King's Corner: Can you find the opportunity waiting for you?

King's Corner column for January 31, 2025

Nine years after a gold nugget was uncovered in a creek bed in Dayton, more precious ore was discovered further up the mountain. For almost four weeks after June 8, 1859 Comstock miners focused on finding gold, putting aside the heavy “blue mud” that was gumming up their devices. Gold was worth ten times what you could get for silver, but it turned out there was ten times as much silver to mine. That discovery transformed our state.

 Have you ever panned for gold in a creek bed? It easily separates from dirt. On the other hand, silver bonds with almost anything, and needs a chemical process to free it from surrounding soil. It’s tempting to just focus on the rare gold, the elusive but easy win, even when surrounded by abundant potential that just needs work.

 Sometimes the harshness of the challenge hides its opportunity. Back then the many who came here from California endured a long trek on challenging mountain trails only to climb Mt Davidson and find there was little – and very poor – housing and a lack of necessities.

 And mining is hard work, especially if you try to do it all yourself. But our harsh landscape had a hidden reward. In most other places, mining requires that you dig deep, which takes teams of people and significant resources. That’s why so many mining towns grew in the California mountains, because they needed so many people.

 But here the rules were different. Nevada’s sometimes fierce climate concentrated silver into dense gray crusts that formed directly on the surface. Here you could shovel the mineral right off the ground. This was a unique opportunity for those open to seeing it, and willing to work.

 Have you ever talked with someone and discovered that something which is obvious to you isn’t obvious to them? In fact, they’d never even noticed? There are things that you see, and take for granted, that others don’t see at all. God has given you a gift of seeing that, and that gift is a key to finding your direction in life, if you also let Him guide you. You need to realize what you uniquely see, and then know how to act on it.

 Franciscan missionaries began systematically growing grapes in California in the late 1700s. They mostly grew muscat grapes to make muscatel wine. Near that time when silver was discovered at the top of Six Mile Canyon, there was a terrible drought in this whole region. The Franciscan’s grapes withered on the vine. Their missionaries prayed, fearing they were going to lose them all. But one of them had an idea. They took those shriveled grapes down into the towns and sold them as what they called locally grown "Peruvian delicacies." That was the beginning of the Sun Maid Raisin Company.

 Their difficulty became their opportunity. And sometimes in difficult situations it’s as simple as asking God how to respond rather than just react.

 My dad, Mark King, worked at McClellan Air Force base in Sacramento as an electrician before moving here. There are many small alleys between buildings that offer shortcuts to the front gate. His van was parked in one as he loaded up after finishing a job. A jeep that couldn’t get by him kept honking for him to move. No matter how much Mark tried, his van wouldn’t start. The jeep driver kept pounding his horn.

 Mark walked back, motioned to the driver to roll down his window, and offered him the keys saying, “If you’re willing to try starting my van, I’m willing to stay back here and lean on your horn.”

 A roar of laughter came from the back seat, and the amused base commander told his driver to find another way. As a result of how he handled that, they all became friends.

 If you’re willing to ask God to help you see what you can uniquely see, then trust Him to help you handle situations well, and let Him change and grow you into who you’re capable of being, then He can show you how those dense gray crusts all around you in your life can be turned into the wonderful future He has for you.