David and Maxine Melendrez

A green watering hose has sprung a leak in David Melendrez's front yard, spraying his driveway and sidewalk. There's not a thing he can do about it.

This handsome 59-year-old man is bound to a wheelchair, but not for the usual reasons. No crippling disease put him there. He didn't get hurt defending his country (though he served 22 years in the Air Force). He wasn't injured fighting crime during his 11 years as a deputy sheriff.

Instead, his life was forever changed by an incident of treachery.

Back in 2003, David and his wife, Maxine, began discussing ways to pay off the mortgage on their Colorado Springs home so they could focus on volunteer ministries. David was already active with Joni Eareckson Tada's "Wheels for the World" project, and Maxine hoped to give time at a rescue mission.

Then David found out the United Nations was looking for prison guards with at least 10 years' experience to help in Iraq. I could do that! he thought to himself. And I bet it pays pretty good, too. Soon he learned from the subcontractor, Dyncorp, that he could earn $90,000 tax free for a year of service in Baghdad. This would clear all debts and free the couple for their dream.

Maxine's apprehension about the danger involved melted away when, late in the process, Dyncorp phoned to say, "We've just received an urgent call for corrections people in Kosovo. Would you be willing to go there instead?"

A huge relief rolled through the family. "Thank you, God!" Maxine exulted. "Honey, you'll be safe there."

First Day—and Last
After two weeks of intensive training, 21 Americans boarded the plane for Kosovo, joining some 180 others from various nations. United Nations (UN) policy insisted on blending personnel from far-ranging countries to demonstrate its global mandate.

Early on the morning of April 17, 2004, David reported for his first day of actual work. The Mitrovica prison held around 200 inmates, some high-ranking terrorists with connections to the outside world who'd been threatening the Kosovar guards' families. Said the orientation leader, "We hope you can help us fix this situation."

Once assignments were handed out for the next day, the internationals waited in a walled courtyard for vans that would take them back to their quarters.

All of a sudden, automatic rifle fire crackled through the air. The officers whirled around, confused. Who would be shooting inside a secured prison?

They were shocked to see one of their own, in a UN uniform, blasting away with his M-16. Bullets flew, mowing down officers. "It was chaos," David says. "I ran toward a little bunker at the far end of the courtyard. Before I could get there, I was shot in the back.

"I hit the ground, then realized a piece of shrapnel had entered my arm. I couldn't move much of anything."

Yelling filled the courtyard as officers returned fire. When David looked up again, he was stunned to see the assailant lying on the ground no more than ten yards away—his M-16 aimed at David's head. What's he doing?! David wondered. He's supposed to be a comrade officer!

Only later would the truth come out that Sgt. Maj. Ahmed Mustafa Ibrahim Ali, from Jordan, was actually a Palestinian with ties to the militant group Hamas. He'd joined the UN mission as a handy way to get up close and personal with unsuspecting Americans.

"I thought, This is it," David recalls. "But somehow, I felt an inexplicable peace from the Lord. I even had time to pray: 'Lord, please help Maxine and the kids to be all right without me.'"

Then, perhaps too weak from blood loss, the Jordanian lowered his rifle. David's life was spared. But he would never walk again.

Battling Bitterness
Within minutes, the assailant was dead, and the prison courtyard grew quieter. Three Americans lay dead, nearly a dozen wounded. David was rushed to a local hospital where no one spoke English. There his lungs collapsed and his heart stopped. He was revived, then helicoptered to a nearby Army hospital.

Back in Colorado Springs, Maxine received a phone call from a military nurse in Kosovo. "Mrs. Melendrez, I need to know what hospital you want us to send your husband to." Maxine was confused. Was David sick? A doctor soon got on the line to say, "Your husband has been shot."

Tears filled her eyes as she hung up the phone. Her world would never be the same.

By the time David arrived back at Denver's famed Craig Rehabilitation Hospital he was waging a battle with bitterness. "I was angry," David says of his five months at Craig, followed by another five months at a VA hospital. "I thought about how I'd served the Lord faithfully for at least 30 years. We'd tithed; we'd given to people in need. So why had this happened to me?"

Through painful days and weeks, he began wondering if all this were a punishment for some past sin. Then he began reading the Book of Job.

"He lost everything, and he was confused, just like me," David says. "But the Bible says Job didn't sin. He didn't listen to the comforters who were steering him wrong. He just held on to God. I found I could trust God when the chips were down. I needed to rely on Him alone."

Beyond "Why Me?"
When David finally came home ten months after getting shot, it was a joyful day. Worker's comp insurance had provided funds to remodel the ground-level garage into an apartment of sorts, with a small elevator going upstairs to the main living area. A wheelchair-accessible van was on order. Disability checks were arriving every two weeks.

All of this, however, could never compensate for the lack of mobility. "There's a common saying, 'Trials bring out your character,'" David says. "That's not quite true. Trials bring out God's character. I don't want to live this way. But God is enabling me to cope with it.

"I still believe the Scripture that says, 'In all things God works for the good of those who love Him' (Rom. 8:28). I hang onto verses like Jeremiah 29:11, 'For I know the plans I have for you … plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"

What kind of plan might that be? David Melendrez doesn't yet know for sure. But gradually, his focus has shifted from "why me?" to "what now?" Maybe God can use him to encourage other victims of spinal-cord injury. Maybe, with his modified van, he can resume providing wheelchairs to others. Maybe God will even heal him. "I still believe God does miracles," he says with a smile. "If he needs some paralytics around in order to show his power, I'll be glad to be Exhibit A.

"But if that doesn't happen, I'll be okay. I'm not going to ditch my faith in God over this."

When Maxine goes to her job at the police department, David tries not to think about all the household chores that need attention. "When it comes to yard work or moving furniture, I have to sit and watch," he says with resignation. "That really hurts."

Still, David's spirit is peaceful. He's determined to be a mature model to his kids, grandchildren, and anyone else who's watching.

Maxine Melendrez sums it up well when she says, with a catch in her throat, "We're not happy about all this—but we're content. We're simply 'casting all our cares on Him,' like the Bible says, knowing that He will always care for us."

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