Latest / The UNWavering Podcast / Living Joyfully | Mardy Rodriguez – Custodial Services Manager

Transcript

Living Joyfully | Mardy Rodriguez – Custodial Services Manager · The UNWavering Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_02: Life is too short to worry about things.
0:02
SPEAKER_02: And I think we have a tendency to put a major on things that are a minor.
0:08
SPEAKER_02: Sitting back and just being anxious or stressing out about things, you're really only robbing yourself of joy.
0:16
SPEAKER_02: In Matthew, it says to not be anxious about anything because we have a caring creator and he provides for us.
0:24
SPEAKER_02: And even for the birds, he says they don't they don't plant and they don't sow and reap and store up food.
0:31
SPEAKER_02: They don't have to because they're provided for.
0:33
SPEAKER_02: And so we're told we don't need to be anxious about those things.
0:36
SPEAKER_02: And it says, what do we do instead?
0:38
SPEAKER_02: Well, we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
0:40
SPEAKER_02: And those other things, you don't gotta worry about them.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: Join as we highlight the people, the purpose, and the pulse of Northwestern.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: This is the Unwavering Podcast.
1:05
SPEAKER_04: Hey everyone, this is Monty and Cassie.
1:07
SPEAKER_04: And welcome to the final episode of season number one of the Unwavering Podcast.
1:13
SPEAKER_04: And today, on this episode, we get to sit down with Marty Rodriguez.
1:17
SPEAKER_05: That's right.
1:17
SPEAKER_05: He is our custodial services manager here at Northwestern, and we are going to talk about his joy.
1:24
SPEAKER_04: Because he's one of the happiest guys on campus, and this should be a delightful conversation.
1:28
SPEAKER_05: Get ready to laugh.
1:29
SPEAKER_04: Merry Christmas.
1:35
SPEAKER_04: Marty, thank you for joining us on the Unwavering podcast.
1:38
SPEAKER_04: I know we are and have been waiting and so excited to have you on.
1:42
SPEAKER_04: So thank you.
1:43
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:43
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I'm glad to be here.
1:45
SPEAKER_04: And even on Christmas week.
1:47
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:48
SPEAKER_04: So that's commitment.
1:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:50
SPEAKER_05: Thank you for making the time.
1:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's the most wonderful time of the year.
1:53
SPEAKER_02: It is.
1:53
SPEAKER_02: It's the most wonderful time of the year.
1:57
SPEAKER_02: Oh my goodness.
1:58
SPEAKER_02: The guy comes with talent.
2:00
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
2:00
SPEAKER_02: Monty a prancing and Cassie dancing and Marty is here.
2:06
SPEAKER_02: Marty with cheer.
2:09
SPEAKER_05: Hey, yeah.
2:09
SPEAKER_05: Hey.
2:10
SPEAKER_04: There we go.
2:11
SPEAKER_05: That was amazing.
2:12
SPEAKER_04: It is the most wonderful time of the year.
2:15
SPEAKER_04: Marty, do you have any favorite Christmas traditions besides writing new Christmas songs?
2:19
SPEAKER_02: You know, I do.
2:21
SPEAKER_02: I I I'm not great at traditions.
2:23
SPEAKER_02: One thing that my family started was a Christmas cookie contest.
2:29
SPEAKER_02: My dad and my sister fought all the time.
2:33
SPEAKER_02: And my dad was looking for a way to have like a connection point between him and my sister.
2:39
SPEAKER_02: And so my sister loved baking and cooking.
2:42
SPEAKER_02: And she's nine years older than me.
2:44
SPEAKER_02: So I was young, you know, I was maybe like six or seven doing cookies.
2:48
SPEAKER_02: And you know, she was a teenager.
2:50
SPEAKER_02: So we did this cookie contest, and what we we'd do is we'd bring the cookies to my dad's work, and people would vote on the cookies, and then uh there would be a winner, and we had a little you know trophy for who won the cookie contest.
3:04
SPEAKER_02: And to this day, the melt away delights is my mom makes it as the first winner of the cookie contest, and we all partake.
3:13
SPEAKER_02: And so actually, back in uh early November, I brought cookies here on campus, and I walked around with my kids and we we were taking votes.
3:23
SPEAKER_02: So how did I miss those?
3:25
SPEAKER_05: I'm pretty sad next time.
