About Karen Thomas Olsen
Born and raised in Ohio, I attended college and graduate school in Indiana, moved to Scotts Valley, California south of San Jose to teach, back to Ohio for many years, to Arizona for 11 years with my husband, and finally to Ft. Wayne, Indiana to be near family. (Leaving Prescott Valley, Arizona in 2018 was very hard. Sigh. But for family? Worth it.)
I have taught in three Christian high schools and one community college. My first teaching position was in Scotts Valley, California. In the summer of 1980, a tall, dark, and handsome 26 year old California boy, who had recently completed his degree in Aeronautical Operations from San Jose State University, followed me to Columbus, Ohio where I had accepted a new teaching position at Worthington Christian High School.
There in Worthington we were married. Paul became an Air Traffic Controller, and we raised two beautiful girls in Piqua and Troy, Ohio. We now also have a son-in-law and two precious grandsons born in 2009 and 2012. In 2007, Lockheed Martin transferred my husband to Prescott Valley, Arizona, which was a great adventure for us. Arizona was a good place for my health and great for Paul, a California boy who loves the sunny southwest! However, being far from family is not easy. So, in July of 2018 we moved to Ft. Wayne, Indiana, where we are near relatives and just hours from each of our daughters, one near Chicago and one north of Cincinnati.
For years, I worked in Christian school curriculum design and development, which was challenging, exciting, and satisfying. After retiring in the summer of 2012, I focused on completing a doctorate, pursuing some writing projects, and being involved in Christian education at our church. Maintaining this blog continues to be important to me. With great gratitude to the Lord who carried me through the process, I graduated from Trinity Theological Seminary in August, 2016, earning a DRS (Doctor of Religious Studies) with an emphasis in theology. My dissertation is entitled "A Taxonomic Theology of Suffering and Joy Designed to Assist in Christian Growth."
Besides reading, learning, teaching, and writing, I love to swim, stroll around the neighborhood on my bike, take Water Aerobics classes, mingle with neighbors, and participate in our local church. As my health permits, I love to travel and see God’s amazing creation.
I’m wearing my eye glasses or “life lenses” which instruct me to “Look for the Lord in every page of Scripture, in every corner of nature, and in every chapter of my life." No matter the direction of my life, it's a journey north.
Dear Reader,
I am considering making some changes to this blog, so I need your input.
JNC, was birthed on Novemeber 1, 2011 as a part of the ministry of Troy Christian Schools in Troy, Ohio. As the school’s Curriculum Director, I was the author of each post, hoping to encourage parents. After I retired in the summer of 2012, the school turned it over to me at my request to develop on my own. JNC has no connection to the school, so I am free to shape this blog as I see fit.
Not only do people have many reasons for writing blogs, readers choose to read for various reasons. So, please respond to a few questions listed below. Continue reading →
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“Why is a raven like a writing desk?” the Hatter asks Alice at his tea party in Alice in Wonderland. She can’t answer, but then, neither can the Hatter who replies, “I haven’t the slightest idea.” To ask “why” rather than “how” makes the question more perplexing, but such is the fun of nonsense.*1
Rather than Wonderland, we live in Mortaland (containing its share of nonsense) — this present cosmos which had a beginning and will have an ending, culminating in a New Heaven and a New Earth (Revelation chapters 21 and 22; note chapter 20 also). I’m not a hatter — a milliner, a maker of hats, although Continue reading →
I had a taste, a sweet and nutritious taste yesterday of God at work in my life. His invisible hand became visible, and I tasted what His hand served. My first glimpse of His sleeve occurred the night before. Continue reading →
Work is a beautiful word and a satisfying action.You discover life’s positives often by tunneling through the negatives. If you have experienced debilitating illness for any period, you know the sadness (frustration, despair?) of not being able to work and the longing to work again. Serious debilitation during one season taught me to appreciate batting my eyelids, Continue reading →
Do you celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ as a babe at Christmas via Advent traditions? I come from a non-liturgical church background. When I was a child, we didn’t practice any Advent season tradition as is often done during the month before Christmas day. However, one of the churches Paul and I were a part of when we were rearing our girls participated in Advent traditions. We enjoyed the lighting of the candles Continue reading →
We’re in the middle of a topic spurred by Kate Shellnutt’s article in Christianity Today entitled, “I Didn’t Marry My Best Friend.” Like Kate, I did not marry my best friend. What if I would have waited for “my type”? Where would I be now? Continue reading →
KO Note: I wrote the following on September 16 but then, distracted, decided not to post it. The sirens of my current, biblical research project pester, pester. It’s the middle of the night. I can’t sleep. Mentally blocking the sirens, the pleasant tones of JNC invite me. Hmm. Some may find this post worth consideration. I’ll revise it and pass it on to you. Here goes:
I’m sure you’ve had this experience. Every once in a while, you read something that so resonates within you that you passionately exclaim, “Yes!” This was my experience when I read an article from Christianity Today entitled, “I Didn’t Marry My Best Friend.” Written by Kate Shellnutt (a millennial — yes, a “young lady” who could be my daughter), her young experience echoes in her own way my older experience. Nothing is new under the sun, but everything is new to the individual at the point of encounter or awareness. Continue reading →
Do you ever shop at Trader Joe’s? We find shopping there to be refreshing and never stressful. I always look at their greeting cards, which are only $1:00 each. Here are a few TJ quotations that truly can bless:
Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy:
they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
Marcel Proust.
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Quotations for brunch or lunch or for a midnight snack — I’m going to offer you these as a series of posts. Soul food. I’ll dish up some thought-worthy sentences (in my opinion, of course) and then one longer quotation followed by my thoughts. At least, that’s my starting idea. Here we go.
1. “Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man,
but coaxed down-stairs a step at a time.”
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Journey North Character 