Nails, Bricks and Resumes

If you've ever gone on a mission trip with my friend Clark, you'll know that one of the first things that he'll teach you when doing any kind of carpentry is to remember, and repeat whenever necessary the phrase, "First one of the day!"

I was fifteen and didn't know a vise grip from a....actually, I take that back. Vise grip? What I meant to say was, I was fifteen and didn't know a hammer from a ham sandwich. But we were in Chehalis, building a ramp for a wheelchair bound lady. Clark handed me a hammer and some nails, and I went to work. It wasn't long before I had bent a nail and Clark leaned over and said,

"It's ok, whenever that happens, you just announce, 'First one of the day!"

So I kept going, and every few minutes, I'd shout, "First one of the day!"

I caught on quickly, and every mission trip after that I knew just what to do to save face. After all, I had my Contracting reputation and dignity to uphold.

A few weeks ago, I went to the church that we've been attending to help clean bricks. They had a fire about a year and a half ago and they are still rebuilding a part of the building. I spent the morning chipping away at these bricks with a hammer. Every once in a while I'd hit it just a little too hard, and the whole brick would break in half. After about 3 broken bricks, without any thought I heard myself say, "first one of the day!" Countless times, I repeated that phrase.

We laughed when we'd say it, because theres a little piece of you when the nail bends that just wants to yell, "D'oh!" If I, and everyone else on the job got discouraged everytime I bent a nail, we'd never finish.

One month into our life in New York, countless resumes have gone out and have been ignored. A couple weeks ago, I got 2 rejection letters in one day. No response from any others, besides, the DEVIL HIMSELF in the form of a sales manager. That's it, two rejections, and the devil. But guess what I said after the second letter.