Faith Walk / William Carroll
Faith Walk / William Carroll
The Legacy of Big John McClard: Oil Fields, Mentorship, and the Echoes of Faith
Have you ever met someone whose very presence could fill a room, yet harbored an endearing vulnerability? This is the story of Big John McClard, the gentle giant from my oil field days who taught me more about strength and courage than anyone I've ever known. As we unfold the chapters of John's life, we'll discover the rich tapestry of mentorship and friendship that weaved through our days amidst the relentless grind of the oil fields. From John's unexpected phobia to the shared meals that tasted of camaraderie, each memory is a testament to the human experience and the unexpected lessons that shape us.
Venture with me, William Carroll, through intimate reflections of faith and fellowship, where humor meets the sacred, and life's simplest moments reveal profound truths. We'll navigate the tapestry of divine encounters, the 'God dots' that punctuate our existence, and the ways in which faith can illuminate even the darkest corners of an oil rig—or the human heart. From Betty's sugar-free delights to the echoes of scripture that guided us, this episode is an embrace of life's journey, a celebration of the mentors who mold us, and an inspiration to live authentically, with a spirit enriched by the teachings of Jesus. Join us for an exploration of the intersection between earthly toil and spiritual wisdom, as we honor the legacy of Big John McClard.
Good morning. Welcome to Faith Walk with William Carroll. I'm your host on Faith Walk. I talk about the way God taught me to stand on his word, learn his word, speak his word and live his word happen in my life and the life of others. You know, miracles happen every day, but we got to get God out of the box. Religion puts him in the box, relationship takes him outside the box. This is episode 38.
Speaker 1:And on episode 37, I had shared about when I had started out in the oil field. I'd transferred over from the ambulance and fire department and I began working in the oil field. I just felt like I needed to follow up. I had talked about one of the bosses I had. That was a great boss out there, and the Lord just laid on my heart to share with you a story and a testimony of a man that made a big impact in my life while I was out there. His name was Big John McClard and he was an Indian. He always told me he said I'm an Indian, you know, and he was six foot five, about 350 pounds, a big man, and he always had the blackest hair that you ever wanted to see. And when Big John was when I went to work out there, he was in gas measurements. Gas measurements is a way to measure natural gas so that you can keep a count of how much gas is moved, how much gas is sold, and so that you get paid for it the right way from the buyers. Well, like I say, he was in measurements when I first started out there, and he's a big guy, you know. And anyway, so we became great friends. I looked up to him.
Speaker 1:You know this generation today. If you're listening to this and you're in the younger generation, you know what I see in this generation today is they have no respect for parents, they have no respect for their elders, they have no respect for the people that are at work or at school, the teachers. A lot of them have no respect. And you know, I respected my elders, I counted them a blessing. God gives us fathers and he gives us dads, and the fathers of our faith are people that speak the word of God into us. And also, you know, we have mentors that God give us and they mentor us.
Speaker 1:And the men at Lacey that I went to work with when I was first starting out, I'm going to tell you they were the greatest guys. They had been through a lot, they'd seen a lot, they knew a lot. They'd work in the oil field back when you didn't have a lot of back holes or you know, you dug ditches and you screwed pipe together to make a flow line to lay to the well, to flow the gas to the sales meter. And I mean it was hard work. It was still about halfway like that when I first started working out there. You know, we had a boss out there and he just wanted us to do everything by hand, even if we got him a backhoe or something that could pick something up over there. No, he wanted us to do it by hand. That's what you're getting paid for.
Speaker 1:But anyway, big John, he uh, listen, I think he had Big John. He, listen, I think he had. I believe he had three daughters and he just when they were younger, probably when I was a teenager but I didn't live here so I didn't know him and they would go for a trail ride. They'd all get their horse and they'd ride trail rides all weekend and he'd cook for them and feed them. I told him, I said well, what happens when you come to a fence? He said, well, we just cut it. He said we'd patch it before we left and we'd go on through. I said, didn't the landowners get mad? No, he said they all knew us, you know. And he said they didn't get mad at us. And he says, you know, it was a way to keep the kids out of trouble, you know, and keep them from doing things that they shouldn't do, you know. And it was a good, wholesome atmosphere where they rode that school bus and we camped and we built a fire and we fed them. Listen, big John could cook too, you know, but as big as he was, as big as he was, let me tell you something, he was scared of the dark, that big joker, you know.
