Ten years ago on March 31st, I anchored my first sportscast at WSMV, channel 4. It was a fun ride but the genesis of how I got there is the best part.
My friends know that if they call me, great chance I will not answer the phone, even if I have nothing going on and the phone is right next to me. I will answer calls from my daughter, my son and from my employer.
99% of things can be expressed in a text and I will figure out the other 1%. But, this is about the one time, I answered the phone. And my life was changed for the better in so many ways.
It was a cold Monday night in January of 2015. I had just gotten divorced and working at a radio station, getting up at 345 A.M. to be on air from 6-9 and pretty sure, no one was listening to the show. Oh, did I mention, I was broke. Well, damn close to it. Every time I looked at my checking account online, the background music was, “Send In The Clowns.”
I was watching TV, mired in self-pity but keeping my faith afloat, even though my boat was sinking.
My phone rings. It startled me. I looked down, didn’t recognize the number. It continued to ring. Suddenly, a voice told me, “Answer the phone.” Let’s go back to the beginning. I don’t answer the phone. So why was I answering this call?
This is why.
A saying that I had kept repeating 500 times a day. Always Believe That Something Wonderful Is About To Happen.
“Hello?”
“Joe, Rudy Kalis, how are you?”
Rudy, the legendary sportscaster in Nashville, had just made the switch to the morning show from sports and was asking if I was interested in coming to work at channel 4, basically filling his shoes.
I actually asked him if this was a joke. He laughed and a long story short, I got the job and worked there for a fun six years.
Just when you think there is zero to be happy about and the hill looks so daunting, you don’t even try, someone throws you a rope.
And lifts you up.
I look back now ten years later and my life has changed so much and along the path, have grown so close to Jesus and have found the gratitude.
Keep going forward and never quit. And, answer the phone.
