Frustration, Helplessness and Redirection

My wife and I purchased 17 acres near her parent's homeplace in Stockman, TX about 5 years ago. We have been struggling to pay for it and improve it while I have been in seminary (twice now). It isn't a huge place but it is beautiful, with a big hill rolling down into an old hay field with a dry creek crossing it. There are some ancient, massive oak trees on top of the hill with a water well, electricity hookup and septic system. Our plan was to possibly build a retirement home there over the next 30 years and settle some day, out in the country.

We found out recently that we do not have mineral rights to the property, only surface rights, and that an oil company out of Shreveport, LA was marking out a 3 acre spot right in the middle of our hillside to drill for gas. We went through the roof! All our plans were ruined. We felt helpless and a bit like we and our land was being raped. We had no consent whatsoever and no ability to stop them.

Our future was changing, and our field of dreams was yanked out from under our feet. What could Deb and I do now besides vent to each other? Well, I got on the phone and asked the land man to meet us out at our place. They did, and we discussed possibilities. As we talked I realized that with some redirecting and letting go, our future could still include this piece of land, just in a new way. God could still take this seeming terrible situation and bring some good out of it.

To make a long story short, the oil company moved the pad down off the hill and into the hay field. They agreed to dig me a big lake into the hillside, and to tear down the old, rotten chicken barn, and remove all of the debris. The damages they offered will pay off our remaining debt on the land.

We have now agreed to this emerging future, albeit a bit reluctantly, and are planning to create an outdoor getaway, a camping spot, with a lake for fishing and swimming. While rummaging through the old chicken barn, we found some old window frames and about 8 old doors from my wife's great-grandparents home that we plan to incorporate into the gazebo we will build where the chicken barn was. We also removed quite a bit of old, heavy oak hardwood beams that is beautiful when cleaned up and plained. Who knows what else will come out of this, but we really had no choice but to sit and steam over the situation, or let go and let God work.