This song was used to provide the music for Psalm 39. This song was written in August of 2011. The Macondo Deep Water Horizon oil spill had happened on April 20th, 2011. There was a significant response to the disaster. Most remember the Federal response from the photos of supply boats spraying water on a grease fire, something we would never do in our kitchen. There were about 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, and there was governmental certainty the Gulf would never recover. Natural oil-eating organisms were the reason there has been virtually no environmental trace of the disaster for several years, and it is now only 7 years later. However, Andrea and my bank account shows there was and continues to be a significant economic impact for some. The White House decision to stop Federal Lease Sales, and to shut down operations in the Gulf, shut down two big projects I had been working on for years with Dr. Dick Coons. We had sold Prospects to Petsec, an Australian oil company, and they had bid on and won 2 lease blocks offshore South Texas. If they would have been able to drill the wells, and if there were 100 BCF (billion cubic feet of natural gas) discoveries on each block, my override would have been worth $12 million. Instead, Petsec walked away from the leases, because of annual lease costs and because “the United States no longer follows the rule of law.” Politically driven policy is even worse than agenda driven science, like climate change hysteria. In addition to Petsec, we had sold Wapiti Energy on exploring all of North and South Padre Island Offshore Federal Leases. Wapiti had spent about $4 million to purchase 3 large 3-D seismic surveys and perform Pre-Stack Depth Migration (PSDM). Dick and I spent two years, working at minimal wages, helping define exploration opportunities. On the upside, we believe there is 23 TCF (trillion cubic feet of natural gas) in these areas. Dick and I each had 1/6th ownership (potentially $11.5 billion each). Because the prospects did not look as good as expected, and mostly because of government overreach, Wapiti shut down the project and sold it to who knows who. Dick and I were left with nothing for all of our work. And Dynamic Measurement had finished our first contract with ConocoPhillips (COP). COP was reorganizing the company, there was not a follow-up project, and we were learning how hard it was to sell lightning analysis projects. So, in an hour of meditation, I wrote a song about: “Tough economic times, Feed yourself first.” I complained about how stress makes me fat. Then I started to think about Andrea, and wrote: “Challenges come with life, Feed yourself second.” In my meditation I realized service is key. So, I closed writing: “Consider the lilies of the field, Feed yourself last.” Still fat, so I must still be under stress. I do strive to provide service, so maybe I’m coming to trust the Lord will take care of us and continue to provide what we truly need.
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