anticipate the first step down, and my momentum carried me very rapidly down the next five or six steps. I was able to maintain my balance, and took a few moments to regain my composure at the bottom landing. Over confidence is a common pitfall in many circumstances of life, and the Christian is not immune from such an attitude.

Part 5 — Becoming Part of a New Community

Something I had not anticipated in the rehabilitation program for sight loss, was that being together with others who shared this circumstance of sight loss, and having some instructors who were themselves visually impaired, would become an integral part of the whole process. Since we were a small group, we all ate together at the same long table. Later I would learn of the similarity of community benefits for Christians in the local church when I became part of the Lord’s family.

I had never known any blind people in a personal way, and I had many misconceptions about what it means to be blind. The Braille instructor who was totally blind from birth was a major factor in reshaping my idea. She was very cheerful, confident in her work, and very patient and caring. She had a master’s degree and interacted on an equal level with the other professional staff members who were sighted. What a beautiful parallel to the desirable conduct of a committed Christian who is content with the station in life designed for them by the Lord!

One evening there was a volunteer coordinator for extra curricular activities who was open about her Christianity in conversation. I had been away from church since upper elementary school, and had bought into the ever increasing man-centered philosophy of our society. I considered myself an agnostic. I tried to debate with this secure Christian. She was willing to discuss her strong faith in detail, but she saw debating about the existence of God as fruitless because Bible truth is spiritually discerned, not discovered by our own intellect. I was probably more impressed with this woman’s demeanor and gentle spirit than I would have been with skillful debate. But the Holy Spirit was only beginning to slightly open the door to my heart. I praise the Lord that He did not leave me in my unconverted condition!

Part 6 — A Modified Lifestyle

As I approached the end of my time at the rehab Center in March 1974, the staff worked individually with me for items that would be applicable specifically to my situation. The staff arranged for a sales representative to demonstrate a closed circuit TV system with a zoom lens and reversed image for higher contrast. When I was ready to return to work, I purchased one of these units to use on the job.

In the model apartment of the Center there were practical exercises in organizing storage of items in the kitchen with tips on using touch, sound, and smell rather than sight for information. Learning to make more use of the other four senses can reduce much of the everyday frustrations of little or no eyesight. There were also tips such as noticing the difference in size for coins and whether their edges are smooth or have ridges. A sighted person can place a straight edge above or below a signature line as a reference point so a blind person can write a signature. There are many more techniques, and most blind people develop their own variations according to personal preference.

When I first entered my office building to return to work, I was somewhat startled at the way the room “sounded” to me. The walls and doorway openings were so pronounced in location that it took me by surprise. Some of my high level of confidence from rehab was now ebbing away. My biggest “fall” was not far off, but my greatest recovery would follow; and my life would be forever changed in the most positive manner possible!

Part 7 — When You Hit Rock Bottom

Personal expectations help to define for each person just what they believe is “rock bottom” for their life. Such was the case for me after some personal matters began to dissolve at a time when my confidence on the job had also begun to dissipate. Personal matters off the job by late May 1974 brought me to the lowest point of depression that I had ever experienced. I was just about to give up on everything, but thoughts of my family, especially my father, kept me from taking a foolish course of action.

My brother Bob and I had been working on re-roofing Dad’s house. After I had some lunch I went onto the roof and moved close to the edge to start another row of shingles. Loose grit from the old shingles caused me to lose footing and I slipped feet first off the roof. I was admitted to the hospital with two broken wrists and a slight fracture to my back. When my parents returned, they visited me in the hospital and I could hear the pain in Dad’s voice as he quietly said, “I told you not to get on the roof.” All I could say was, “I know Dad, I know.”

This seems like a good place to apply the term “rock bottom,” but actually it may not be an apt description of my situation because I had earlier made a choice that was much greater in significance. Alone in my own apartment, just a few hours before I fell from the roof, I had turned my life over to God with a prayer something like “if you are really there take control because I can’t handle it anymore.” That point was actually my “rock bottom,” but also my new beginning. From that point of simple surrender to God, I gradually gained confidence in Christ. Even during the recovery from the broken wrists, I was being comforted in my inner being in ways that had not been previously available to me.

The physical loss of my eyesight that I experienced brought me to Christ. I lost something that I could not keep beyond death, and I gained eternal life that I can never lose!

Part 8 — Navigating the New Life

I asked God to take control of my life while I was alone in my apartment, because as a legally blind man I was ready to give up on myself. During my five week recovery period from the fall, I had the support of a wonderful family. I am the fourth of eleven children, five boys and six girls. Four of the five boys have the hereditary condition of retinitis pigmentosa.

None of my family knew of my earlier decision to turn my life over to God. I didn’t have a church, and I didn’t know that I could effectively read and understand the Bible now that the Holy Spirit was present within. I was now made righteous in Christ, not by my own ability to be righteous or even good. The Lord was going to continue working behind the scenes for me.

In August 1975 I was promoted to Superintendent of the Wastewater Treatment Plant for the City of Springfield. Meanwhile on a parallel track, completely without my knowledge, Carolyn Bonnell had a blind roommate in college. Through that friend she met a blind couple in Springfield who were part of the local blind group I had recently joined. This blind couple decided that Mike and Carolyn should meet, so they invited us both to lunch on a Sunday afternoon in November. Yes, this was a “blind” blind date! Carolyn and Chet’s guide dog were the only ones with normal eyesight.

We talked for several hours, and then Carolyn offered to drive me back to my apartment. She asked if I wanted to go with her to the evening service at her church, and I saw no reason to refuse having additional time with her! That began a string of continuous Sundays that I attended church with Carolyn. Since Carolyn was convinced that I was truly born again, she accepted my proposal for marriage in February of 1976 with a projected July wedding date. In April I was baptized and became a member of the church, and on July 17th that year Carolyn and I were married by our pastor.

I am so thankful that the Lord God has provided His Word and the fellowship of other believers so the Christian has the navigation tools needed to chart and follow Him until our time on earth is completed.

Amen and amen!