A New Calling

Frank is my acupuncturist.

- Rick Hamlin

Actually he is an intern studying that ancient Eastern healing art at the medical school located in the same building as Mysterious Ways’ New York City offices. I met him when I went there for a session recommended by one of my doctors.

I was surprised to learn that Frank is my age—61. He looks much younger than that. Why, at this stage in his life, was he training for a new career? Frank wasn’t sure I would understand. Not everyone did.

“Are you a Christian?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said, “I am.” I was lying on a table, tiny needles in my arms, legs and chest, staring at the ceiling, so I couldn’t meet his eyes or easily follow up with questions of my own. I couldn’t even turn on my side. All I could do was remain still and listen while he told me his story, an amazing story.

Frank grew up in Taiwan, attended church and at age 16 was baptized. Obviously bright, he studied chemistry in college, then came to the United States for a graduate degree in chemical engineering. He worked for a time as a chemical engineer before starting a successful computer business. More recently he switched paths again, working in commercial real estate.

His careers had been lucrative, but Frank felt he was missing something important in life, a system of core values and the fellowship of other believers. He’d fallen away from his faith when he came to his adopted country. Later in life he searched for a church near his home in New Jersey. He ended up joining a small Methodist congregation.

One weekend he went on a three day men’s retreat in a remote, wooded part of the state. “There were twenty-eight clergymen on the retreat and only seven or eight of us laymen,” Frank said.