Trust in Grace You Have to Put It into God’s Hands

BY DREW HANEY

Hello friends of St. David’s Episcopal Church,

My name is Drew Haney, I am the owner of Sir Speedy Printing in Berwyn, PA. I had an experience this past January 2023, that I am going to share. I like to call it, “You Have to Put It into God’s Hands.”

I have been in the printing trade for 45 years. When I was twelve years old, I read a book about Benjamin Franklin and became fascinated with printing presses. I knew that printing was one of the most important trades in America and never thought it would change. Then, in 1985, this thing called a computer appeared everywhere and I knew I was in trouble.

Since then, it has been a struggle trying to continue doing what I love. Little by little I am losing my printing accounts due to this new technology. Publications, newsletters, brochures, and most of what was printed on paper is now online. With the pandemic of 2020, the only way I was able to stay in business was from one big printing account I had but wound up losing it just before Christmas 2022.

For several weeks I had been sitting in my print shop with nothing to do and felt sure my printing career may be coming to an end. As a child I was raised with a great faith in God, but always tried to resolve most of my problems by myself. My closest friends started to notice that I hadn’t been myself, so I told them what I was dealing with. They all said to me on more than one occasion that I needed to put it into God’s hands; I guess I just didn’t know how to do that.

On Friday, January 20, I went to work and had nothing to do. I was very depressed and felt as though I was not able to pull my weight supporting my family. That day a new customer came into the shop, and I helped her for about 45 minutes; the cost was 96 cents in total, and she handed me a credit card. I told her that the copies were on me and not to worry about paying me.

When she left, I decided to close early. While driving home I remember feeling a calm come over me. I found myself talking to God and telling Him that I know I tried everything I possibly could. I didn’t ask for help but asked for reassurance that if this was His plan for me, I would be ready to accept it. I also thanked God for allowing me be a printer for all these years of my life.

When I got home, I checked my email as usual. There was an email from the president of the company of the account I lost. The email stated that the company would be updating their forms and wanted me to call them first thing in the morning to discuss the details of the job. They ended up giving me 80% more work than I was originally doing for them! When I finally completed the job (took me six days straight of working, 15 hours a day), I was exhausted. I wound up having another chat with God and thanked Him for blessing me with this opportunity to get back on my feet again.

The week of January 30, while walking out of the door of my shop, the phone rang. For a moment I thought about not answering the phone, but I did. The phone call was from Sharon Shuttleworth and Diane Dowlin from St. David’s Episcopal Church. They wanted to see if I could help them with a print project that needed to be a quick turn-around. It was for the 2023 Pilgrimage Companion Booklets for The Rev. W. Frank Allen’s trip to the Holy Land. I told them that I would love to help them and that I would be able to get it completed quickly for them.

I strongly believe this was God letting me know that He really does see everything and is always ready to help if we just put our lives into God’s hands.

I shared this story with Sharon and Diane and now I share it with all of you.