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.

A snip:

Weeks 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.”

But God’s patience is divine and Bell and two other men will answer their Father’s call to become deacons May 29.

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.”

Trouble was he didn’t know what a deacon was – just that God wanted him to be one.

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

“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?'”

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.”

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.”

He found out soon enough. Continue at the link to find out what happened next. And you can read about the other new deacons here and here.

Congratulations, brothers! Ad multos annos!