seventeen

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::: recall mother teresa and her lifelong witness and penetrating words, among other things, come to mind...

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...but the words "history teacher" and "geography teacher" often don't...

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...for seventeen years, in catholic schools (loreto missionary order) in calcutta and elsewhere, this nobel peace prize-winning servant of the poor was a teacher of history and geography...

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...seventeen years...

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...until...

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...during an ordinary day, while riding on a train en route to a retreat at the base of the himalayas, God called her...called her out of her ministry context and into the slums...

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...and what a call that turned out to be...

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...this reminds me that God's calling on our lives consists of both points in time as well as a well-crafted process (or plot) over time... trusting -- during uncertain times -- and seeing -- during certain ones -- how God braids these two threads together is part of the mystery and joy of obeying God's calling on our lives...

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[source: dominique lapierre, time (11/13/06), p. 94]

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:::

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