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 People often ask me when I first felt that I wanted to be a priest. To pinpoint the exact age is difficult, but I would have to say it was when I was around the age of 8. I can remember sitting in Mass and looking up towards the altar at the priest thinking, I want to do that. I can also remember ditching my CCD classes around this time so that I could sneak into the church. I would stand up in the sanctuary, look out at all the pews and say to myself, "one day there will be people in those pews listening to me." I was so innocent back then, but the years would wipe away that innocent desire.
 By the time I finished high school I had decided I wasn't going to be a priest, not because I didn't want to be one, but because I didn't feel that I was worthy of the priesthood. Instead of pursuing my dream of the priesthood, I enrolled in college, where I subsequently majored in five different subjects. Within my second year of college I began to grow restless and miserable so I dropped out. I spent the next three years of my life trying to figure out what I was going to with my life. All the while there was still a slight tugging at my heart when I thought about the priesthood. I did my best to ignore this feeling and decided to go back to school and pursue a degree in chemistry. I went through the motions of school, all the while never truly being happy. Once again I left school and started working at various companies. With my small background in chemistry, I was able to obtain work in various labs, but once again, I was never truly happy so I never kept any of those jobs for more than a year. It was during my last job that I finally knew what I had to do.
Before I get to the point of when I finally said yes, I need to back up a few months. In January of 2004 I was in the hospital when a priest came to visit me. He asked me if I would like to receive the sacraments. Now it had been quite a few years since I last went to confession so I asked him if he was sure he had the time to hear it all, because I had a lot to confess. Now this had a profound impact on me because far from receiving the lecture I was waiting for, the priest reminded me that God never stops loving us and or forgiving us. From that day on my prayer life took on new meaning.
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