The Signature on the Radar

In May 2013, intern forecaster Kendra Williams sat at her workstation in the National Weather Service office in Norman, Oklahoma. Three times that afternoon, she noticed an odd rotation signature flickering on the Doppler radar — a tight couplet of red and green that appeared, faded, and returned. Each time, she nearly flagged it but second-guessed herself. Storm signatures in central Oklahoma were common, and she was new.

Senior forecaster Dan Hartley walked past her screen and stopped cold. "Do you see what that is?" He pointed to the exact pattern she had been watching. "That's a mesocyclone forming. The atmosphere has been trying to tell you something for the last hour."

He pulled up a chair and walked her through what the data was saying — how to read the velocity couplet, how to trust her instruments even when experience hadn't caught up yet. Within the hour, that signature spawned a confirmed tornado, and Kendra's early observations became part of the warning timeline.

Young Samuel heard a voice three times in the tabernacle darkness and three times ran to old Eli, certain the priest was calling him. He had no framework for what was happening. It took Eli — experienced, weathered, deeply imperfect — to recognize what the boy could not: the Lord Himself was speaking.

We need our Elis. We need seasoned believers willing to say, "Go back and listen again — and this time, answer." The Almighty is patient enough to call a fourth time. The only question is whether we will finally say, "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening."