This, Our Valley: It has been a fun journey

"Give ear O heavens and I will speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth, for I will proclaim the Name of the Lord, and ascribe greatness to our God.” Excerpted from Deuteronomy 32

There is a story in the bible about a woman who loses a tiny coin at home. She throws open the windows and doors, lights a lamp, and sweeps the floor until she finds her poor, lost coin. Upon finding it she runs outside and throws a neighborhood block party in celebration.

It is an extravagant act for finding something that was easily worth far less than a block party. But it wasn’t the value of the coin that thrilled her; it was being made whole again. She couldn’t NOT invite her community to join her in celebration, for joy shared is joy multiplied! “God’s world is like that,” says Jesus.

This, Our Valley was born around 2007 in the little town of Madera California. Chuck Doud was the owner/publisher of a small daily newspaper there (the Madera Tribune). He and his wife Annette were also friends and parishioners at Holy Family where I was the rector, the “priest in charge.” 

Chuck wanted to add a faith and values column to his paper to help bring balance to the heavier, weightier news of the day – something to counter the war on terror, the bursting housing bubble, a growing recession, devastation falling upon the agricultural community in the San Joaquin Valley – so he asked me if I would be willing to help him out.

I knew nothing about writing newspaper columns and wasn’t sure how I could connect “faith” to his readers without preaching or proselytizing them. Don’t get me wrong. I love my Lord and my God. I love my church and how God has nourished and nurtured me over the decades. But I also know there are many “brands” of Christianity “out there” (not to mention many other faiths, religions, philosophies – and an increasing number of folks who live beyond the walls of any faith community). I didn’t want to be controversial or divisive.

Chuck suggested I was overthinking it. “You’ve got insights and lived experiences that can be helpful to my readers. Just share yourself with them and you’ll do just fine.”

So that’s where it started. 

When the church moved us to Montana in 2012 I asked the folks at the Madisonian if they might be willing to publish my columns every other week here too (alternating with Art Kehler’s Hollowtop Smoke Signals). Graciously, Suzanne Hill said, “Yes.” And so here I’ve been sharing bits and pieces of my life since about 2013.

My goal has always been to share some of what is happening in my life in hopes others would see themselves in those stories and discover for themselves that life is good and, in the end, everything will be OK. 

While our world often dabbles in finding and complaining about areas with which we may disagree, argue or fight over like a few mangy mutts wrestling over some old bone, we’re really all neighbors striving to make our way in a world that is often cold, dark, and scary. 

Together, we are light, like the trail of bio-luminescent plankton churned up in the wake of a large ship. We don’t just show the path; we are the path – something  like Jesus, in whose sandals we travel.

Life may churn us every which way but loose, but God uses those events and situations to help us grow. As the bible says in another place, “What some intended for evil, God uses for good.” 

I’ve been writing these biweekly columns for seventeen, going on eighteen years. The time has come to hang up my quill and put This, Our Valley to bed.  It is time to open this space for others to fill with their wisdom, their insights, their hopes and dreams.

It has been an honor to have been a part of this journey with all of you. I thank Chuck Doud for setting me on this path, Suzanne Hill for saying “Yes,” and Cori Koenig for her gentle touch as editor. I thank my readers, too, for your kindness and patience over the years. 

I hope and pray each of you will see this not as a departure or retirement, but an opportunity to party down in joy, and know that all is well, and all will be well here in this, God’s valley.

It has been a genuine honor sharing life with each of you. Peace.

Keith Axberg writes on matters concerning life and faith. Author of: Who the Blazes is Jesus? Good News for a Vulgar World (available through Amazon in Print and e-book)