3:27
SPEAKER_05: So you're the type of family competition brings you together?
3:29
SPEAKER_02: It's not it's not really like a you're the winner of the year sort of thing.
3:33
SPEAKER_02: It's it's more of the we all do it together.
3:36
SPEAKER_02: So like I help out the kids make the cookies, and that's it's more about just being together.
3:41
SPEAKER_02: I I mean in this day and age, every it's the everyone's a winner sort of policy sort of thing.
3:45
SPEAKER_02: So there isn't so much cookies.
3:48
SPEAKER_02: I'd say when I was when it was my dad doing it, it was very much a competition sort of thing.
3:53
SPEAKER_02: So, but not so much.
3:54
SPEAKER_02: I I mean my kids are are they participate, but they're not as much into it as I was when I was younger.
4:01
SPEAKER_02: So that's that's a tradition that we like doing little Christmas.
4:04
SPEAKER_02: Sweet.
4:04
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, is it a traveling trophy too?
4:06
SPEAKER_04: Is it the same trophy that gets passed?
4:08
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yeah, yeah.
4:09
SPEAKER_02: It's a little here's the trophy.
4:11
SPEAKER_02: And then we just mark down, we try to keep the recipes too, because it's easy to lose the recipes.
4:16
SPEAKER_02: Like, here's the year, year over year of uh smart.
4:20
SPEAKER_02: And actually, I had I had an old staff member who was like, Hey, do you have that lemon cookie recipe from like two years ago?
4:26
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, I'm like, you know what, I'd have to look.
4:28
SPEAKER_02: And I rem it was a year before I found the recipe and I sent it to her.
4:32
SPEAKER_02: She's like, I can't believe you remembered.
4:33
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, well, we're doing the competition right now.
4:35
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
4:35
SPEAKER_02: And I found all the recipes, so here you go.
4:37
SPEAKER_02: So wow.
4:38
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
4:39
SPEAKER_05: Well, I think a really important way to get to know somebody is to find out if you're into real trees or artificial.
4:45
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
4:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
4:46
SPEAKER_02: Yes, you are.
4:47
SPEAKER_02: There is a I I feel like there is a definitive right answer here.
4:52
SPEAKER_05: Okay.
4:52
SPEAKER_02: And the right answer would be fake tree.
4:54
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's not where I thought that was gonna come.
4:57
SPEAKER_02: No.
4:58
SPEAKER_02: Tell us more why.
4:59
SPEAKER_02: Real trees are just so much work.
5:01
SPEAKER_02: I've got four kids, and I don't want a fifth kid in a tree where I have to water it all the time, and then they're a mess.
5:08
SPEAKER_02: Now they smell great, which is why I think the right answer is a fake tree with those fake smelling things that you hang in there.
5:15
SPEAKER_05: I couldn't agree more.
5:16
SPEAKER_05: I'm with you right now.
5:17
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
5:18
SPEAKER_02: And now a real tree is also, I mean, you start pulling out you start unfurling the branches and it gets everywhere.
5:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
5:26
SPEAKER_02: So it's still messy, just like a real tree.
5:28
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
5:28
SPEAKER_02: When do you set up Christmas at your house?
5:31
SPEAKER_02: Oh, we're gonna get into this.
5:32
SPEAKER_05: Just the night before, because that's how long the tree lasts.
5:37
SPEAKER_02: We set up the day after Thanksgiving.
5:40
SPEAKER_02: Okay, that's the right answer.
5:42
SPEAKER_02: That that is when we set up as well.
5:44
SPEAKER_02: Now, when do you tear down Christmas?
5:46
SPEAKER_04: Uh within then probably between Christmas and New Year's, or or at the very least a couple days after New Year's, like pretty close.
5:55
unknown: Wow.
5:56
SPEAKER_05: What are you doing?
5:56
SPEAKER_05: It's not good.
5:57
SPEAKER_05: Uh-oh.
5:58
SPEAKER_02: It's not good.
5:58
SPEAKER_05: What do we got?
5:59
SPEAKER_02: I mean You go on March?
6:01
SPEAKER_02: I'm telling you, if I hit if I hit spring break, that's when I feel bad.
6:04
SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
6:06
SPEAKER_02: It's been spring break.
6:06
SPEAKER_02: It's just so quaint.
6:08
SPEAKER_02: It is.
