I was going to share this story a little later, but given some of the reaction I’ve received to the Bible verse on the front page I think it might be a good idea to go ahead and share it now as a way of explaining why the verse is there and why it is not going away.

If you will recall in the first column I wrote for The Oconee Enterprise, I referenced being pretty unceremoniously fired as the publisher of the newspaper in Galveston, Texas.

I’m not going to lie, folks. That smarted, and I mean a lot. 

I had worked for that particular newspaper company for 17 years, had risen through the ranks quickly, to get what I thought was the professional opportunity of a lifetime, the one I had worked my entire career to achieve.

I was tapped to lead a seven-day-a-week newspaper with a circulation of 30,000. Over 100 employees to help serve our readers, advertisers and the community. The oldest newspaper in the state of Texas. Flagship newspaper of a company that had 14 other papers, four of which I had already worked at and helped grow.

I was 44 years old and my family and I lived on an island on the Gulf Coast. My oldest of three daughters would go surfing with her friends after she got out of school. It was that kind of setup. I mean, doesn’t get any better than that, right?

Honestly, folks, I couldn’t be more wrong.

At the end of the day, we weren’t a good fit for Galveston, either the newspaper or the town. And after only two and a half years in the position I’d worked my whole career to achieve, I was let go by the company that for years had positioned me for the opportunity it was now taking away.

Initially, I held it against them, but the bottom line is these changes have to be made once you lose the confidence of ownership and management. I had a hard time accepting that at the time, but I’ve since come to understand it perfectly.

This is where the story gets good.

When God puts you on your knees like that, the best thing you can do is pray. I did, unceasingly, in order to try and find a path out of the professional abyss I had gotten myself into.

By virtue of my time in the business, I knew a lot of people. I tried tapping every one of those connections in an effort to get back on my feet. No time to have a pity party. I had a wife and three kids depending on me. I had to get back in the game and get back in the game as quickly as possible.

What I found, and again in hindsight I get it, is that all those people I knew, despite sometimes many years of history together, were now a little hesitant to hire me. They knew I had been the other company’s golden boy, and it didn’t make sense that I was now coming to them looking for work.

So I started praying harder.

Then one day, I’m not saying I heard a voice, but it kind of felt like it, I came to the realization that the only way to stop this from happening to me again was if I worked for myself. I knew there would be a whole host of other issues that come with owning a newspaper rather than just operating them, but one thing I won’t ever have to worry about again is someone walking into my office and taking my livelihood away.

Got it, God. Let me get to work on that. I’ve learned my lesson. Your plans are better than my plans. 

I with I could tell you things came easy after that, but they didn’t. That’s just not how God works when he gives us our crosses to bear (which we are supposed to bear joyfully by the way).

I spent months trying to find a newspaper to buy somewhere in the South, preferably in the area of Alabama, Georgia or Tennessee, where I’ve got the most professional history and family. I had a number of deals start during that time, but I could never get one across the finish line. I had been in the newspaper business a long time at that point but I wasn’t part of that club, and I was finding it wasn’t an easy club to join.

Then one day while I was sitting at the kitchen table of my in-laws, who my family and I had moved in with temporarily while I tried to get things sorted out, another long story, when I got a phone call. I looked at my cell and it was the very same gentleman who only five months before had fired me from that opportunity of a lifetime I had been so proud of.

Never thought I’d hear from this guy again, I thought, and honestly, didn’t want to. Can’t imagine what this is about.

Against my better judgment, I took the call. After an awkward “how have you been” exchange, we got down to business. He told me he had heard I was looking for a newspaper to buy, I still don’t know how to this day, and he just happened to have one he wanted to sell me.

He started to pitch me The Walton Tribune in Monroe. It wasn’t a good fit for the company’s footprint anymore, but would be an ideal first paper for me to own given the success I had previously had in six years as the publisher there. No learning curve, already know the community and its leaders well.  He wanted to know what I thought and whether or not this was something I wanted to pursue.

After composing myself a bit, I told him this was absolutely something I’d like to pursue based on all the factors he had cited. Three weeks later I was introduced as the new owner of The Walton Tribune, the first newspaper I had ever purchased, and I bought it from the same guy who only months before had essentially told me I wasn’t doing a good enough job to even run one for him. (A few years later he sold me three more newspapers in Northeast Alabama as well.)

Now if you don’t see the hand of God in this testimony, well, you just aren’t looking.

In the time leading up to the announcement, my wife had a dream, make fun if you want, but she did, that we should put a Bible verse on the front page to help proclaim the Good News to the readers and the community.

A Bible verse went on the front page of The Tribune that very first edition, to honor what God was doing in our lives and His mission, and it has been on the front page of every newspaper I’ve owned since. All nine of them, even the three I’ve since sold, continue to have Bible verses on their front pages.

The response from the readers has always been positive to that decision, we might be the only community newspapers in the world with Bible verses on the front page, I don’t know, until The Enterprise. It’s made a few of you uncomfortable, and that’s OK. Sharing The Word does that some times.

The readers who reached out were cordial, just wanted me to know what they thought was appropriate and not appropriate for the front page. I tried to cordially explain my position as well, and why taking The Word off the front page or relegating it  to the inside was not going to happen.

For me it’s non-negotiable.

After reading this, I hope everyone has a better understanding as to why.

His plans are better than our plans, folks. Every. Single. Time.    

Patrick Graham is the proprietor and publisher of The Covington News and other newspapers in Georgia and Alabama. His email address is patrick.graham@waltontribune.com.