My Life as a Roughneck!

So, I decided to be cliche and start blogging, mostly about my experience on the Longfellow/ West Ranch just South of good 'ol Fort Stockton, TX. I am living back home with the rents, and have found myself working in the oil-fields of West Texas. A place I never saw myself; not in a million years would I have imagined I'd be back home and working as a Roughneck. Nonetheless, here I am.

I've been home since late June, and started in the oil-field in mid July. I was a week away from heading back to Waco to work at the world-renowned coffee shop, Common Grounds (CG), when my uncle Pete called and asked if I wanted a job working for O'Ryan Drilling. He didn't have a chance to finish, before I asked him what time he would be picking me up the next morning. I didn't care which company I was going to be working for, or what the hours were like. I only knew that being a Roughneck was the highest paying job I could attain without any experience. And everyone knows Law School isn't cheap! I figured I could stay a while in Fort Stockton, save some money by living at home and in no time I'd be out of here starting Law School at Baylor in the Spring. Well when you're working 12 hours days, time simply does not fly by. Instead it creeps along slowly, allowing you time to soak in the fact that you're doing one of the toughest jobs in America.

I hated my job for the first two weeks. I thought about quiting everyday, but somehow at the end of it, I would talk myself into one more. And now almost three months have gone by. I no longer think about quiting everyday, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't cross my mind from time to time. I was so bitter at the beginning of this journey, mostly because I felt as though I should have been doing something with my education, instead of taking orders from someone with barely a high school education. The bitterness has worn off, and I have surely been humbled by my short time as a Roughneck.

I told myself that I would try to start a ministry during my time in the oil-field, and as soon as I arrived I realized how naive I was. The oil-field is a barren wasteland concerning God. A modern day Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19). My faith has been tested, and my mediocre Christian life has been stripped of everything familiar and simple, and been replaced by life of prayer. I found it to be true; the fact that when we are weak God is strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9) I have never been so challenged in my faith, as I have been in the past three months. Life has been so very different compared to the "Christian" life I live back at B.U.

I will elaborate more as the time goes on, but I have to work tonight, and sleep has become a way of life just as much as prayer and work are now. Until the next time, may you find yourself tested, and may your faith grow strong!


-Rafael