6:09
SPEAKER_04: You actually are professional in facilities and like taking things down and setting things up.
6:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
6:15
SPEAKER_04: Um, is that authentic?
6:17
SPEAKER_04: Are you actually good at it?
6:18
SPEAKER_04: Because if the Christmas tree can't get taken down on time, it's it's not it's not the actual mode of taking it down.
6:25
SPEAKER_02: It's it's it it's what you're saying.
6:27
SPEAKER_02: It's this, it's I like how the house feels.
6:31
SPEAKER_02: So when we bought our house, this is legitimate.
6:34
SPEAKER_02: When we bought our house, one of the main factors was this is a great Christmas house.
6:39
SPEAKER_06: Ah, yes.
6:40
SPEAKER_04: Big staircase where you can wrap stuff down at night.
6:43
SPEAKER_02: We have uh we do, yes.
6:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we have uh fireplace with a mantle.
6:47
SPEAKER_02: Like we have like we have got two living rooms kind of that are kind of like offset, but they're both like just decorated like crazy.
6:56
SPEAKER_02: Beautiful.
6:56
SPEAKER_02: And I I love I love Christmas.
6:59
SPEAKER_02: It's just this speaking my language, yes, overwhelming feeling of just uh joyfulness, it feels like.
7:05
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
7:05
SPEAKER_04: Well, we picked the right person to be on this week.
7:08
SPEAKER_04: And and this feeling of joyfulness, honestly, full disclosure, why did we have today's episode today?
7:14
SPEAKER_04: Is because the first word that comes to mind when we see you on campus is joy.
7:21
SPEAKER_04: Like, and I tell everybody on campus, I'm like, there's nobody that has more joy on campus than Marty does.
7:26
SPEAKER_04: Like, it doesn't matter what you're doing, where you are, our proximity to one another.
7:31
SPEAKER_04: Like, I can feel your joy from across the campus green or right next to me.
7:35
SPEAKER_04: So I have to know like what's the deal?
7:39
SPEAKER_04: Like, you always have a smile on your face, like why?
7:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
7:43
SPEAKER_02: It's funny you you keep saying joy.
7:45
SPEAKER_02: My wife's name is actually Joy.
7:47
SPEAKER_02: Maybe there's some some indicator there.
7:49
SPEAKER_05: I think that might be it.
7:51
SPEAKER_02: Life is too short to worry about things.
7:54
SPEAKER_02: And I think we have a tendency to put a major on things that are a minor.
8:00
SPEAKER_02: And sitting back and just thinking of or being anxious or stressing out about things, you're really only robbing yourself of joy.
8:11
SPEAKER_02: And you know, just thinking in in Matthew, it says to not be anxious about anything because we have a caring creator and he provides for us.
8:21
SPEAKER_02: He provides food and he provides clothing and he just provides for us.
8:26
SPEAKER_02: And even for the birds, he says they don't they don't plant and and they don't sow and reap and store up food.
8:33
SPEAKER_02: They don't have to, because they're provided for.
8:35
SPEAKER_02: And so we're told we don't need to be anxious about those things.
8:39
SPEAKER_02: And it says, what do we do instead?
8:40
SPEAKER_02: Well, we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and those other things you don't gotta worry about them.
8:48
SPEAKER_02: So the things that I focus on are things I care about, right?
8:51
SPEAKER_02: Is seeking the kingdom of God first and letting that be the overflow.
8:57
SPEAKER_02: And and if I don't have anything to really worry about, then I can fully embrace joy.
9:02
SPEAKER_02: You know, I I love it when problems come my way.
9:04
SPEAKER_02: I've had people like, why aren't you stressed out about this?
9:09
SPEAKER_02: You know, people say, like, you know, hey, this problem happened, and I'll be like, Oh, that's not good.
9:14
SPEAKER_02: Uh you know, but like we just gotta deal with it.
9:17
SPEAKER_02: It's gotta you just gotta deal with it.
9:18
SPEAKER_02: It'll be taken care of.
9:19
SPEAKER_02: It's not a big deal, you know.
9:21
SPEAKER_02: And so we put a we put a major on the minors and we don't have to do that.
9:26
SPEAKER_04: I actually wrote it down, what you just said.
9:28
SPEAKER_04: If I don't have anything to worry about, I can fully embrace joy.
9:32
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
9:33
SPEAKER_04: For you listening to this podcast today, maybe you needed that, just like we did recording this podcast today, just to let let the worries go.
9:43
SPEAKER_04: God is faithful and in control, yeah, and make room for joy.
9:49
SPEAKER_04: Not just the real Christmas tree kind of joy, but the the deep kind of joy.
9:55
SPEAKER_04: Oh wow, that's awesome.
9:56
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
9:57
SPEAKER_04: If you get a chance to get to know Marty, he didn't just say that.
10:00
SPEAKER_04: It's lived out and palpable on Canvas.
10:04
SPEAKER_04: Thanks, man.
10:04
SPEAKER_04: So I appreciate you sharing that.
10:05
SPEAKER_04: That was really great.
10:06
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
10:07
SPEAKER_04: You're relatively new to Northwestern.
10:09
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
10:10
SPEAKER_04: So this community, but why Northwestern?
10:12
SPEAKER_02: What brought you here?
10:14
SPEAKER_02: So of the last couple of years, I had gone through some church changes.
10:19
SPEAKER_02: Well, I we went with a about 15 years ago, we were part of a church plant, and then that church had another church plant about five years ago, and we went with that church plant, and then I got a job at a church leading worship.
10:32
SPEAKER_02: And during some of this transition time, I was meeting with some of my pastor friends, and we talked about um unity and uniformity.
10:41
SPEAKER_02: And so, why Northwestern?
10:43
SPEAKER_02: You think of unity and uniformity, unity is the overarching umbrella of us as believers, it's the big C church.
10:53
SPEAKER_02: What brings us together?
10:54
SPEAKER_02: We have one unity, and that is through Jesus Christ.
10:57
SPEAKER_02: We all have experienced grace uh through faith.
11:00
SPEAKER_02: And that that saving grace uh puts us under this umbrella of brothers and sisters in Christ.
11:08
SPEAKER_02: We have a unity in that thing.
11:11
SPEAKER_02: Uniformity is it's kind of like the majors and minors, and again, right?
11:17
SPEAKER_02: You have these minor issues where it's there can be dividing lines, yeah.
11:23
SPEAKER_02: So what's your eschatological thoughts, right?
11:26
SPEAKER_02: Or what is you egalitarianism or complementarianism or or stuff like that?
11:31
SPEAKER_02: Like those are not um breaking things of salvation, but it does put you in a different uniform.
11:39
SPEAKER_02: And when I decided to come to Northwestern, one of those things was the the uniform of Northwestern fits me better than the uniform of other places.
11:53
SPEAKER_02: And the thing that really stood out to me was when I when I came here, uh President Hornbeek had a state of the org and was talking about this would have been in June of 24.
12:08
SPEAKER_02: I think this is when he brought it up, but it's bringing God's word to God's world.
12:12
SPEAKER_02: And that that is my desire.
12:15
SPEAKER_02: That is my desire in everything that I do, right?
12:19
SPEAKER_02: And so the uniform that that he is wanting us to wear is that we are presenting the gospel all the time, and and that is where I want to rest in.
12:32
SPEAKER_02: That's what I want to be doing in all aspects of my life.
12:36
SPEAKER_02: So the uniformity brings me here.
12:38
SPEAKER_04: That call to be unwavering, as we would say at Northwestern, to have an unwavering love for God's word.
12:44
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
12:44
SPEAKER_04: And an unwavering love for God's world.
12:47
unknown: Yep.
12:48
SPEAKER_04: So what does it mean to you to be unwavering?
12:51
SPEAKER_02: To be unwavering, it is to live that out, right?
12:54
SPEAKER_02: It is, it is to to have it constantly on my thought.
12:57
SPEAKER_02: Actually, the unwavering verses, it's Hebrews 10.
13:01
SPEAKER_02: I actually have part of the Hebrews 10 on my glasses right here.
13:04
SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.
13:05
SPEAKER_02: As a way for me to remember.
13:07
SPEAKER_02: I want it close to my thoughts.
13:09
SPEAKER_02: Uh, it it doesn't necessarily contain the unwavering verse, it has the verses following, talking about to not neglect to be together.
13:16
SPEAKER_02: But the unwavering aspect of it, that we are together as a community, and the community is what really shares the gospel.
13:24
SPEAKER_02: It it's it's an avenue to share it, to invite people into the community to experience the love of Jesus and and to be like a secondary witness of the gospel, to say, hey, not just me, you know, not just Monty or Cassie.
