A Great Struggle o' Mine

One more post about my work, I promise.

I am a graduate of the UGA and have a degree in Management from the Terry College of Business. I am currently working a $7/hr job where the only job requirement is not having an extensive criminal record...a job where pretty much 100% of the people who have had this job in the past have had no college education.
When I walk upstairs and see my friends or my brother, I put on this attitude that says "Yeah this job's not that great. But it doesn't matter because I am a humble guy who considers no job to be beneath him. I know my identity is not found in what job I have anyways. So I'm not ashamed. I'm above that outlook. I know who I am."

Friends, it is sad to say that the attitude I portray and try to have is far from reality. I AM ashamed. I am embarrassed about my job. I wish I was secure in who I was enough to not care what people would think. So because of my insecurities, I spend my time trying to come across as an incredibly humble and godly worker. Yet all the while, I really want them to know how much better I am than the job I'm working. Thankfully, God is a friend of insecure, self-promoting sinners.

My incompetence at Snelling Dining Hall

I've had 2 black ladies ask me out at Snelling over the past few months. They both have kids. I told them I don't want to be no baby's daddy. They didn't get it. But neither did I.

If you can picture this in your head, you might chuckle: i'm driving this 20 year old UGA Food Services van today to run an errand for Snelling. As I take a right turn onto East Campus Road, my driver side door flies open, so far open that I cannot reach it. Traffic's not bad, so I continue to try to solve this problem w/o stopping the van. I try the ol' slow down then accelerate real fast trick to fling the door shut. Then I try to hit this guy crossing the street so his body slams the door back. Surprisingly, none of these worked so I stretched my foot out to grab it. It worked. Yea.

Failed Joke told in the Produce/Eggs walk-in cooler:
Waylon: Grab that box of lettuce on top
Martin: That's weird; this lettuce is blushing.
Waylon: huh? blushing?
Martin: yeah i think it saw the salad dressing
Waylon: what?
Martin: nevermind

Homelessness in Athens

Believe it or not, I'm talking about myself. I am homeless in Athens. The plan has been to bounce around from couch to couch living out of my suitcase so as not to wear out my welcome and get in people's way. I thought this would be fun, getting to have slumber parties every night w/ different people. However, although the people are great and don't smell, I do, and it's a rougher life than I thought. It's even harder when there's no end in site to this homelessness and I've been doing this for 2 weeks. I get off of work around 5:45 everyday. Then I go to the Student Learning Center and just chill for 2 hours because where else is there to go? Then I figure out a place to sleep, and get in bed by 12.

For the past 22 years, having a home, or a place to call my own, I have definitely taken for granted.

Thanks to all the people who have offered their homes and to these people who have put up with me for a night or more:
Andrew Mulkey
Yellow House Fellows
Joanna Frazier, Betsy Hunter, Katie Griffith
William Jewitt, Joseph Morris

P.S. The homelessness is over as of Sunday, August 27th. I'll be in apt 315 in College Park with some buddies from work. Thank God. Honestly, I could not possibly ask for a better situation. I am tempted to sing the doxology right now, but I will spare you from my typing voice.

Bus Driver

I work 8:00-5:00 everyday now lifting heavy objects and hanging out in zero degree walk-in freezers. The work is hard, the pay is low, and I work w/ two other men, one who doesn't speak English very good (ha, irony). But I get two free meals a day, and my arms are getting sexier.
The other guy, the one who has inspired this blog post, has a wife, two kids, and he gets paid $9.40/hour. This is his job. This is his life.

It scares me to think how depressed I could be if this was my life everyday...doing a job that was nothing special. And how I wish I could be satisfied with whatever job I end up having. Then I thought about people who've lived over the past 1000 years. Husbands woke up, spent most of the day gathering food for their family via hunting and farming; then ate dinner, had sex with the wife while the kids were 10 feet away in the next room, went to sleep with no A/C, and did it all over again the next day. Life didn't seem too special for them, yet you don't hear about them being depressed.

Thinking about all this has given me a newfound appreciation for the song "Bus Driver" by Caedmon's Call. This song is about the fact that each person is an equally important part of the whole body. The song is written from the perspective of a bus driver, who feels that his role doesn't matter in the larger scheme. As the song progresses, we see the bus driver come to the realization that his part does matter, and if he "wasn't by today" it would affect many people around him.