Speaker 1:One morning it was early in the morning, it was before sunrise, and he would come to work and he would get ready to change his paper charts, which the paper charts are what the pens marked on them and that's how you read your gas flow, what you were producing, from the wells to the sales point. And I saw his pickup over there and I saw his lights on and I saw his dome light on and I got to looking. Well, it looked like. It looked like he might be asleep over there. So I I started walking over there and I walked up. Sure enough he sound asleep. So I tapped on his window and I said John, what are you doing? He jumped out. He likely jumped out of that truck, he said well, he said I had a couple of. I got here early so I had about 30 minutes so I thought I'd take me a little nap this morning until I had to change this chart.
Speaker 1:I said well, why you got your dome light on? He said oh, he said if it's dark. He said I keep the light on. I said what do you mean, you big joker? I said are you scared of the dark? He said no. He said he said at my house, every light in the house is on. And he said and I've got a generator at home if the lights go out. He said I'm, even if I'm asleep, I immediately wake up and I jump up and I go and I turn the lights on. He says I, you're not gonna catch me in the dark. I was a big giant. I said ain't no, hank, gonna get you as big as you are and he just laughed. I mean, he was. He was such a great guy and he just loved people. We loved kids and he taught me so much about gas measurements. He taught me so much about gas measurements. He taught me so much about the oil field and at one point in our they had moved him back to Pumper.
Speaker 1:At one point in time we had a little old deal out there at work and they had a lawsuit. Well, during that lawsuit they came to him, you know, they tried to put it all off on him as his doing and I said John, did you do it? He said yeah, I did it. He said I did it. But he said, listen, I did it because they told me to do it. He said they came to me they said do this, I did it. And he and we would do. And he said and they, you know, he said I don't do anything without them not telling me what to do. So anyway, they, you know, they went with that lawsuit and whatever you know, and evidently they had come to him and told him, you know, to take all the blame for it. And he did, and they didn't fire him, they just put him back to pumping wells and he was on the south end and he was my relief, was on the south end and when I. He was my relief man on the south end.
Speaker 1:So when I was off for two days, big John would come in and he would relieve me for two days and he would run my route, check my wells, check my compressors. Now, listen, he was getting on up there. He was getting pretty close to retirement then, and so he was getting on up there. He was getting pretty close to retirement then, and so he was kind of like a father to me and he would say just the greatest guy to work with. He was so funny. You know, we made a deal.
Speaker 1:I said, hey, big John. I said, listen, I knew he had some problem with inner ear and he'd get dizzy. And man, I couldn't see that big joker falling down a 20 foot ladder off of one of them oil field tanks. No, sir, I told him. I said, listen, John.
Speaker 1:I said I'm gonna, I'm gonna gauge my wells before you. Um, before I go off for my days off, and I'll gauge them when I'm back, don't get on those tanks. I said look at my book, see my days off and I'll gauge him when I'm back. Don't get on those tanks. I said look at my book, see what I'm making. And I said and then just put about the same thing and it'll be all right. There's not going to be any run over or anything, it'll be good. And I said but he said, well, I'll gauge you. I said, no, you don't need to be up on them. Tanks I said no, you don't need to be up on them. Tanks I said if you fall down one of them tanks, I said you'll tear my ladder up. And he just he said, okay.
Speaker 1:He said, well, what do you want me to do? I said, well, you know, we had some compressors out there that compress gas and what it does, it boosts the pressure, to move the pressure on down the line. And I told him. I said well, I don't like sitting there oiling up the compressors. And to oil up a compressor you had to turn on the valve and you had to turn on an air pump and you had to sit there in the air pump and open a valve on the oil tank and it would pump oil over into the compressor and you could run, you know, four or five days off of that extra drum on that compressor that you filled up. So I told him.