13:39
SPEAKER_02: It's we all have experienced this uh love of the gospel, and we want to spread that love of the gospel, and the unwavering part of it, right, is we hold true that Jesus Christ and his word, the word of God, is the dividing line, right?
13:59
SPEAKER_02: And I think it in this day and age people people think of things like love as a a touchy-feely thing, but love is can be a very it can be a disciplinary thing, right?
14:09
SPEAKER_02: It's so it's not necessarily what people think of.
14:12
SPEAKER_02: And when they think of Jesus, they think, well, Jesus is love, he came here to love you, and that's true, but Jesus came also to divide, and that's what's really hard for people to hear.
14:23
SPEAKER_02: And what is that division?
14:24
SPEAKER_02: That division is the line of truth, right?
14:27
SPEAKER_02: Truth divides because you it's either true or it's not true.
14:33
SPEAKER_02: And so what UNW is saying, unwavering, is here's the line.
14:39
SPEAKER_02: The line is the truth of God's word, and we are holding to that.
14:44
SPEAKER_02: And that takes a boldness and that takes a level of faithfulness to hold that line because it's easy to cross over the line, it's easy to agree with someone and and maybe a difficult life situation for them.
15:01
SPEAKER_02: But it takes boldness to say, Yes, I care for you for where you're at, but God in his love has done this for you.
15:12
SPEAKER_02: And so I like that there's a bold stance of the truth and the unwavering aspect of it.
15:19
SPEAKER_04: And it takes an immense amount of humility too, yeah, to like make that claim, knowing that we ourselves are are not completely unwavering ourselves, that we we depend on his unwavering grace to go along with our unwavering commitment to truth.
15:33
SPEAKER_05: Yes.
15:33
SPEAKER_05: We can come as we are to Jesus, but he won't let us stay that way.
15:37
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yes.
15:38
SPEAKER_04: And hold fast to a mission that's not going anywhere.
15:41
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
15:42
SPEAKER_04: As a relative newbie here at Northwestern, have you s seen or felt that we are unwavering is simply a tagline, or have you seen that it is actually practiced with this being your first year around the block?
15:56
SPEAKER_02: What I see from the community is that I feel that there is a lot of people who are excited about the leadership and confidence coming from Corbin and and that that leadership does trickle down, and and I do feel that there is a tighter community who want to participate in a bold living out of the gospel.
16:17
SPEAKER_02: My guys that I work with in the loading dock, like we've had great conversations about uh God's word and just digging deeper into issues that you know, like I said, the the minor issues, but they're admission there are issues that we can discuss over, but but all that kind of leads to like this sharpening of understanding to say that we want to continue to be unwavering in in what we're doing and as we interact with each other to be loving and caring, but then also to as we go home, it's like you go home with confidence and you go home knowing that we're part of this community.
16:50
SPEAKER_02: And my wife just it's funny, she goes, she's jealous, she's like, I want to be a part of that community.
16:56
SPEAKER_02: Like, I I love that that you get to have that.
16:58
SPEAKER_02: She's like, but I hate that I don't get to have that.
17:01
SPEAKER_02: And she hears it from me, and she's seen, you know, I've only been here a year, but you know, in previous workplaces I'd come home and and it there'd be frustrations.
17:10
SPEAKER_02: But here she can see, like, hey, you come home with a little bit more joy, you come home with a little bit more confidence, you come home with with less anger and more care, sort of thing.
17:18
SPEAKER_02: And so, yeah, and that's that's due to the community living out the unwavering aspects.
17:25
SPEAKER_05: Well, and rumor has it, yeah, she will soon be an eagle as a parent of a student.
17:32
SPEAKER_05: Is that right?
17:33
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
17:34
SPEAKER_02: So my daughter started in the fall, she is taking classes, she's doing post-secondary.
17:40
SPEAKER_02: I'm really excited for her to be here.
17:42
SPEAKER_02: She came to to work with me uh last year.
17:45
SPEAKER_02: We homeschool our kids, and there's a co-op just up Lydia at Advent Lutheran Church.
17:51
SPEAKER_02: And so I didn't want to take her all the way home.
17:54
SPEAKER_02: And so she came to work after her classes there, and so she really got to be a part of the community at Northwestern last year, just walking around campus on Mondays and Fridays.
