Ray Christensen, one of longest standing members of Community Church of the Santa Ynez Valley, has lived in the Santa Ynez Valley for the past 55 years.  In his childhood, his family lived in Colorado and his dad suffered with terrible asthma.  Doctors urged him to find a better climate than the cold of Colorado and he began to look into moving his family to sunny California.  Old schoolmates of Ray’s mother and father lived in Fresno and suggested they all meet to spend the weekend in Solvang.  The Christensen's liked the small town and had some family in the area so they started their boys in school here and Ray enrolled in the 7^th grade at Solvang School.  Over the next 3 years, his dad spent time back and forth between Colorado and California, working a little when he could and recuperating in the favorable Santa Barbara County climate.  His father’s health improved dramatically and he moved his family back to Colorado when Ray began his sophomore year.  Ray finished high school in Colorado and went to a Lutheran Junior College in Des Moines, IA, but when he returned home for Christmas, he developed an acute case of appendicitis and, he says laughing, “That was about the extent of my college life!”  Getting over the appendectomy seemed to take forever but eventually, he began to look around for work.  Ray’s older brother was living in Solvang and working for the California department that later became Cal Trans.  He got to talking to the Solvang Postmaster one day and the Postmaster mentioned that he needed someone to work at the Post Office.  Ray’s brother piped up and said he had a brother who might be interested.  Ray hopped on an airplane, interviewed on a Thursday, and went straight to work on the following Monday at the Solvang Post Office.  That was in May of 1959.  Ray spent most of his career at the Solvang Post Office but did some shuffling around all the Santa Ynez Valley post offices, working wherever he was needed. 

Ray formally retired in October of 1992 and then started hanging out at Classic Video on Friday nights, chatting with the owner and helping out on weekends.  The owner asked Ray if he would run his new Buellton location across the street from the Buellton Post Office.  Ray agreed and worked for him for 4 years in Buellton and then at the Santa Ynez location for another 5 years.                                              

Ray received Christ through his relationship with Richard and Sue Brophy. 

Back when he worked at the Post Office, he got to know Sue as a customer.  As Ray puts it, “When you have customers that you see more than once or twice a week, you can talk more than just shop.”  Sue mentioned that her family was going to be moving and Ray offered to help if they needed it.  Sue called and said “Did you really mean that?”  Ray assured her that he did and Sue invited him to come over to the house for dinner and to do some packing.  Ray sensed the couple’s love for the Lord and he could hardly wait to go over and visit with them in the evening.  Ray firmly believes that God brings people into and out of our lives.  In the early days while Sue was homeschooling Caleb and Shawnelle, there weren’t as many curriculum materials as there are now and Ray was able to help build some of the hands-on construction projects.  Shawnelle Brophy was 6 weeks old when the Brophys first asked Ray to help them move - she is now 23.  He is grateful for the way the Brophys were willing to keep him busy and offer him ways that he could be of help to the family he had grown to care deeply about. 

The love the Brophy family had for the Lord was so evident that Ray soon realized that was exactly what he needed.  He began to go to church with them in Santa Barbara.  The distance made it difficult for Ray and the Brophys to participate fully in fellowship outside of Sunday morning, so the Brophys began to look for a new church home in the valley.  They asked Ray to join them one Sunday when Community Church of the Santa Ynez Valley was meeting at the high school’s “Little Theater”.  Ray’s heart was touched by the sermon and he said to himself, “This where I belong.”  He has attended and served at church here ever since. 

Ray is the father to three grown children.  Two live in the valley and the youngest one lives in Dixon, IL.  Ray’s oldest son works at Rio Vista Chevrolet and his daughter has worked at the Roblar Winery on Highway 154 since it opened its doors.  Ray’s daughter is a believer and they share the Lord together whenever they have the opportunity to be together, which is not as often as Ray would like.  Ray’s children seem to have inherited their dad’s work ethic and work a lot, up to 50-60 hours a week.

Ray loves the Psalms and Proverbs.  The Lord is teaching Ray that everything comes from the Lord in His timing and to be patient.  Ray is grateful that he has Him in his life and he wonders how anyone can survive without knowing Him.  He prays that his two sons will receive salvation as he is unsure of where they stand before the Lord.   

Interview by Anjie Park