"The shop, the barn, the scullery, and the smithy become temples when men and women do all to the glory of God! The "divine service" is not a thing of a few hours and a few places, but all life becomes holiness unto the Lord, and every place and thing, as consecrated as the tabernacle and it's golden candlestick. " - Charles Spurgeon

No clue what the golden candlestick is all about but I'm understanding more and more that my contentment with my work has less to do with my actual job than I thought.

The Ol' Island/CD Question

You know that question, "If you could take one CD with you on an island (an island equipped w/ a boombox and a lifetime supply of batteries), what would it be?"

It's between one of three CDs:

Andrew W.K. - I Get Wet
It seriously pumps me up like no other. What an adrenaline rush. And it doesn't get old. This CD would keep my sanity on the island.

Ocean Waves by Echos of Nature
It's basically just a cd of the sounds that the ocean makes. If there's one CD that every island needs, it's this one. (sarcasm)

Handel's Messiah
It's so powerful, beautiful, and God-glorying that it gives me chills every time I hear it. I think it's a halfway decent depiction of heaven. If you've ever listened to all 3 hours of it, you know what I'm talking about.

Honorable Mention:
Chumbawamba's Greatest Hits

Roommate or Roommette?

(real quick, if you're not in the mood to read this long post, read the last paragraph...that's really what I'm trying to say)
I'm confused. Why is a Christian guy not supposed to live w/ three Christian female friends, none of whom have any romantic interest in each other? We look down upon that in the Christian community. My question is why?

Is it because they would be putting themselves in temptation's way? Maybe. But then would it be wrong to go to Six Flags on a hot summer day where you could be tempted to lust at the girls there?

Is it because we are supposed to live above reproach? Yes, it says there shouldn't even be a hint of sexual immorality among you. But what defines "hint" when you know there's nothing going on? For instance, would it be wrong to go over to a girl's house alone just to pick up some brownies? Someone somewhere could think that since it was just us two, we were probably getting it on.

Is it because we may hurt our witness? How would it affect non-Christians' view of us when they don't understand what would be wrong w/ it in the first place? How would it affect other Christians' view of us? Well, if your Christian friend saw you walk out of the girl's house at 8am, he or she could think you have been up to no good w/ a girl in that house. And now that poor niave Christian thinks it's OK to sleep w/ girls before marriage. Or he just thinks you are not walking w/ the Lord and so you lose your influence in that person's life. 1) a young Christian that is that easily influenced should be asking others before drawing quick conclusions anyways; 2) ISN'T IT SAD THAT WE AUTOMATICALLY ASSUME THE WORST OF OTHER CHRISTIANS BEFORE WE GIVE THEM THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT. It seems like we wouldn't have this problem of hurting our witness to each other if we weren't pharisees that are quick to judge but people characterized by grace.

Yes I actually believe that in general we shouldn't shack up w/ our Christian friends of the opposite sex. Girls make bad roommates anyways from what I hear. In case you weren't paying attention two sentences ago, I'm not arguing that living w/ members of the opposite sex is a good thing. So what's my point? In this post, I'm just trying to get to the bottom of why we really abstain from it. We need be analyzing and questioning our actions, why we do the things we do and why we abstain from certain things, instead of accepting it as fact just because it's the "Christian" thing to do or because we don't want to rock the Christian boat.

This is my longest post yet I believe. I'm going to go pee now.

Shout Outs:

Christ Church peeps, you guys read my blog more than my friends and family combined. That's a picture of community and unmerited love right there.

Ethan and Langley, please continue to update your blog even though your Hollywood/Roadtrip adventures are over.

Dad, I have decided to name one of my future sons after you: Dad Davis

Anna Counts, I read your blog.

Athens Weather, stop being so freakin hot.

Melissa Q, you are missed at Snelling.

Yellow House Fellows, I know I will soon go through withdrawal; therefore, I have decided to move down into the crawlspace.

My future wife, are you out there?

Person from Australia, why are you interested in my socks and what rocks them?

To all the pre-schoolers who read my blog, Santa doesn't exist.