18:05
SPEAKER_02: And so now she's she's here on campus, and it's great.
18:09
SPEAKER_02: And now my son is here and he's uh he's hanging out in my offices, or you know, I'm thinking about getting him a job.
18:16
SPEAKER_02: He's really got to get a job.
18:18
SPEAKER_02: He's got to contribute to the family.
18:20
SPEAKER_02: We'll take him.
18:20
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, took him here.
18:22
SPEAKER_05: We got it, we got stuff for him to do.
18:24
SPEAKER_04: I love that.
18:24
SPEAKER_04: So it's becoming a family affair here at Northwestern.
18:28
SPEAKER_04: So, as a parent of a student that is attending here, yeah, what confidence does it give you to know that this place, even though it's not perfect, is committed to being unwavering in its mission?
18:39
SPEAKER_02: You know, as a parent, you're called to raise disciples, you know.
18:43
SPEAKER_02: And as much as my kids understand that my wife and I love Jesus, they really need a secondary witness.
18:52
SPEAKER_02: They need a secondary community.
18:53
SPEAKER_02: My excitement for them coming to Northwestern is to kind of experience that secondary witness to say, hey, here is a community of believers that loves Jesus.
19:04
SPEAKER_02: And and and guess what?
19:05
SPEAKER_02: They're strangers.
19:06
SPEAKER_02: They're these aren't people who you know, but they are people who have this uniform that is similar to us, and they can gain more confidence in that.
19:17
SPEAKER_02: We had a post-secondary meeting with um, it was like the the new student day for for students, and I got to participate in that.
19:27
SPEAKER_02: I got to tell the parents, and I was excited to tell the parents at that point that even the people that clean the toilets here, they go through a statement of faith here and a d a doctrinal statement that we agree to.
19:40
SPEAKER_02: And I have seen people who have been turned away because they do not agree with aspects of that statement.
19:48
SPEAKER_02: And it that gives me a lot of confidence as a father to say that your teachers, the staff members, you know, from every aspect, the people who clean toilets, they all love Jesus.
20:04
SPEAKER_02: They all are doing work for the glory of God.
20:07
SPEAKER_02: And that just makes me feel so happy inside as a dad to have have that sort of assurance.
20:12
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
20:13
SPEAKER_04: And speaking of facilities, yeah.
20:15
SPEAKER_04: Like I work there.
20:16
SPEAKER_04: Your official title, right?
20:18
SPEAKER_04: Is Custodial Facilities Manager.
20:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, is that right?
20:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
20:22
SPEAKER_02: I feel like my title's a little weird.
20:23
SPEAKER_02: I I do a lot of weird things.
20:26
SPEAKER_02: So I I'm actually in charge of the custodians and the shipping and receiving.
20:32
SPEAKER_02: So a lot of what we do is cleaning.
20:35
SPEAKER_02: A lot of what we do is accepting packages and delivering packages.
20:39
SPEAKER_02: And something that doesn't really stand out in this, but a lot of a lot of what I do is event support.
20:46
SPEAKER_02: So my day usually looks like when I arrive at work, is I look up, we have an event management system, it tells me what's happening all over campus, and then I go to address the setup needs for those specific events, make sure it's prepared for our guests on campus.
21:05
SPEAKER_02: So that's one of those.
21:07
SPEAKER_02: How many tables did you set up for homecoming?
21:09
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
21:10
SPEAKER_02: It was a lot.
21:11
SPEAKER_02: No, I it was like it was like 120, 130, something like that.
21:15
SPEAKER_05: Whenever Monty and I dream up, suddenly it's there.
21:19
SPEAKER_05: Marty made it happen.
21:21
SPEAKER_04: That's a really cool feature of Northwestern.
21:23
SPEAKER_04: Like you dream up an event and all of a sudden, poof, there's tables and chairs and clean.
21:28
SPEAKER_05: It's not fairies, it's Marty.
21:29
SPEAKER_05: It's Marty.
21:32
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes your dreams turn into my nightmares.
21:34
SPEAKER_05: For sure.
21:35
SPEAKER_05: I I relate.
21:36
SPEAKER_02: I thought you were gonna say my dreams are your realities, but you know what?
21:40
SPEAKER_05: No.
21:42
SPEAKER_04: No, honestly, though, like what a ministry.