Speaker 1:He said man, I like doing that. I said, well, why don't you just fill up my oil tanks on the compressors? And why don't you just fill up my oil tanks on the compressors? And why don't you pump the sump? And a sump is just a hole in the ground where any spillage from the compressor or anything that would leaks on the compressor oil, water, whatever happens to be it would run down in a sump in the ground and then it was in a metal container and then you'd had to pump that slump over to your water tank every so often so it wouldn't spill out on the ground. You know, it's a safety thing, it's to keep oil and fluids off of your ground and that way you know it doesn't contaminate the ground. He said, man, I love doing that, I'll do that, I'll do that. So we had a little agreement that that's what he would do, that he would do all that. Well, two days a week. He relieved me, two days of relief. He relieved the other guy that was on the other route, on the South End it's what we call the South End and so Big John would always stop by this store in town, you know, and he'd pick up oh, I don't know four or five chicken breasts to eat for breakfast and he'd tell me.
Speaker 1:He said now, william. He said I'll meet you over at where do you want me to meet you? And I'd tell him which. Well, to meet me at, he said now he said we're going to have to meet about 11 o'clock so we can go get food. I said, okay, so we went and we would get food. We would go to town.
Speaker 1:He told me, called me one day. He said hey, william. He said, listen, mcdonald's got cheeseburgers on sale, $4.00. He said let's go get cheeseburgers. He said we can get about eight or 12 a piece. I said, dang, I can't eat that much, man. And he said oh, yeah, they're small, let's go get some food. So you know, big John loved food. He loved kids, he loved food.
Speaker 1:Big John was there at work. He was a good worker. Big John was there at work, he was a good worker and he just there was. So many times we'd just meet and have lunch.
Speaker 1:One day he called me up and he said hey, listen, don't worry about lunch today. He said I'm bringing it. He said Betty's son come in to visit us and he's from the Army. And he brought a bunch of the rations that they have, the K rations or whatever they're called, you know. And he said C rations, I guess, is what they're called, and anyway they're in a package, you know, and you got coffee in there, you got cocoa in there, you've got a meal in there. You don't know what you get till you open it up and he said's what we're gonna have for lunch today. So me and that joker, we, we, uh, that's what we had for lunch. He brought us like three, a piece or four. He said I didn't think there's much food in there. I thought we better buy. Man, I'll tell you what. That was the last time we did c rationing for our meal.
Speaker 1:And a C-ration is a military food packet that they give out to the military and you know it has coffee in it, it has hot chocolate in it. Now we did drink the coffee and we mixed it in with the hot chocolate and it was good, you know, but it wasn't much to eat. Now Betty, his wife, I'm going to tell you, she, john, was a diabetic, john was a diabetic and she couldn't make the best cookies and the best cakes and stuff. I said, how can you eat all this stuff? He said, well, betty makes it. He says it doesn't have sugar in it. But I tell you what they were just as good, it was very good.
Speaker 1:Well, one day John was warming up a compressor and he was on another route and he had this big compressor that he was warming up and the mechanic went out there and Big John's sitting outside and he's smoking a cigarette and he was away from the compressor building so he could smoke and he was just a puffin on that cigarette. That mechanic came up and the mechanic was an MEP, which is a, a submarine. They were, they were designed for submarines and they run submarines. They they still run some of them. It it's a diesel engine but can run on gas. And it ran our compressor and it's a big engine and man, he had it going, he had gone in there, the compressor had gone down, he cranked it up. Well, he forgot to blow it down, which you have to blow it down. You're supposed to blow it down to crank it up, so you have no gas flowing through it, so just the motor's running. And he said I got it warming up for you. And the mechanic said that compressor was sitting there because it was loaded. He never blew it down but cranked it up and it was just going, vroom, vroom, vroom, just trying to catch up. Well, you know, they got mad at him and they told him Okay, big John, that's it, you don't need to relieve up here anymore. We're taking you off the compressors, which are fine anyway because he was scared of them. He didn't want to go in that building with the compressors.
Speaker 1:Well, one Sunday we was at work and he was over there by those big compressors. There was four compressors in that building to MEP, huge submarine engines and then two big old cat engines, caterpillar engines and man, it was a bad day. It was storming, it was lightning and everything was just. You know know, there was a storm coming, the wind was blowing and I see this big old streak of lightning and I wasn't real far away from it, but I was probably about, you know, two miles from it and boom, and I hear this big explosion. I said, oh Lord, something got hit.
