Called! A Longshot's Story
by Rev. Dr. Gordon Postill

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This delayed coming-of-age story intimately recounts Gordon Postill’s life from 1970–1980, a decade that pivotally shapes how the rest of his life will unfold. Initially a story of failure, self-loathing, addiction, and deceit, it’s ultimately a story of grace, faith, hope, and transformation. After a three-year debauched romp of sensual delights, he flunks out of Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario in 1970, and over the next several years becomes increasingly dispirited, feeling irreversibly mired in existential despair, promiscuous sex, ignominy, and jobs ranging from nickel miner to security guard. But in October 1976, he receives an astonishing call to ministry. Jaw-dropping serendipity subsequently enables this long-time non-churchgoer to enter seminary eleven months later as a candidate for the ordained ministry. Trusting his call to ministry, even in times of immense self-doubt and debilitating anxiety, sets in motion an unexpected restorative process. A wide array of blessings along with his significant personal growth wondrously culminate with this longshot’s ordination by the United Church of Canada in May 1980. After thirty-five years of fulfilling ministry, primarily as a hospice chaplain, he retires in November 2015 to care for his beloved wife, Robin, diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Personal, transparent, and engaging, Called! A Longshot’s Story will inspire and warm hearts, evocatively prompting readers to truthfully examine their lives through their own spiritual lenses, and hence might come to realize some additional faith and hope, courage and clarity, gratitude and generosity which had previously eluded them. Game on!

www.gordonpostill.com

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“This book is real, instructive, encouraging and empowering. One wild life in the thrall and call of God.” —Foreword by the Rev. Dr. Malcolm Sinclair Postill’s Called! is an “engaging personal reflection on a transformed life. Postill reflects on his journey from a life of dissipation to one of spiritual purpose in this debut memoir. He relates his remembrance, dotted with black-and-white photos of himself and loved ones, with admirable, confessional candor in a breezily anecdotal style. As an account of a journey from self-indulgence to religious meaning, it is impressive and inspiring." —Kirkus Reviews

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Gordon Postill was ordained by the United Church of Canada in May 1980. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Laurentian University, Sudbury, a Master of Divinity from Emmanuel College, Toronto, and a Doctor of Ministry from Boston University. He served congregations in Nova Scotia and Ontario before spending the last twenty-four years of his ministry providing spiritual care to hospice patients and their families in Florida and Massachusetts. He retired in 2015. With his advanced clinical training, he became Board Certified by the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC) and served four years as the APC State Representative of Massachusetts. He has extensive expertise in Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) and end-of-life health care ethics. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he led a CISM team from Naples, Florida to New York City to provide support for NYPD personnel. He also served ten years as the Ethics Committee Chair of the Hospice & Palliative Care Federation of Massachusetts and offered end-of-life ethics workshops throughout MA. Gordon’s primary intent for publishing such a deeply personal, no holds barred narrative is to convey some hope and compassion to those readers who are desperately longing for a second-chance.

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Contributors

Author

Rev. Dr. Gordon Postill

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