The Job

Big question I get a lot is "How's the Job?" People often rag on small talk, but from my experience, even a polite question is better then the person who will defy all logic and pretend that you don't exist, avoid eye contact, and not talk to you at all.

I hope that you read that and are confused as that it has never happened to you.

But what a joy it is when people ask small talk questions with no desire for small talk, but rather to truly get more involved with your life. Amazing to think about how simple small talk questions such as:

How is it going? How is your day? How's the new Job? can be very surface questions or very Loving prompts to a meaningful time to get closer to your friends and family.

I am going to assume that the latter is true for the reader because if not...probably would stop reading. Which is ok. I would Love to stay in touch keep a great relationship with everyone God has put in my life but, that time would have to come from somewhere. I feel like the people in Findlay are gifts too and more and more I am able to be in situations to invest in them.

The Job: Project Leader Marketing and Transportation Pipeline Integrity North Division: Hydro Team

I lead projects on Pipes. These pipes transport petroleum products all around the country but I am focus on the ones in the north in IL, IN, OH, KY and PA. We focus on maintaining the pipe's integrity so that one drop of oil will touch the ground. We do this by Hydro-Testing the lines.

Hydro Testing is pretty simple to explain. Pipes are under a high pressure when you are moving the oil around the country. We want to make sure the pipe doesn't break and spill oil in the ground or in a river ect. So we empty the pipe of oil, fill it with water, and then put the water in the pipe under a really high pressure to find and break the weak spots of the pipe. Then we fix the breaks and test the pipe again. We do this until the whole pipe passes the test. Then we are done.

Kind of like, if you can lift 160 pound routinely, then 100 lbs will be no sweat. The same is true for the pipe.

With that said...I dont know how to do that. I dont know anything about pipes, pumps, oil, transporting it, Marathon Acronyms, marathon Safety regulations, or much of anything related to what is expected of me. There are plenty of people to answer question, but what do I ask? It is like the game 20 questions except, neither me nor the person I am asking the questions has any Idea what conclusion we are trying to get to.

They say it will get better and I know it will. They say I will look back and wonder how I could have ever been so lost. I am sure I will. Really I do but that doesn't help the hear and now. I am trying to be honest, not negative here. It just doesn't.

I move from a place where I was successful and respected. The Lord put me in a church and surrounded me with people who would trust me. He worked great things through me and the gifts were manifested through measurable success.

Here there is no success, there is only trail. There is only time to learn.

I am depressed? No. Not close. Praise His name for that.

Am I sad and frustrated some times? Oh yea. But why?

There is such joy in the obedience to the Word as it frees you from bondage. Col 3 : 1-4

Colossians 3Put On the New Self 1(A) If then you have been raised with Christ, seek(B) the things that are above, where Christ is,(C) seated at the right hand of God. 2(D) Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3For(E) you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ(F) who is your[a] life(G) appears, then you also will appear with him(H) in glory.

And later on in the very chapter is conviction of my heart

Colosians 3
23(BA) Whatever you do, work heartily,(BB) as for the Lord and not for men

Working for the Lord is not what my days have been. I day dream, complain, get frustrated, get angry, get lazy, get sleepy, get disinterested... and much more. That is my day at work. It is terrible to work like this for myself in that it is the longest 9 hours there is, for Marathon because they are paying me to work for them and that in time I be trained and competent, and for the Lord who gave me such gifts and who demands more.

So I try to stay awake and engaged in the conversation, but I end up confused and in a day dream. I sit to focus on work training, but my computer goes to the screensaver as I ponder the future succes of the Pittsburgh Steelers 2nd year linbackers. I could list plenty of others but the day dreaming is bad enough to derail my training and leave me confused at my desk with everything to do and no way to do it.
My friend ministered to me on the phone with a simple act. He brought the Word to me and suggested that I pray about it.

Mark 11
The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree
20(AB) As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21And Peter remembered and said to him,(AC) "Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered." 22And Jesus answered them, "Have(AD) faith in God. 23(AE) Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain,(AF) 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not(AG) doubt in his heart, but(AH) believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24Therefore I tell you,(AI) whatever you ask in prayer,(AJ) believe that you(AK) have received[c] it, and it will be yours. 25And whenever(AL) you stand praying,(AM) forgive,(AN) if you have anything against anyone, so that(AO) your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."[d]

I came to the Lord in Prayer and thanked Him for all the gifts and blessing including just the ability to come through the one mediator Jesus and pray.

1 Timothy 2
Pray for All People 1First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2(A) for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and(B) dignified in every way. 3This is good, and(C) it is pleasing in the sight of(D) God our Savior, 4who desires(E) all people to be saved and(F) to come to(G) the knowledge of the truth. 5For(H) there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man[a] Christ Jesus, 6(I) who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is(J) the testimony given(K) at the proper time.

And I forgave! Because it was not the fault of Marathon or my coworkers that my job was rough and I had no reason to feel anger towards them.

And asked to be His servant and for the gift to be able to work as if I was working for him.

Unbelievable. Truly amazing the difference. I did not gain understanding of all that is Marathon, I was not fully equipped for my job, and I did not receive any promotion for turning salt water into fuel...working on it though. Its harder than I thought that it would be...mostly due to the need to break thermodynamic laws.

I was not raised up by human standards but rather I was able to work all day. I was engaged all day and the day dreaming was not a big factor that day. I didnt clock watch, I just worked.

What a Joy that is as the Lord Desires it for us and commanded and it brings Joy.

Unbelievable as it was I was foolish enough to not pray but 3 times in 2 weeks for the gift of the Lord to enable me to work as if I was working for him.

