Saturday, June 11, 2005

Ima CTR member

I am now officially a member of Christ the Redeemer Church here. Ive been going there ever since I came up here to Spokane, and last Sunday they did the official final confirmation of membership.

Friday, June 03, 2005

Work

Ive been working for three weeks now. Just got my first pay-check today. I am on a crew that does sprinkler installation. We have been working in new developments and we come in after the house is built and we put in the sprinkler system and then another crew comes and smoothes out he dirt and takes out the rocks and lays down mulch in the beds and later another sub-contractor comes through and hydro-seeds the lawns. We usually get 1-3 houses done a day. That depends a lot on how big the yards are and whether we are putting sprinklers in the whole yard or just the front. Our crew works really fast and we often are slowed down by running out of supplies. As the new guy I mostly just dig holes and trenches and then fill then back in. I also do a lot of the other grunt work like pounding pipe under sidewalks with a sledgehammer and things like sweeping off sidewalks and picking up pipe scraps. In the last week or so Ive also started hooking up sprinkler heads and doing a lot of the plumbing stuff. Ive also learned how to do most of the other jobs from observing for instance I know how to hook up the electrical components of the sprinkler system but I dont get to do that since they need someone to dig their holes for them. But I tell you, I can dig fine holes. The best. They say so. The foreman likes my work too so I am glad about that. He likes that I'm always doing something instead of just standing around and also likes it that I dont complain.

The work is pretty rough sometimes, especially when it rains all day, but the men I work with are pretty rough too in many ways. On my crew, everyone except one guy who is a Christian, cusses up a storm all the time. One guy is a neo-nazi, another used to be a bouncer at a strip-club in LasVegas (he is consider going back because he loves Vegas and he doesnt like using a shovel and Im sure there are other reasons too). They are very interesting people and except for my brother in Christ, so lost. They have no hope. Life is work, eat, sleep, get drunk, get girls, do drugs... so empty. They are very open with talking to me about God and what I believe. They are also intent on causeing my moral downfall. I have such an opertunity to impact them and plant seeds. I know they are impressed with things about me and intruiged and they respect me. I just hope that they are able to see God in me and not just a nice kid living a good contended life. This is my life and will be. After working here I start A&P training with a group of guys that will include all the guys from the community college and from what I hear the situation will be very similar. This is what I am made to do.

II Corinthians 4:1-7 "Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart... by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God... for we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."