Author's Note: This is based on the story of Samuel when God was calling to him. I took the original story and put it in a modern-day setting. I admit that my little scribblings are nothing like the original masterpiece, but it gave me much pleasure to write this.
The original story can be read in 1Samuel:3.
"Samuel!"
I groaned and rolled over on the couch, opening my eyes rather blurrily. "Wha-?" I mumbled, looking around. There was no one in sight, but the room was awfully dark.
"Samuel!"
The voice was obviously not giving up. It sounded as though it was coming from another room, although I could hear it quite clearly.
I pushed off the blanket and stood up, only just beginning to realize I didn't even know who was calling me. The voice didn't sound familiar…
"Samuel!"
Wait a minute. The voice called me Samuel, not Sam. Only my great-uncle Eli called me Samuel. Everyone else called me Sam, except my younger sister – she called me Mule. I'd tried explaining to Eli what my preferred name is (incidentally, it isn't Mule) about a hundred times since I'd arrived at his house two days ago, but he didn't seem to understand.
"Samuel!"
"Coming, coming," I called back, and then trudged up the stairs.
The door to Eli's room was closed, and there wasn't any light showing. I wondered for a moment it maybe he'd gotten up in the dark and had fallen or something. Panic seized me, and I threw open the door.
"Uncle Eli, I'm here," I announced quickly, flipping on the light.
There was a groan from the bed, and I saw the blankets move. I ran over to the bedside to see Eli blinking rather groggily.
"Why did you call me, Uncle Eli?" I asked, my concern quickly replaced by annoyance as I saw that Eli looked perfectly all right.
He looked at me strangely. "I didn't."
"But-"
A smile appeared on his weathered face. "You must have been dreaming, boy. Get back to sleep.
"Sorry for waking you, uncle," I murmured as I left the room quickly, embarrassed over the whole ordeal. A chuckle sounded from inside his room.
I quickly fell asleep again, exhausted from my panic and embarrassment.
- - -
"Samuel!"
I blinked wearily, opening my eyes to see that the room was still dark. I felt a strange sense of déjà vu coming on. Where had I heard that voice before?
"Samuel!"
Oh yeah. The memory of my "dream" came flooding back to me. Was I dreaming again now? But the voice sounded so real…
"Samuel!"
I concluded that Eli must really need something this time. I once again threw off the blankets and ran up the stairs.
I threw open Eli's door and turned on the light for the second time that night. Really feeling that déjà vu right now… "Here I am, Uncle," I said quickly. "What do you need?"
There was a startled snort, as if someone's steady snoring had just been interrupted, and I felt the sinking feeling that I had once again reacted to a dream.
"Samuel?" Eli's surprised voice came from the bed, sounding nothing like the voice I thought had been calling me. "I think you were dreaming again."
I sighed. All that running for nothing. "Sorry for waking you," I told him, and closed the door. Once I was back on the couch, I promptly fell asleep.
- - -
"Samuel!"
Oh please, not again! I pinched myself – ouch – to make sure I was awake.
"Samuel!" I began to wonder whether Eli was playing a trick on me. That would definitely explain why the voice sounded different. I felt a dim flare of anger, but was too tired to sustain it.
"Samuel!"
Well, he wouldn't stop until I went up there. I grumbled as I rolled off the couch, trudged up the stairs and opened the door to Eli's room.
"Uncle Eli?" I said tiredly. "Here I am. And don't tell me you didn't call me, cause I swear I heard my name."
"I didn't call you, boy," Eli told me grumpily.
"Well I know I heard my name, and I definitely wasn't sleeping," I retorted. "And don't tell me it was some sort of supernatural ghost-voice or something."
Eli breathed sharply in surprise. "Of course," he laughed. "How did I not realize?"
I wondered if he'd finally cracked.
"It's God speaking to you, Samuel," he told me. "Next time he calls you-"
"Next time?" I interrupted.
"-tell him, Here I am, Lord. Your servant is listening."
I repeated the words dutifully. "Here I am, Lord. Your servant is listening." The words sounded awkward when I said them, and I felt awfully silly repeating them, but I figured, hey, if it'll make the voice stop, I might still get some sleep tonight!
Eli yawned and lay back down on his bed. "Down you go, now," he told me, and I followed his instructions, laying down on the couch to wait for the voice.
- - -
"Samuel!"
That hadn't taken long. I wondered if I had fallen asleep – not that it mattered.
"Samuel!"
I licked my lips, suddenly nervous. What if this really was some supernatural thing? Would I unleash some crazy powers by speaking to it?"
No, that was crazy. I remembered the words Eli had told to me.
"Samuel!"
This time I answered. "Here I am, Lord," I said dutifully. The once heavy words rolled naturally off my tongue as if they had been there all along, and Eli had simply reminded me of them. Suddenly I was sure this was the right thing to say. "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening."
There was a pause, in which everything was silent, and then – the Voice spoke.