My Search Was Over

MY SEARCH WAS OVER

Subject: GOD'S CALL

Albert Schweitzer was struggling with what God wanted him to do with his life, and he heard God's call .... through a

magazine article.

It was the autumn of 1904. He sat down at his desk to begin doing his work. He picked up a magazine someone had

left on his desk to set it aside so he could get to work. As he did, his eye caught the

title of an article: The Needs of the Congo Mission. The article by Alfred Boegner, president of the Paris Missionary Society, complained that the mission did not have enough workers to carry out its mission in the Gaboon, the northern province of the Congo Colony. The conclusion of the article said: "Men and women who can reply simply to the Master's call, 'Lord, I am coming,' those are the people whom the Church needs." Schweitzer said, "Having finished the article, I quietly began my work. My search was over." At the age of 29, Albert Schweitzer made his decision to realize his plan of direct human service in Equatorial Africa. And he heard God's call.... through a

magazine article.

[Albert Schweitzer, Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1933, pp. 87-88)