Forecasting
This morning at 5:30 when I left for the radio station, it was raining and the temperature was in the upper 40s.
By the time my shift ended at noon, it was snowing.
It is now in the upper 20s, with ice coating the driveway, the mailbox, and the back door, and an inch or two of snow on the ground.
Ah, January in Western New York.
We average about 100 inches of snow per winter, by the way. So I expect more snow.
Good thing I like winter.
Today’s shift was a milestone one.
I began working at the station January 12, 1985.
21 years.
Coincidentally, the station is WXXI - as in XXI (21). That was the number on the television dial for public television station we are affiliated with.
Today I provided some training for a new announcer.
After going through all the technical details of the shift and showing him how to operate the board, somehow the issue of faith came up.
He remembered me from when I worked for the diocesan newspaper.
He’s currently a fallen away Catholic. He’s been hurt by some of the Church’s actions. He’d checked out a few other churches. He said that while he found community in those other churches, they did not satisfy him. Something was missing.
It was bothering him.
I offered a few suggestions about local parishes he could try where the priests are sensitive to some of the things that had estranged him from the Church, but I could sense that he was not ready for that step.
So I told him to keep praying and maybe in time he would feel ready to return.
I will pray for him as well.
I have struggled with my own commitment to the church in the past, so I understand a bit of what he is going through.
But I know that no matter how much pain and confusion we experience, God is waiting for us. He has a way of reeling us in when we least expect it.
We just have to keep the door open.
I’m as confident of that as I am that we will get more snow.
After all, part of my job is doing weather forecasts.
By the time my shift ended at noon, it was snowing.
It is now in the upper 20s, with ice coating the driveway, the mailbox, and the back door, and an inch or two of snow on the ground.
Ah, January in Western New York.
We average about 100 inches of snow per winter, by the way. So I expect more snow.
Good thing I like winter.
Today’s shift was a milestone one.
I began working at the station January 12, 1985.
21 years.
Coincidentally, the station is WXXI - as in XXI (21). That was the number on the television dial for public television station we are affiliated with.
Today I provided some training for a new announcer.
After going through all the technical details of the shift and showing him how to operate the board, somehow the issue of faith came up.
He remembered me from when I worked for the diocesan newspaper.
He’s currently a fallen away Catholic. He’s been hurt by some of the Church’s actions. He’d checked out a few other churches. He said that while he found community in those other churches, they did not satisfy him. Something was missing.
It was bothering him.
I offered a few suggestions about local parishes he could try where the priests are sensitive to some of the things that had estranged him from the Church, but I could sense that he was not ready for that step.
So I told him to keep praying and maybe in time he would feel ready to return.
I will pray for him as well.
I have struggled with my own commitment to the church in the past, so I understand a bit of what he is going through.
But I know that no matter how much pain and confusion we experience, God is waiting for us. He has a way of reeling us in when we least expect it.
We just have to keep the door open.
I’m as confident of that as I am that we will get more snow.
After all, part of my job is doing weather forecasts.
posted by A Secular Franciscan | 10:06 PM
1 Comments:
All it will take for the announcer is that "twitch upon the line" and who know what part you may have played in opening up the possibility of a return? Maybe before he talked to you, he never would have considered a return (it's embarrassing for some, and some feel its a "backwards" step, while others can't do it because of pride). I'll pray for him, and all those Catholics who have left for whatever reasons. God wants us all in one big family.
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