The Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech

Another week, another volunteer group. Okay, so I am just kidding. I love volunteer groups. No, I really do. I don't have to say that. I don't have to blog about these people. Hosting volunteers (especially university students) is one of the best parts of my job.

Okay, so here is the story. Last Saturday (11 days ago) I rode out to the airport to pick up a group of GA Techsters on Spring Break. Three guys, four girls, no big deal. Saturday afternoon we went on campus, ate a great meal at Jac and Ray's and then spent the evening hanging out at my apartment. The windows here are always open (it's hot and there is no A/C) and oftentimes the wind will blow the doors shut. This has happened several hundred times since I have lived here, so I am used to the sound and don't even flinch when a conversation is interrupted by the loud "Bam!" What has never happened in all of the time I have lived here is for the wind to not only shut the door, but to also lock it from the inside (which is what the girls who took over my apartment swear was the case). You have to understand, these doors are hard to lock. They had never been locked since I moved in until the wind miraculously locked them last week. So, after the door closes and locks, we are shut out of the room. Since there are bars on my windows we can't get into the room any other way, so for about an hour the guys tried to pick the lock. I sat on the couch watching and eating Oaxaca cheese until I had had enough. I calmly went into the other room, put on my Nikes, and then kicked the door in. It really wasn't a big deal, as the lock simply dislodged from the door, and now you can't get locked out. The Techster ladies flipped out though, and re-created the scene for their video camera. I thought the drama was over, and walked with the guys up the street to spend the night at a local church (I told you the girls had taken over my apartment).

The next morning we arrived back at The Ocho (that is the name for my place) to find all four girls sitting on the couch with the video camera. I could tell immediately that things were not right, and the girls quickly clued us in to a big problem. There was a lot of water in my living room, and it appeared it was all coming from the bathroom. There was basically a stream flowing through the middle of The Ocho. The girls (once again) swore that they had nothing to do with this mess, although nothing remotely similar had ever happened before they arrived. As we began to clean up the mess ("we" being the guys), I realized that the door to the office was closed and locked. Thinking someone must be in there changing clothes for church, I knocked and asked who was inside. The girls informed me that no one was inside, that the wind had performed a repeat miracle and once again locked us out of another room. At first I hoped this was a joke, but quickly realized it was not. So, after getting all the water up off of the floor of the living room and bathroom, I had to kick down another door in my aparment (barefooted this time, as my Nikes were in the locked room).

I really thought at this point that nothing more could happen to my apartment, but we still had five days to go. On Tuedsay, someone informed me that the toilet was clogged, and someone had left an enormous and unpleasant gift in there for the group. Having warned the group about this at the beginning of the week, I was a little confused as to how it could of happened, but even more confusing was the fact that my plunger was suddenly no where to be found. The only logical explanation is that it was somehow carried away by the wind. Sometime between finding out that the toilet was clogged, and it finally becoming unclogged (a day and a half later), we were sitting in the living room and heard a loud crash from inside the spare bedroom (which has the first door I had to kick down). As I sat there wondering what in the world I had in the room that was breakable, one of the girls went running in and found the full-length mirror she had just leaned against the open window had blow over and shattered on the floor. That pesky wind was at it again. There was really nothing to do but laugh about it and clean it up. The seven years of bad luck are hers, not mine.

Finally, when I was pretty sure I had hidden all of the breakable objects in the house, a few of us were juggling a soccer ball on the back patio (this was Wednesday night). The girl who was my prime suspect in several of the other catastrophies (sorry Amanda) took a low pass and popped the ball straight up into the light bulb, shattering it all over the back porch. It was truly amazing. As we swept up the broken pieces (I found a few more today in the sink) I realized that there was a pretty strong breeze on the patio, and I think the wind may have actually blown the ball into the light. This place might be haunted, I don't know. One way or the other, The Ocho will never be the same after hosting the Ramblin' Wreck for a week. I can't wait until they return.

On the spiritual side...they did an awesome job forming relationships with students on campus and talking to people about Christ. God really broke down the language barriers with this group, and used them in a powerful way. I appreciate all that they did, including the remodeling, and am very thankful for the time they gave up over Spring Break in the service of the One who makes the wind blow. Thank you Jamey, PJ, Evan, Ashley, Ashley, Amanda, and Sharon.