Nabil Mouannes is a Maronite priest from Lebanon. He was born in 1958 in Chbenieh, a small village in the mountains overlooking Beirut. From there, one can gaze upon the majestic bay praised by the poet Lamartine. From this setting one can admire from above majestic parasol-like pine forests, the flamboyant sunsets, where gold is mixed with green, purple and red, underlined by the navy blue sea. As a child, Fr. Nabil had never missed one of those sunsets.

He tasted this happiness until the age of 15. Then the events drove him out of his village. The whole Mouannes family: father, mother, 4 brothers and 2 sisters took refuge in Jounieh, in an old house comprised of one large room, facing the sea and backed by a garden planted with lemon trees.

Fr. Nabil continued his studies at the seminary. He was a good student and was mostly drawn to science. He had a great chance of becoming a doctor, physicist, or an engineer. During his childhood, FR. Nabil was especially influenced by one of his uncles, Father Joseph Mouannes, a man who was living his priestly vocation with holiness and simplicity.

Fr. Nabil always had doubts though. He questioned God. "…Do you really exist? Look at the distress, the wars among your people and contentions among religions. …God, If you really exist, I want a sign from you…" That was, as he recalls, Faith put to the test, the contrast of violence, as a reason against the Faith.

God gave him a sign! Three times Fr. Nabil escaped death. However, the young seminarian was not yet convinced. The night before being ordained priest, he asked God to answer him again. He needed to know if He wanted him as HIS servant. At this time, FR. Nabil entrusted a letter to his dying grandfather:
"… Ask HIM what HE expects from me…"
The second letter, was entrusted to dying friend :
"… Ask HIM again what HE expects from me, and tell HIM that there are things I do not like in HIS creation…"
It was Father Joseph Mouannes who brought him back the answer. "…Nabil wake up and think my son, you have escaped death three times, once by a bomb that spared your life, and twice by accidents that you narrowly escaped, ……isn't it enough of a sign…?"