Tragedy at Chili's

On Sunday, my friends George, Katie, Betsy, Jonathan, and I ate lunch at Chili's. About halfway through our meal, the man at the table next to us started screaming "Momma, come on wake up! Wake up, Momma! Don't leave me Momma, please!" An old lady, his momma, was sitting in her chair with her head back, not moving. The man's 7yr old son was screaming and freaking out as well.

My friend George quickly got up and told the hostess to call 911. Then I and several other people went around yelling out if there was a doctor in the restaurant, but no to no avail. The ambulance came within 3 minutes.

Once the paramedics arrived, they did something and the lady woke up. She was alright. But wow did that shake things up. It's interesting that those things really reorient your life and make you think about what's important. Suddenly it didn't matter that much that Betsy and Katie still hadn't found an apartment to live in this semester, or that I still don't have a job lined up, or that our food took a while to get there. I'm not saying I wish more stuff like that would happen, but yeah...in a way, I do. I wish our comfortable, materialistic lives would get shaken up more often.

Pool Jump

At first I felt sorry for him. Then after the 7th time watching it, I now find it hilarious. I recommend turning your volume down so you don't get the annoying/non-funny commentary that I don't understand anyways.

Emptiness (part 2)

Twice over my short vacation, something was said in regards to the struggle with idols....both were things I needed to hear:

the coach of Friday Night Lights:
"It took me a long time to realize that....that there ain't much difference between winning and losing. Except for how the outside world treats you...but inside you, it's pretty much all the same. It really is. Fact of the matter is, I believe that our only curses are the ones that are self-imposed."

Discussion between authors Aldous Huxley and George Orwell (quoted by Mark Driscoll):
Huxley: You know what's going to kill us is getting enslaved to something we hate.
Orwell: No we will get enslaved by something we love...and THAT will kill us.
(In other words, it's often good things that we end up falling in love with, worshipping, and in turn, they enslave us and become a bad thing.)

Emptiness in Fantasy Baseball

Here's pretty much how every day goes:
I go to class, go to work, then come home and wait for baseball games to start. Then I spend about 2 hours overall sitting in front of the computer watching my players' stats get updated. If I have a pitcher pitching that day, I spend 3 hours on it because I literally watch every pitch my pitcher throws.

Here's the sad part:
This past week I did amazing. I demolished every team in my league. Come Sunday, I was so far ahead of the team I was playing it was not mathematically possible for him to beat me. Still, I watched the games like normal. Still, I spent a couple hours paying attention to something that didn't matter. It's like continuing to watch the Braves game when they're winning 15-2 in the 9th innning and you got plenty of stuff better to do.

Fantasy baseball is my drug. I have to have it. My mood is dependent on my success. It has taken control of me. Like all addictions, they never satisfy, but we always cling to them. What's sad is not just that I'm being enslaved by this, but that I voluntarily subject myself to its bondage.


....gone to Hilton Head for a few days w/ no internet. Fantasy Baseball, I hope you soon lose control and die. But not really, because I'll miss you.

Bad pick-up lines

My favorite kinds of pick-up lines are the unconventional ones that don't make any sense or are so bad that they actually might work. Of course i don't have the balls to ever use any of them.
Here are some of my favorite, guaranteed to atleast pick-up me: (reminder, if any of these don't make sense, that's the point)

If I had to choose between winning the lottery and having a date with you...I'd take the lottery. But it'd be close, real close.

Once I knew two people who DIDN'T fall in love. They both died horribly the next day. Makes you think.

If I were to ask you out, would your answer be the same as the answer to this question?

Mind if I stay here until it's safe back where I farted?

That outfit must make a lot of noise in the dryer, huh.

Is that baby oil on your forehead? Cause you shine like an angel.

Excuse me, but do you have the temperature?

You're 'No Parking' right? Just trying to guess your sign.

Can I have a picture of you? ("Why" she asks) So I can show Santa what I want for Christmas.

If you were a booger I'd pick you first.

I just crapped in my pants. Can I get into yours?

You remind me of my cousin. (How?) I want to kiss you so bad, but I know that I can't.

You must be retarded....because you sure are special to me.

(and last but not least, a Christian Pick-up line):
Excuse me, but I believe one of your ribs belongs to me.