Renewed Spirit

I'm back. Promise. And I will update regularly now. And will also set aside more time to respond to comments.

I've figured out that I'm supposed to be concentrating on this.

For those of you who don't know, after a six month hiatus from working (i.e., trying to figure out what to do with my life), I finally found a new job doing something I love. Teaching. :) I am coaching and teaching people how to effectively get their messages across to the media.

Unfortunately, it has taken up much of my time--- since I've never done it before! Establishing curricula and learning the ins and outs of coaching students has been a challenge, to say the least. I've had a lot of 18-hour work days in the past four weeks.

I'm more settled now. So I will now resume the blog--- and plan to resume it regularly. And I really thank everyone for sticking around (if you're still here). ;)

My next story will come via a friend of mine. In order to understand the significance of this story, I think I need to tell you a bit about my friend.

In August 2003, I planned a trip to visit my mother in North Carolina. My son was around six months old, and was actually a pretty good air traveler at that point (much better than when he reached the age of two). ;)

My son and I sat next to a very kind looking man. I have to admit I was a little preoccupied with the kiddo, so didn't really chat. Until something very unusual happened.

As we taxied out to the runway, the plane pulled over to the side and stopped, and the pilot turned off the engines. His voice filled the PA system.

"Um, this is going to sound a bit unusual, but our flight is on hold right now because of storms over Cincinnati." We had a scheduled layover in Ohio. "What's really strange is that it's not the system itself that's holding us up--- it's the fact that lightning has struck the runway. So workers are now checking damage, and will let us know soon if we have clearance to take off."

I've been flying regularly since I was a child--- a result of divorced parents who lived in different states. I've never heard of lightning striking a runway. I'm sure it happens, but it had never happened to delay one of my flights.

I became a little worried about my son. He was a good baby, and actually fell asleep when the plane started to move. When the plane stopped, though... he was wide awake. The man next to me looked over at him, and started up a conversation about his own grandchildren.

We moved from talking about family to discussing work. He told me he was a theology professor. I told him I was a TV journalist. We started to discuss --- you got it --- good news and the power of good news. :) I had always wanted to report more of it, and he had always wanted to see more of it.

He told me he spent much of his time traveling all over the world (as a matter of fact, he is out of the country right now as I write this) and he sees good news happening on a regular basis.

So it turns out the lightning had a purpose. We had plenty of time to talk about our passion for good news. Much more time than we would have had otherwise. Once we were up in the air, the trip wasn't that long.

We emailed each other a few times after that trip. He would tell me about stories he found particularly enlightening and heartening. I would pitch those story ideas to my managers, who would always turn it down. They didn't have time for enlightening and heartening. There were too many crime stories we had to cover.

Now you see why I'm no longer in news.

We lost touch eventually. I moved to another state and took one more news job before I decided I had to leave the business.

I wandered aimlessly for a while, trying to figure out what to do next. I started this blog, but found myself unable to keep it up regularly. Then something happened to remind me about the importance of good news. :)

I was pretty good friends with my last co-anchor. He and I kept in touch after I left the station. I would try to give him advice on how to handle certain things at work that were frustrating him.

Earlier this year, he took some time off from work to make a trip to China. He was there to observe a forum of theological experts. On his way home, he happened to strike up a conversation with one of the participants while they waited at an airport. The conversation moved to news. And good news. And the theologian happened to mention the name of a reporter he once talked to on a plane, one he had really admired.

My colleague says he about fell off of his chair.

Names and notes were exchanged. A couple of weeks later, I received an email from my former co-anchor asking about having lunch to talk about how things were going. At that lunch, he handed me a note. And the rest is history. :)

I have heard from my theology friend a number of times since then. He sent me a story I plan on publishing later this evening, and plans on sending me more.

That conversation we started five years ago this month is now coming to fruition. Just goes to show, even when one door seems to close... a window always remains open. :)