Speaker 1:Well, the lightning had hit a saltwater tank at our compressor station where all those big compressors was. That was on Big John's route. Big John was down past it on the oil road down there checking wells. When he heard it and he saw it, he kept running back up to the compressor. Well, of course, it was a fiberglass tank and that fiberglass tank was on fire and it was burning the oil, that traces of oil that was in that saltwater tank, and of course, the the dump valve was steadily dumping in it, and when it dumps it dumps a little gas too. So it was making a really good flame, you know, and it was burning really good.
Speaker 1:Um, we called the fire department, of course, and big john called me and he said he called on the radio. We had two-way radios in our trucks. And he said he said he called on the radio, we had two-way radios in our trucks. And he said the station just got hit, the tank's on fire. I'm going to Beckville, I said Big John, big John, he said I'm going to Beckville. I said, hey, big John, I said when you come by there, open up the gate, unlock the gate and open it up so the fire department can get in there. And he said I'm going to Beckville, I'm going to Beckville. And I said, big John, did you unlock that gate? He said I'm going to Beckville. So I just I jumped in my truck and I I run down there and no, he didn't unlock the gate. He come by there so fast. You, I don't know, I'm surprised the fire didn't follow him. You know, it was a trail wind and I ran over there and I unlocked the gate and I shut the compressors down and so they wouldn't be dumping in that tank. And and pretty soon the fire department got there.
Speaker 1:I was a member of the volunteer fire department here for about 11 years, so you know, and I was, I just left working for, uh, uh, Kilgore Fire Department. So you know I was, I opened the gate, I was ready to help put, put it out, and we, we put it out, we put the fire out, we put a little foam over there on it and and, uh, put it out, and everything was all right. You know, of course we had to set a new tank. But, big John, I'm going to tell you something. Later on I got to talking to that joker. I said hey, big John, why did you run off? He said I was going to Beckville. I said, oh, you didn't shut the compressors down or nothing. He said that fire wasn't going to blow me up.
Speaker 1:Well, bless his heart. I mean, he was really a fun guy to be around. He was a fun guy and he could smoke and cook and cook fish Out at the lake. Big John had a barge and he had a cap'n hat and he always had old cowboy music playing on this barge. He had a little generator he put on there and he had so many lights on it I'm telling you what. He had lights covered, that whole thing. You could see him coming from miles because he was going to have lights on it if it got dark and he was out on the lake and everybody knew who that was in that barge with all that old Western cowboy music and lights on it, and he'd always have it loaded down with kids when he had a fish fry he would bring the cold fish to work and we'd sit out there and eat cold fish out of a sack. You know, listen, big John was a great guy.
Speaker 1:We got to talk a lot about family and friends and we talked a lot about that when we got old. To talk a lot about family and friends and we talked a lot about that when we were together because, you know, two days a week we always met for lunch and we'd spend time talking and visiting about our family and everything. And so you know, the convocation did end up around. You know our faith. And one day I was talking to him and this was right before he really they let him retire early him and another guy. And I told him I said John. I said you know, do you know the Lord? And he said, well, I've been in church. And he said I know, you know, I know about him and everything. And I said but, big John, do you know it? I said do you know that when you die, you're going to spend eternity in heaven with him? Know, big John?
Speaker 1:The door opened up and I was able to ask him about his faith in Christ. And after we talked, you know, big John said yeah, he said he said I don't know, but I'd like to know. So I led him in a prayer. You know, I led him in a prayer and I told him. I said Big John, if you believe that Jesus died for your sins, you'll be saved. And I said if you confess it with your mouth, leave it in your heart, confess it with your mouth. So I led him in a prayer, you know where? Just a prayer like this, and you can pray this prayer right now, right where you are, and God will honor that prayer. He knows no difference and we just said Lord Jesus, forgive me of my sins. I believe that you're the son of God and you paid the price for my sins and I ask you to come into my heart and be the Lord of my life, in Jesus' name. And Big John prayed that prayer and if you prayed that prayer right then, then you can know that you can spend eternity in heaven and you know my time.
