The night I almost became a Trappist Monk

Throughout my life, I have enjoyed just getting in my car and exploring the area around me.

When I was 18 years old, I still lived with my parents. One night, I suddenly woke up in the wee hours of the morning with the urge to go for a drive.

I got in my car and started driving. I took random turns; a right here, a left there. After about 45 minutes of senseless navigation, I took a right turn into a driveway. At the end of the driveway, I saw a sign for a monastery.

I had unconsciously driven to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, GA.

I had never been to this place before, nor had I driven anywhere near it in my lifetime. This was a random event. Out of all the places I could have ended up, this is where my random driving took me.

I stopped the car and turned off the ignition. I sat there for an hour trying to decide if I was going to stay there and devote my life to holy pursuits or face the rest of my life in the secular world.

I do believe that this was no coincidence, as it was at that moment that I decided that I would go to school to get the training I needed to achieve my lifetime goal of becoming a computer programmer.

I never told my parents what happened that night, but the next day, I told them of my plans to go to school. I drove to the school and got myself a catalog (the Internet wasn't in use by anyone outside of academia and government at that time).

A few weeks later, I was enrolled to start in the Fall.

I sometimes wonder where I'd be today if I had chosen a Monastic life.