21:45
SPEAKER_04: Like, so behind the scenes, like there's all the upfront stuff that everybody sees and people up front.
21:52
SPEAKER_04: None of that happens without the stage being set.
21:55
SPEAKER_04: And like with all the things that go together to help him pull off an event.
21:59
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
21:59
SPEAKER_04: What are some Of maybe the craziest things you've ever had to move on campus.
22:03
SPEAKER_04: Ever had to move?
22:04
SPEAKER_04: Well, or things you've ever done as a facilities manager.
22:07
SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
22:09
SPEAKER_02: So talking about moving things, just this past summer we had a it was a 900-pound ultimate freezer.
22:17
SPEAKER_02: It's called an alt freezer.
22:19
SPEAKER_02: The biology department had purchased one from a grant.
22:22
SPEAKER_02: It was a used freezer, and so they thought it was a one-for-one replacement because their current alt freezer only got down to minus 50, which is apparently not cold enough.
22:31
SPEAKER_02: And minus 80 is what it has to get down to.
22:33
SPEAKER_02: What?
22:34
SPEAKER_02: And it was not a one for one replacement.
22:37
SPEAKER_02: It was about seven or eight inches wider than the one that we were replacing.
22:42
SPEAKER_02: And it didn't fit through any of the doors.
22:44
SPEAKER_02: It barely fit through the entry doors.
22:47
SPEAKER_02: So it was a little bit of a we had to get a skid loader and we had to pick it up and we had to go drop it off.
22:52
SPEAKER_02: And there was a temporary lamp ramp because the elevator is down.
22:56
SPEAKER_02: Oh yes.
22:56
SPEAKER_02: And we had to go in through NAS, and we actually had to tell them like you can't even get in this space.
23:00
SPEAKER_02: The door, we'd had to take the doors off the freezer and the doors off of the door frames to get into the space.
23:06
SPEAKER_02: But you know, it's there.
23:08
SPEAKER_05: Yep.
23:08
SPEAKER_02: Installed.
23:09
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
23:10
SPEAKER_05: And you single-handedly lifted it.
23:12
SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, I did.
23:14
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
23:16
SPEAKER_02: Well, and it's there's like five of us doing it.
23:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
23:19
SPEAKER_04: Like 900 pounds.
23:20
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
23:21
SPEAKER_04: Well, and a simple thing like that is a logistical memory for you, but like the for all the students that are going to use that freezer, they have no idea.
23:29
SPEAKER_04: They have no idea.
23:30
SPEAKER_04: And it's shaping them into future doctors and all kinds of different jobs.
23:34
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and that's the thing, is that like I I say this all the time, that we do not have a glamorous job, but we do have one that is for the glory of God, right?
23:43
SPEAKER_02: Not glamorous, but it is a glorious one.
23:45
SPEAKER_02: And and I and I hope that that's what my staff feels too, is that and I know they do, it's we all have a servant's heart.
23:52
SPEAKER_02: We want to we want to support the mission here.
23:55
SPEAKER_02: We want to send people who who are who are out in the world doing their job and doing it for the glory of God.
24:02
SPEAKER_02: And that's sending out vocational missionaries, is what I call them, right?
24:06
SPEAKER_02: They're doing their jobs, but they're also believers in in that position, and they're spreading the gospel through that.
24:12
SPEAKER_02: And we get to support that by delivering heavy freezers sometimes or cleaning up uh you know a mess.
24:19
SPEAKER_02: And that's that's that's awesome.
24:21
SPEAKER_02: I'm glad that we get to do that.
24:23
SPEAKER_04: What encouragement would you give to anyone listening who's maybe struggling with purpose or could use a reminder of the opportunity that they have in whatever job they have?
24:34
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
24:35
SPEAKER_02: The job is of little consequence.
24:37
SPEAKER_02: The job is an avenue, right?
24:39
SPEAKER_02: If you would have asked 10-year-old Marty, what do you want to do for a living?
24:45
SPEAKER_02: My answer probably would have not would have not been, I would love to be a custodian for the rest of my life.
24:51
SPEAKER_02: That sounds awesome.
24:52
SPEAKER_02: And in fact, like the things that I would love to do and the things that I I've pursued would be counseling.
24:58
SPEAKER_02: I love counseling.
24:59
SPEAKER_02: I love talking with people, and I love uh getting to know people.
25:04
SPEAKER_02: But as a custodian and in my position, I get to do that.
