“…God tested Abraham. God said, ‘Abraham!’ ‘Yes?’ answered Abraham. ‘I’m listening.’” (Genesis 22:1)

My logical self does not hold much stock in signs or premonitions, but as the campaign went on, I knew something larger was afoot. I had a tugging feeling in my heart that I was supposed to do something, but I didn’t know what. I now know that I was being tested. Whenever God spoke to any of the patriarchs in the Bible, to whom he was going to give a task, He always started the conversation by calling their name, sometimes several times, until they said something tantamount to, ‘Yes, I’m listening.’ He called Adam, Noah, Abraham and Moses in this way.

In modern communication, we typically start into whatever subject we wish to discuss with whom we are speaking without making sure that we have our audience’s attention. God does not do this. He makes sure we are paying attention. He may not call us by name, but rather by placing people and events in our lives to cause us to notice Him, so that He can start a meaningful conversation with us.

“Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.” (Matthew 4:19)

A friend, noticing my relatively recent and rapid enlightenment in Christ, asked if I had experienced a near death encounter. A grin came to my face, and I chuckled slightly, because I had. At the age of 33 I died. I died and was born again, through Christ.

To this day, I hold firm in my belief that God used politics to bring me closer to Him. I lost the election, which I see now not only as a blessing but also as God’s will, not only because that’s the way it happened, but because it caused other events to happen in my life which were meant to be. The first causality is that I learned a great lesson in humility. Further, running for office caused me to go to church. Finally, if I had won, then I would have likely never felt called to ministry.

“[Ishmael's father] got up early the next morning, got some food together and a canteen of water for [Ishmael's mother], put them on her back and sent her away with the child. She wandered off into the desert….
…
He lived out in the desert…. He lived in the … wilderness.” (paraphrased excerpt from the book of Genesis 21:14-16)

My mother raised me with no particular notion of God.  That is to say that while we celebrated Christian holidays, they were secular versions of themselves.  On Christmas, we gathered around the Christmas tree and opened presents, and any particular year we may or may not have attended church.  Jesus was the baby in the manger scene, but there was no explanation of who he was or why I received presents on this day from a man in a red suit with a long, white beard.

Each Easter, I woke very early to a large basket of candies and toys and then hunted Easter eggs.  Again, we may or may not have attended church on any particular Easter.  And, again, no explanation of why I received candies and toys on this day from a giant rabbit.

“I know what rebels you are, how stubborn and willful you can be.” (Deuteronomy 31:27)

Typically, those that either come to, or return to, religion later in life, rather than as a child or young adult, have a dramatic, life-changing story as to why.  I, on the other hand, do not.  While having had no firm beliefs on or in God, I have always believed that there was a great, undefinable something out there.  And, proclaiming no knowledge or understanding of what it was, I was free and open to accept the possibility that it could be anything.  It could be a monotheistic God as Jews, Christians and Muslims believe.  It could be a pantheon of gods as Hindus, Native Americans and tribal Africans believe.  It could be a hugely complex mathematical equation that held the rules for all existence.  It could be little green men that seeded the Earth with all forms of life.  I was open to all ideas.

Having no particular sense of God also freed me from the dogma and traditions of any particular religion and allowed me to more easily accept scientific facts, such as disease through virii and bacteria, genetics, evolution and the big bang theory.  In fact, I come from a scientific background, although not physical science such as biology or chemistry.  So, I am trained to think logically, rationally, critically.  I am trained to mentally break apart a concept to its component parts, analyze each and try to understand the whole.  And, this is how I approach all things, including religion.