"Where were you when?" ...... #2

I’m old enough to know where I was when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Also, when Franklin Roosevelt died, and of course, when the planes hit the towers. Where we were when big things happen is often worth remembering. In this blog, we remember where we were when God called us. But first, though, we take a look at where some well-known figures in the Bible were when God called them.

“Are these all of the sons you have?” Samuel asks Jesse. (1Sam16:11) “There is still the youngest,” the father replied, “who is tending the sheep.” Thus, fresh from the pastures, the boy David was anointed king to succeed Saul. In “a small still voice” at the entrance to a cave on Mount Horeb, Elijah heard God summon him to keep prophesying. When time came to pass on his ministry, he found Elisha plowing behind twelve yoke of oxen and he threw his cloak over him. (1Kgs19:19) Saul the Pharisee became Paul the Apostle on the road to Damascus, where he was headed with letters to imprison Christians. Confronted by Jesus, his life turned around 360º. Mary was called to be the mother of Jesus in Nazareth, while Zechariah was called while ministering in the Temple at Jerusalem. He and his aging wife were to become the father of John the Baptist. From their fishing boats, Peter, Andrew, James and John were called as the first of the 12 apostles. Matthew was at his tax collector’s post when Jesus called him. But the prize for the most unusual place to be called from belongs to Zacchaeus, who was up in a sycamore tree when Jesus called from below: “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.”

The story of my own calling is pretty funny too. I was shaving in the latrine at the 68th battalion of the 1st Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas when God called me to be a monk. In a flash, I stopped moving my razor. Looking at my face in the mirror, lather on one side, a smile on the other: “A Trappist monk,” I said to myself, “Yeah.” I stopped and congratulated myself on my extreme good luck. It felt right. I couldn’t have refused if I tried; the Lord had his hooks in me. ─ Brother Caedfile