{"id":4474,"date":"2010-06-03T05:09:43","date_gmt":"2010-06-03T05:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2010\/06\/trying-to-outwait-god.html"},"modified":"2010-06-03T05:09:43","modified_gmt":"2010-06-03T05:09:43","slug":"trying-to-outwait-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/06\/trying-to-outwait-god.html","title":{"rendered":"Trying to outwait God"},"content":{"rendered":"

That’s the story of one new deacon profiled this week in the Western Catholic Reporter in Canada. The Archdiocese of Edmonton just ordained three deacons — and the paper profiles each of them.<\/p>\n

A snip: <\/a><\/p>\n

\nWeeks went by. Then months. And Bill Bell felt a ripple of relief as he thought to himself, “Maybe I can outwait him. Maybe he’ll just go call somebody else.”<\/p>\n

\"bell.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>But God’s patience is divine and Bell and two other men will answer their Father’s call to become deacons May 29.<\/p>\n

It’s been a bit of a trek for Bell. It all began when he and his wife Wendy returned from leading a youth group to World Youth Day in Rome in 2000. Bell “knew I was being called. And I knew the word diaconate.”<\/p>\n

Trouble was he didn’t know what a deacon was – just that God wanted him to be one.<\/p>\n

A successful health care professional with degrees and decades of experience, Bell shares his emotions surrounding his journey to the diaconate with disarming frankness.<\/p>\n

“I would like to tell you I was an Isaiah, as in Isaiah – ‘I am here Lord’ (Isaiah 6.8). That’s not who I was. I was a Moses. ‘Who am I that you would ask me?'”<\/p>\n

Doubts shadowed Bell. “I am not worthy. No one would listen to me. But God said, ‘I will go with you.’ And I prayed. And I discerned.”<\/p>\n

Finally he called the then archdiocese vocations director Father Stephen Hero, telling him, “I don’t know what this is about but I know I am being called to the diaconate. And I don’t know what it is.” <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He found out soon enough. Continue at the link<\/a> to find out what happened next. And you can read about the other new deacons here<\/a> and here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Congratulations, brothers! Ad multos annos!<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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