25:10
SPEAKER_02: It's the avenue of which I get to do it, and God put me in those positions.
25:16
SPEAKER_02: And the thing that I love about it, and the thing that I would not like about being a counselor is I can say whatever I want to say.
25:23
SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm not under insurance policies, right?
25:26
SPEAKER_02: I'm here and I get to meet with my team and we get to live in the light with one another.
25:31
SPEAKER_02: I can say, hey, not cool.
25:34
SPEAKER_02: You shouldn't be doing that.
25:36
SPEAKER_02: Or I can encourage them and say, You are doing the right thing.
25:40
SPEAKER_02: You are heading in the right direction.
25:42
SPEAKER_02: And I've got to speak to to people who I never would have spoken to.
25:46
SPEAKER_02: I've had hundreds and hundreds of student workers.
25:51
SPEAKER_02: And during the summertime, it was eight hours a day.
25:55
SPEAKER_02: And with those eight hours, I got to speak Christ to them, even though you know it's they're believers, right?
26:03
SPEAKER_02: We're we are all b we're believers here, right?
26:06
SPEAKER_02: But we just need encouragement sometimes.
26:10
SPEAKER_02: We need to to have that next generation speaking to us, and I get to speak life to them.
26:17
SPEAKER_02: And the purpose is in glorifying God with the avenue that he's given you.
26:22
SPEAKER_02: And he will open other avenues if he wants you to go someplace else.
26:27
SPEAKER_02: He's gonna open those avenues.
26:29
SPEAKER_02: And it's not to say that you shouldn't pursue certain things, but things will open up and things will close.
26:35
SPEAKER_02: It reminds me of of Paul.
26:37
SPEAKER_02: Paul, as a missionary, wanted to go to Asia, and guess where he didn't go?
26:43
SPEAKER_02: I got it.
26:44
SPEAKER_02: Yep, Asia.
26:45
SPEAKER_02: You're right.
26:48
SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit slammed the door.
26:50
SPEAKER_02: I don't even know how that's possible.
26:53
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't say what happened, but not there is what God was saying to Paul.
26:59
SPEAKER_02: And that's where Paul wanted to go.
27:01
SPEAKER_02: Not there.
27:02
SPEAKER_02: Paul, you we I have a different mission for you.
27:05
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, my avenue right now is custodial manager.
27:10
SPEAKER_02: Is that gonna be my avenue till I retire?
27:13
SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
27:14
SPEAKER_02: Maybe not.
27:15
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
27:16
SPEAKER_02: But as per the beginning of our conversation, I'm not gonna sweat it.
27:21
SPEAKER_02: I don't have to worry about it.
27:23
SPEAKER_02: That will take care of itself.
27:24
SPEAKER_02: But what I am gonna do is I am going to seek Christ.
27:28
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna seek the kingdom of God first, and then I don't have to worry about the rest of that stuff.
27:33
SPEAKER_02: And you're gonna live with joy.
27:34
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
27:35
SPEAKER_04: Literally.
27:35
SPEAKER_04: Literally, I guess.
27:38
SPEAKER_04: Well, we appreciate you for what you do here at Northwestern.
27:41
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
27:42
SPEAKER_04: It's so fun having you on campus and for real.
27:44
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
27:44
SPEAKER_04: Like joy to Northwestern.
27:46
SPEAKER_04: Marty.
27:47
SPEAKER_04: Marty is here.
27:49
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, there it is.
27:50
SPEAKER_04: Thank you for joining us again on this Christmas week.
27:52
SPEAKER_04: And for those of you listening, have a Merry Christmas.
27:55
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
27:55
SPEAKER_04: Remember, life has come, light has come.
27:58
SPEAKER_04: So lay the worries down, and let's just find deep, deep joy in our Savior this Christmas.
28:04
SPEAKER_04: So Merry Christmas.
28:06
SPEAKER_04: Joy to the world.
28:07
SPEAKER_01: Hold it on to your promises.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: Hold it on to your promises.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: To hear more, subscribe and leave a rating wherever you listen.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: And if you know an alum, faculty member, staff, or student of Northwestern doing amazing things out in the world, let us know at alumni at unwsp.edu.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: The unwavering podcast, highlighting the people, the purpose, and the pulse of Northwestern.
28:35
SPEAKER_01: Your love is on wave.