Thursday, October 25, 2007

Indian food, UPS, and R&R

Welcome to my blog, whoever is reading this.

I'm assuming that if you are willing to read my thoughts, you already know me, so no long introduction is necessary. If you don't know me, you'll get to know me as you read this thing, or at least that's my hope.

To start, I'd just like to post about what has been going on lately in my life. On Monday, I went out to eat for lunch with Matt Collins and Amber Tink. We went to an Indian buffet. I didn't really know what to expect, having never eaten Indian food before and being notoriously picky when concerning my palate. I actually loved the food, and what's more, I absolutely loved the company. I at one point stopped and told Matt and Amber that they had to be my two most interesting friends. The discussion was randomly diverse, funny, poignant, and it made my day. While I am excited for Amber's opportunity to serve the blind, I'll miss her. I wish I had been able to spend more time with her while she was still in Missouri.

UPS is okay. It's an interesting dichotomy. I love the people I work with; I hate my job. I figured out the other day that on a slow night I move ten tons of packages by hand. On a heavy night I move about seventeen. It'll probably be over twenty during peak season.

But the guys I work with make up for it. They call me "Rev." (Ask me how they found out I'm a minister. It's rather funny.) For the first time, I'm really learning what it means to be Salt and Light. The guys have really been open to talking with me about spiritual things, which has been really encouraging. In my first conversation with one of the guys, he told me that he'd been clean from marijuana and heroine for ten days. Would he have done that if I wasn't "Rev"? I don't know. I'm just hoping I can keep pointing them to Jesus.

The guys I work with or why I'm torn about a decision. Dayton Freight, where Matt works, is now hiring dock workers. The pay is over 15 dollars an hour. Right now I make $8.50 at UPS. Plus, I'd just be driving a forklift instead of having to lift everything myself. At the same time, I don't want to leave my co-workers.

What do you think I should do?

It's Reading and Research Week for NTS, but I'm taking it as Rest and Relaxation. I've watched some movies, played some video games, done some reading, listened to some podcasts, and attempted to get some things done around the house. I've even done a minimal amount of schoolwork.

I'm really loving NTS. A lot of the classes have really sparked some things in my thinking, but I'll share those later. I feel like this is probably too long already.