Speaker 1:Listen, I want to encourage you, younger people, if you're listening to this. I want to encourage you respect your elders. Know that they've been here a long time. They've seen a lot of things that you don't see. You know it's like I've said before, the engineers that we started having. We started hiring a whole bunch of engineers at the company, where we didn't have a whole bunch before, we had one or two and they'd always come out and tell us that we knew we wasn't producing our wells right. We didn't know how. They knew how, better than years and years of experience that was passed down from the men that started and created the oil field. You know, and I'm going to tell you something, and learning for these men, that learned by doing it, learned by listening to the old timers, learned by allowing you know circumstances, looking around and seeing what your well was doing and noticing what it was doing on your gas flow and everything else. You've got to pay attention. See, god gives us. God needs oil people. God needs oil and gas people. God needs service people. Whatever your job is, god needs you there, but he needs you to be a witness for him.
Speaker 1:If you're a Christian, you cannot separate your life. For so long we have separated our Christianity and our walk with God from our workplace. Why, why, how can you separate Jesus? If you are in an intimate relationship with Jesus and you're saved and you know him as your Lord and Savior, then you ought to know him as your best friend. See, it says the word says that a friend sticks closer than a brother, and you ought to know him as a brother and as a friend. And I wanted to share a couple of scriptures with you.
Speaker 1:John 15, john, chapter 15, verse 13, says greater love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. Jesus laid his life down for us that we might lay our life down for our friends, for others, that we might point the way to him. John 15, 14 says you are my friends. Jesus, speaking, said you are my friends if you do whatever I command. You See, if we are Christians, if Jesus is our Savior, if he is our Lord, then we need to do what he commands us. And then in John 15, 15, it says henceforth I call you not as servants, for the servant knows not what the Lord does, but I called you friends For all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known to you, for all things that I have heard of my father I have made known to you. See, jesus, since he went with the father, he gave us a comforter, and it says another comforter, and it's a paraclete, another comforter, one like the other, but it's not the same. He gave us the Holy Spirit to come to lead us, to guide us, to teach us, if you're a born-again Christian, to come to lead us, to guide us, to teach us.
Speaker 1:If you're a born-again Christian, if you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you need to learn his words, you need to learn the word of God, you need to understand that everything in this life there is word of God that will show you, lead you and guide you to anything that you're doing. You know, if you're an oil and gas man, or if you're a grocery store worker, if you're a teacher, if you're a nurse, you want to be the best. You know, I wanted to be the best oil and gas man. I wanted to be the best firefighter, emt. I wanted to be the best. Why? Because when you're the best, you realize that the best doesn't come from your own wisdom, knowledge and understanding. But to be the best you have to rely on Christ. You have to rely on him to teach you, to lead you, to guide you. But then you recognize those people that he put in your path. I have a friend that calls them God dots. Those are God dots. Those are God dots.
Speaker 1:You know, if you hadn't started your faith walk, you need to start today. Each one of us has a faith walk that God has ordained that we walk in, that he started us on. What we do with that faith walk is up to us. If we walk us, if we walk, if we learn the Word of God, know the Word of God, we know Jesus as our friend. You know. It says that that we have a friend that sticketh closest, closer than a brother who's that? That's Jesus Christ. He sticks closer than a brother.
Speaker 1:Listen, listen, jesus loves you. He wants you to start walking your faith out. Signs, wonders, miracles will happen. You know you are the hands, the feet, the mouth, the heart, the eyes and the ears of the Lord and he will show you what to do, when to do it. He'll give you prayers to pray.
Speaker 1:You know, the most foolish prayers I pray are the ones that are the strongest ones. I go. Well, I know that's a God, because it's something that I wouldn't pray. You know, the most foolish prayers I pray are the ones that are the strongest ones. I go. Well, I know that's a God, because it's something that I wouldn't pray. You know, and somebody's sick and you pray a prayer that's weird as heck and you just kind of go, oh, that's kind of weird. And then God moves.
Speaker 1:Listen, god's waiting on you. You're not waiting on him to move, he's waiting on you to move and move. He's waiting on you to get up. He's waiting on you to recognize that he has put you on a faith walk and you need to get busy about God's business. Listen, this is William Carroll for Faith Walk and episode 38, and listen, episode 38, and listen. Hit the like button. You can hit the like button, hit the, hit the, hit the subscribe button and then hit the little bell and you'll be notified when one of these are done. Until next time, listen, I love you. God loves you. Start your faith, walk today, take God out of the box and then start walking with him, start realizing that he's alive and well and he's with you, he's in your heart, so you take him everywhere you go. Until next time, have a good day.
