This Little Light of Mine

     "This little light of mine,  I'm gonna let it shine."  I remember as a child singing the song with confidence and enthusiasm.   As I got older I joyed in the little kids singing it in front of anyone.  Catchy tune, good words, simple tune make this song a favorite among youngsters.
     Some people live it and in others the light becomes dimmer.  Some you know the light is there but don't always see it.  I was in a friend's house the other day.  One of the rooms had a lighthouse theme. The walls had pictues of light houses and the shelves had little light house figurines.  It made me wonder why this person was into lighthouses so much.  When I asked her she didn't know.  On the way home it dawned on me.  
     A lighthouse  has its light shining all the time.  During the day we can not see it very well. Humble, they may just appear to be another building standing tall with a certain purpose to stand tall and look unique.  Something which is good in itself.  But where a lighthouse really performs is on the darkest stormiest nights. When no one else is around looking they stand out.  They stand even taller and brighter when ships are in turmoil and look for the bright light in the darkness from miles away.
     Some people are just like that lighthouse.  Day after day, they are their standing with their light mostly unseen.  But when it is their time to shine  they stand out brighter than ever, guiding that ship and marking land's boundaries.   The land they stand on represents to the panicked passengers and crew need most.   On the stormiest of nights it is the boundaries we look for.  What we all want to come home and set foot on solid ground.  The lighthouse shows us which direction to go.
     I met a lady out here who is like a lighthouse, a short person in stature, but who stands tall in her walk of life with her constant light shining toward others.   Let it shine. Let it shine Brenda.  Let it shine.

Mi Amor

"Amid the gloom and travail of existence suddenly to behold a beautiful being; and as instantaneously to feel an overwhelming conviction, that with that fair form, our destinies must be entwined, this is love."  unknown

     Sometimes the glamor of the pipeline isn't so glamorous.   A guy left for home today and explained he was having family problems.Most the guys are from somewhere else.  My friend Jose Jimenez is from Racine WI.  Rather than talk about the sad situation of our fellow crew member, we decided to share about something positive. Today he was telling me about his kids.  George is expecting a rare butterfly from India,  Rainbow Joy and Peace Willow are sad because softball season has started and they are forced to practice in the gym still.  They can't wait to get out on the green grass.  Much like my daughter Gracei.  His wife is struggling with the hustle and bustle of shuffling the kids around.  The days out here get monotonous doing the same job all the time,  and the conditions don't seem to ever improve.  I like him am just getting tired and need a break.
    To break the monotony, we tell stories.  We share our lives with each other, our dreams, our troubles.  We talk about love.  I asked him the other day because I was curious about his family. His dad lives in Alamogordo, NM.  His mother lives in Thunder Bay, Ontario.  I asked how they met.
     Their love is interesting.  His mother is a climatologist.  His father is a research biologist.  She was studying climate change, and he was gathering reproductive data on penguins at a research facility in Antarctica.   Two intelligent people alone in a cold place.... Hmmmm.  They just knew.  Love at first beak.  As for him and his wife,  She belongs to the Menominee Nation in Wisconsin.   They met at a pow-wow at Thunder Bay where his mom is from.  His dad hasnt the time to get a passport so mom flies to New Mexico for the Winter.   They make it work.
     I tell him of my new love,  Brenda.  She is from Williston, and I am from Middle River.  We met at church.  She shows me around Williston, and bakes me cookies.  I shovel her sidewalk.  We make it work.  Jose likes her cookies.  He says they are better than "Mi Amor."
     Funny,  what guys talk about about over a baloney sandwich to break up the monotony, out here while energizing America.  Nothing is gloomy about love, a common ice-breaker out here on the line.  And it happens in the most unique places.


 

The Fear Road.

     This morning at about 5:30 a.m. I received a call from the boss telling me not to drive to work.  No, I wasn't run off.  We were in a blizzard again.  No pipe getting put in the ground today.  I don't like driving when I can not see.  It makes me afraid.
     There was much talk of the violence that occurred over the weekend.  Apparently, two men were killed.  One in front of a strip club.   The other  was stabbed right here at my camp.  Fortunately I didn't witness or know anyone who did.
     At breakfast yesterday here is what I saw.  I saw a small group of men and women smiling with their Bibles open.    Awhile later  I saw about a hundred people singing praise and giving worship.   I listened to a pastor challenging his congregation to invite people to come to church and to help build a place where all  would like to come.     I saw people sharing their testimony of their path to Christ.   I saw families welcoming others into their homes to share Sunday dinner, and elderly telling stories of life.  My how things have changed.
     Or have they?  People are still finding their way to Christ.   Families are loving one another.   God is moving in people's hearts.  There seems to be an odor of fear out here.    The news seems to project it anyway,  and I know it weighs on many hearts.   Weather, foreign people,  patchy pasts,  housing,  economics,  crime,  seems that's all the news reports.   When we live in our fears, let them control us, make decisions on them.  Its like keeping our blinders on in narrow focus.  We only see the negativity and the enemy tries to suck us in.  When we let our fears rest in God,  He gives us the power to open our eyes and see what is really going on.  This is the day that the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice, and be glad in it.
     The same paths are open to all.  We choose which one to take:  the path of the blind, or the path of  wakedness.   Fear- Gate A same old same old... Joy Gate B.  The world of countless possibilities.  The sun is out now,  I can see a little better.  Maybe my friend Jose Jimenez would like to take a drive back to town and  hang out for awhile.  He said he was looking for something special to bring home to his kids. 

Welcome to My World

     Welcome to my first ever blog.  What I will bring to the reader are tales from the Bakken oil patch....  the great things that are happening,  the trials of the men and women actually out here doing it, the sobering words from the people back home, and my friends "who have always been here." 

     It has been said, "Ain't nothing finer than a pipeliner."  My girlfriend would agree, but my two ex-wives may have a different opinion.   It's all good.   I'm not telling their stories.  These are my stories.  

     These are stories from real people, real lives, real outcomes.  I am just a heavy equipment operator out here, on the Tioga Lateral Project, a 12 inch pipeline,  going from Tioga to Sherwood, North Dakota. I am just one of the 10 guys on a coating crew. My story is typical of those who come out here.  We are all just coming and coming and coming to find a decent wage for an honest day’s work.  We come from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Wyoming, North Dakota, Texas, and Tennessee.  It's a trip.

     The days are getting longer now, which is good and bad. It means home soon to be with my kids, but less money to do something fun with them. Got a message from the new grandson today,  he just was showing me a peace sign.  So I sent one back at him via Haley's phone or some other gadget.  Sounds like me and him will get to come home about the same time.  God has a plan.  He is already answering our prayers.

     I have met a good friend, Jose Jimenez.  Jose comes from an interesting background.  I feel that I must intimate to the reader his tales also and the friendship that is developing.  My friend Jose and I drove to Williston today. Did our usual, had a bite to eat, went to church and visited our friends. I have to go pick him up shortly and bring him back to camp. I invited him to attend church with me at New Hope Wesleyan. He declined because he didn't want to fall out of favor with the new pope. Figures he's got a clean slate with the new dude, so in the pope he hopes. Speaking of New Hope, wasn't that the name of the Star Wars original? Read in the paper today that there was an altercation the night my friend Jose went to town to pick up some guys from our crew at the bar. A man is still at large with a heart tattoo on his neck. I asked him if he knew or saw anything that night. He just said, “Uff Da ! Mi amo Jose Jimenez.... No hablo ingles. Soy trabajo,"