I ask for your prayer for brokenness to pray.

*****************************

As I pick up this blog entry weeks later, the trend continues between prayer and successful days.

And the days are getting better. Understanding is coming more and more of the job.

I am not 100% comfortable in this new life but I am enjoying the ride. I miss my friends at school from Texas who are growing more and more in their lives, and I am missing it. Friends that have gone back to China and friends above the age of 25 that I could be learning from.

I would rather be close enough to my family to each lunch with each of my parents and each of my sisters just once a month and eat as a family every Sunday.

But at the same time I have been able to see the Pittsburgh side of my family more times in the past 3 months then it seems like I did all of College.

I am meeting new people in Findlay to pour into and to be poured into from.

I love cold weather. I have had my windows wide open so much. I have slept about 30 nights in 60-70 deg fresh air, inside my home. Soon the leaves will change and then will snow!

Ice Hockey season starts Monday!

I love being able to walk to work downtown from the suburbs of Findlay, all in about 10 minutes.

Do those balance? To the pro's out weigh the con's? Do I spend the next 20 yrs, or even 5 years in Findlay?

I dont know. and Wisdom tells me not to dwell on it.

Matthew 6:34

Do Not Worry 25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

So that is what I will do.

I am sorry that it took so long for this second blog but I am very thankful of any conversation that I have on the phone with all of you.


Please give me a call if you want to know more, or if my sentence structure and/or spelling errors prevent you from extracting any information from this blog.

Next post should be about the month that I am on the Hydrotest in Griffith Indiana from Late Oct. to mid November, the Discipleship relationship I am beginning with a guy from my new church, and what ever else is going on. I would not expect any update on my project of turning saltwater into fuel though. That one is just not going to happen.

Arrival

Here I am in Findlay Ohio. For those that don't know, I was real close to dropping engineering and going in to full time mission work. Or at least what I thought was full time mission work at the time. Over the course of the next few months, the Lord really showed me that my life as it was then in college station had so many opportunities for mission work that I passed on as a disobedience to Gods calling. I was convicted too that I really was not open to what the Lord had for me in my future, but rather I wanted my way and then I would make it fit to be in service to Him.


Well a real huge wave of job rejections hit me as well as many other heavy convictions hit me around in November. This was it this was the time for me that God put the plow before me and said take hold of it now to look back. Which is big because in Luke 62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."


That was the time in my life when feel I really started to understand repentance.
<http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts%2017:30,%20proverbs%2028:13,%201%20john%201:8-9,%202%20corinthians%207:9-10&version=47>

The next semester was one where I felt it was time to die to myself including in my occupation.


Luke 9:23 'Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.' So I went and searched hard for a mission job. I went to the Go Missions conference and gave a request for full time employment to 40-some tables.


This is where God revealed that my mission field was not there, as only one person contacted me back with any serious conversation. Instead it was time to go back to the engineering table. My parents made it very clear, while supporting whatever final choice I made, that it would be a waste of the gift that it my college education to not even try to use it. Honoring my parents in this case I read as getting back the to the Engineering career fair.

So to the Spring '08 career fair I went. Now there are hundreds of companies and it is suggested that in order to be prepared for a career fair you must 'simply' research the companies to find out what the job would be like and if you are a good fit for the company. Then during the interviews they can decide if you are a good fit for them. That would take a long time though to search through 200 companies. And that is not what I call 'simple'. Wrestling Puppies...that is simple... puppies are small, weak, and have no concept of the game we are playing.


I instead put faith in the Lord to guide this process through prayer. And when I arrived at the career fair, I spoke with the people I felt were brought to me, and the 4 hours later when I was tired, I left trusting that the Lord had already gotten me the interview with the company I was supposed to work for. As it happens I did have an interview with Marathon before I left the building that day.

My interviews were tough in that I had to keep my focus on honouring the Lord above myself. At first I was a bit worried that if I talked about God in the interviews, that no one would want me to work for them as someone claiming there best achievements as ot there own but works of the Lord who was kind enough to let me witness them. But it came quite easy, and the people were interested in what the Lord had done in my life.

Sometimes the interview was completely derailed, but it was ok in fact it was Joyful and satisfying and comforting to know that I was able to not put in a shift for God and then my wage will be a good job. But rather I am free under grace to be honest about how great He is. Freedom in Christ experience through the obedience.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=52&chapter=4&version=47


I got the job here at Marathon after all was done and now before the job starts it has been great to see all the ways that this town which I feel that the Lord has chosen for me, suits me so well. It is small, I got the grand tour in about 2 hours, it has lots of parks, there is great food, and I have a very cheap house in a great neighborhood with a front porch and Land lord that almost encourage drilling into the wall.

I count the blessings now, but I can also start to count the cost. I don't know how long I will have to job but I doesn't matter. I don't know how I will be able to share the gospel with people living deeply and outward joyfully in every sin Paul talks about creeping into the early churches.

But it seems like those cost have in the past, through an obedience to the great commission and the wisdom of 2 tim 2
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Timothy%202:16;&version=47;

from what I understand is the gospel and not fancy explanations from my own head, have only turned in to more joys. On not earthly joys of good movies, good sport plays, the drunken nights of my past, fulfilled lusts of my heart, but real joy through seeing people grow in the Lord in your fellowship of a church and seeing people meet to Lord for the first time. There is not a comparison looking back.

Up to the point of June 30th, when I should have written this as I had promised, thanks to everyone who took time out of their settled life and spent some time on the phone with me in my newer and less settled life.

I am not a proponet of too much profreading, so if you find errors, please accept that as a gift from me form the bottom of my heart and the back of my unfocused brain that did not read enough as a child.