A Season to Remember

As I write this entry, I am sitting on my front porch listening to Brett Dennen's new Cd.  If you haven't heard of him, which you might not have, check out his stuff on iTunes.  

It's beautiful here in West Texas this time of year.  Currently 66 degrees, slightly breezy and not a cloud in the Big West Texas Sky.  The stars shine brighter in no place that I have been or heard of.  A few miles from town you can see the Milky Way in all its glory.  A truly breathtaking sight.  I would never want to capture any of this with a camera, because it would simply not serve this sight justice.  

The weather, circumstances and family and friends have made this a season to remember.  I think it's time I explain why I felt like my situation was "important" enough to blog about.  I'm can't lie about this, my reasons for choosing to work in the oil-field were primarily, but not strictly, that of selfish ambition.  At the end of June I had just been accepted to Baylor Law School for the Spring of 2009, returned home (Ft. Stockton, TX) from working at Kanakuk Kamps and was looking to fill the coming months with a job that would help alleviate some of the financial burden of attending law school.  I was just about to head back to Waco because I wasn't having any luck getting hired on in the oil-field when Pete (my uncle) called asking me if I wanted a job.  

I accepted knowing that I would be making more money than I had ever made in my life, however I wasn't quite sure how much.  Now, I'm not going to write about how much I'm getting paid, because that's just superfluous to my reason for blogging about this season in my life.  But I will say that it will be enough for housing for the next three years if all goes accordingly.  Another huge blessing I am so not very worthy of.  Since money was my primary reason for taking this job, I figured I'd mention it; but onto my secondary reason and moreover the reason that has now taken hold of my thoughts, actions and prayers.  

From the beginning of my time on O'Ryan Rig 5 until now, so many of my perspectives, and ultimately misconceptions, have dramatically evolved.  Even the way I think about and interact with my step-father has taken a 180 degree turn.  Life as I knew it has been rocked, and in so many positive ways.  My heart has not been broken like this in the past seven years that I have called myself a Jesus follower.  I have never cried because I wanted someone else to know God ever in my life, that is until recently.  Compassion has filled my heart, and almost a sense of self-loathing for the person I have transformed from over the past 4 months has crept in at times.  But nonetheless, I have never seen God in a clearer light, nor have I ever had more hope for someone I knew didn't know God.  I have never interceded as I have in the past couple of months, and through that time of prayer I have been humbled tremendously. 

I took  the job literally the second it was offered without having any thoughts about how I would carry out my faith in such a barren place.  As a matter of fact I was naive to how desperate for God the oil-field is, and also to how unprepared and unstable I was concerning my faith.  I learned real quick, however, the degree of my spiritual immaturity.  When you spend years of your life in a place that makes it easy to be a "Christian", the second you step into the real world you can't help but take one of two roads: 1 take on an elitist faith or 2 realize that you must be humbled  in order to Love like Jesus Loved.   I spent the first two weeks feeling sorry for myself, regretting my decision and missing the people I had been so close to at Baylor.  For the next two months I found myself feeling depressed, but still trying to learn what role I would play in carrying out the gospel.  More so, deciding how I was going to carry it out.  

It was all so overwhelming.  After a week of prayer and devoting myself to changing my perspective, my life as a roughneck took a turn for the best.  God softened my heart, opened my eyes just a little more and helped me to see the beauty in his people.  He has called me to live Love no matter the place or time, and that is where I find myself now.  I have chosen to blog about my experience in order that it might shed light on someone's faith, give hope for those who find themselves learning about a real faith and a real compassion for others.  As you read, know that I have asked God to enable us to live beyond ourselves.  May you seize the day in the name of the Creator.

Rafael