There’s this televangelist dude on tv in the evenings. And whenever someone in my fam is watching tv, & the show ends & he’s about to start, they’re always like “change it QUICK, before HE comes on!”. Not that we hate him or anything. We just don’t watch him, & he’s got too much energy for that time of day (10 pm on a weeknight). Everyone’s been working all day, & he comes on all shouting & stuff.

Well, I was working out this weekend, & there are tvs in front of where the treadmills are. This isn’t a big deal for me cause I usually read while on the treadmill anyway. But this weekend, an older dude that I don’t remember seeing before (I usually see the same ppl in there everyday), approached me. He put his magazine on a treadmill, & asked me to “save” it for him while he went to the restroom.

Let me give you some background info. It was Sat afternoon. There were 8 treadmills in the room. Guess how many ppl? No, go ahead & guess. Yep, just 2: me & him. Who did he think was gonna “steal” his treadmill? So, he goes & comes back, & very politely “thanks” me for watching the machine for him. I said “no prob” (c’mon, what was I going to say?). So, then he asks if he can change the channel on the tv. I’m now on my 3rd Jane Green novel, so what do I care. Instead, I said “sure thing”. You won’t believe what he put it on . . .

EWTN. Now, you may not be familiar with this (I wasn’t). But it was a televangelist type program. He switched it to this voluntarily. I’ve just never seen something like it before. I didn’t know what EWTN stood for (it was in the corner, like the NBC peacock symbol); & I didn’t want to ask. But I soon found out it was the Eternal World Television Network.

A few mins later, one of the regular Sat afternoon older-guys came in. He looked up & the screen & was like “what the . . . [looks at me, reading] can I switch this to the news or something”? Then the guy on the treadmill by me tells him that he put it on this b/c he wanted to watch it, & has he never seen the Catholic television station? [to be honest, I hadn’t]

So, apparently, this is called Eternal World Television Network, & he went on about the nun that was talking. The “show” he was watching was a re-run that originally aired January 11th, 1994. Yes, folks, 1994! My world was opened that much more that afternoon.

I wonder what he would’ve said if he knew the book I was reading was about a girl who got herself all knocked-up before marriage. And I can’t imagine what my mom would’ve said if she was there when the dude put it on this channel.