God used that opening to speak to me a second time, so I barely heard the chaplain's explanation that this was not a statement of disbelief but a philosophical/theological position acknowledging the inability of the limited human mind ever to grasp the fullness of God. God's statement was not a judgment pronounced against the chaplain. God simply used this opportunity to remind me of my calling. This time the seed landed on ground that had been prepared to receive it. The realization dawned that it actually had been God Who had spoken to me back then. The next day I went to see the chaplain and, with great trepidation, stuttered out that I thought maybe I was supposed to be ordained. He said, "I've been waiting."
This article is reprinted with permission from Smith's soon-to-be-published God Did Not Curse the Serpent: She Is Love.
The Rev. Dr. Roberts Cameron Smith, D. Min. retired after thirty-four years of active parish ministry in the Episcopal Church on January 1, 2009, having served parishes in Vermont, New Jersey, Montreal, Canada, and Riverside, California, where he and Aloha, his wife of thirty-seven years, now live. He has been a chaplain in the Order of St. Luke the Physician for over thirty years, having been privileged to witness many miraculous healings, as well as the transformation of many lives through encounters with Jesus. He is excited about what God is doing in Riverside, drawing churches from disparate denominations into unity of service; not through avoidance of potentially divisive differences, but through mutual focus on Jesus, our Savior and Lord.
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