Devotional

The Voice of Comfort (How Then Shall We Hear, Part 3)

Posted on December 18, 2025 by Karen Thomas Olsen

What possibly could be more needed this Christmas season than the voice of comfort?

Needed. Can all of us admit this year that we are needy? There is no exception. We are not strong. We are not wise. We are broken. We are weak.  We cannot fix ourselves, let alone our neighbors, family, friends, country, or world.

God speaks: “Comfort, O comfort My people. Speak kindly to Jerusalem” (Isaiah 40:1). How do we hear this? What does it mean to us and for us? “A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness….”

If you remember the great oratorio by G. F. Handel, entitled Messiah, your memory may bring to you the majestic sound of these words ringing through your head: “Comfort Ye….”  “Ye” is the archaic plural pronoun for “you all,” you plural. You are not you singular, but you plural. We are not alone.

It has been hard for me to figure out what to write about that would be of any good to you this December. Personally, I’ve been very sick and haven’t been able to think and hear clearly. Then when I hear the news of violence, death, destruction, and demonic forces, I feel inwardly paralyzed. I cry out to God with the psalmist, “How Long, O Lord?”

And we wait. Isaiah 40 begins with God’s call for us to comfort others and the chapter ends with the encouragement that the Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary, as we do. Instead, He gives strength to the weary. Isaiah 41 expands God’s comfort. II Corinthians 1:3-5 tells us that God is a comforting God who wants us to comfort others in their sorrows with the comfort God gives to us in our troubles. Pass it on.

I want to pass on to you two comforts. The first one is one I wrote years ago. The second one is from a source I want to recommend to you for your long-term encouragement which you then can pass on to others.

Continue reading →

Categories: Devotional | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments

On Being Human

Posted on August 29, 2025 by Karen Thomas Olsen

Have you heard this? Maybe you’ve said this?

“Human!”

It’s a response to being called out for error, forgetfulness, and even wrong doing.

Sam came home with the groceries but bought the wrong kind of gluten free flour. His wife, Sue, had listed the exact one she needed for the dessert she was making to take to the family reunion for those members with dietary restrictions. Sam made an error. Sue was irritated.

“Human!” Sam defended himself.

Sam and Sue drove eighty miles to get to this family reunion. They remembered their lawn chairs, cooler filled with food and drinks, gifts for the grandparents, but they forgot the rare, old newspaper articles! Everyone was to contribute old family photos and newspaper clippings about Grandpa and Grandma from decades ago which cousin Martha was going to have digitalized to make into a family book. Sue was the only one in the family who had possession of the newspaper articles about Grandpa as a local baseball champion in his youth. Her cousin was counting on her. The articles were still where she placed them on her kitchen table. Sigh.

“Human!” Sue was mad at herself.

Cousin Martha lied. She’d been lying about it for years! Lying to herself, lying to her family and friends. Why? She did not want to face her financial reality. She did not want to change her lifestyle, so she borrowed and borrowed and borrowed money. Now, she was losing her house. She had to move. Martha unloaded her burden on Sue as they sat away from the rest of the family, near the old weeping willow tree they once played under as girls.  The tree wept with them. There was so much to say, so much to face, so much to do, but what should Martha do?

“Human!” claimed Martha. “So true!” consoled Sue.

But really? Is it really human nature to make errors, to forget, and to do wrong? Can we sort this out?

Continue reading →

Categories: A Traveler's Guide thr Suffering & Joy, Devotional, Spiritual Growth | Tags: , | 2 Comments

“Think and Do.” Where’s the “Feel”?

Posted on September 26, 2024 by Karen Thomas Olsen

When I was a child in elementary school, we used these workbooks called Think and Do. They were a part of our Language Arts curriculum. We practiced our developing reading skills through our grade level reading books plus these corresponding workbooks. I liked the workbooks, I realized later, because the exercises broke concepts down into steps and showed patterns that I could then apply.

Reading did not come easily to me, so I needed process steps to make connections. No matter the mental process we engage, we are always thinking and doing. Think and do.

Where does the “feeling” come in? Emotion is always present in both the thinking and the doing. We cannot think anything or do anything without emotion permeating thought and action.

Why do I bring this up? Recently I was asked about how I process my feelings as part of my faith. Interesting.

Continue reading →

Categories: Devotional, Spiritual Growth | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Secrets and Sightings

Posted on February 24, 2024 by Karen Thomas Olsen

“I look at Jesus, not the Old Testament or New Testament,” explained a pastor to a church member who was seeking to understand the church’s teaching about spiritual transformation and the relationship between human beings and God.

A friend recently reported this conversation to me that he had with one of his pastors. It might be helpful to know more of the situation, but this statement is enough to raise questions. My friend is observing not only what is being taught in his church but what is not being taught. We all need to be alert and observant in our own situations.

My mind goes back thirty years to meeting a pastor of a growing church that was to become a mega church in that particular area. He loved Jesus. He preached Jesus. But he held a disdain for the Old Testament. He wanted to distance himself and his church from the violence recorded there and the angry God he saw there.

What impact would such a narrow understanding of Jesus and distorted view of the Scriptures have on people? I can’t address this question in this post, but it is worth pondering. What I will address in this post is the next question.

Can Jesus be truly understood through the four Gospels of the New Testament alone? Continue reading →

Categories: Christian Reader, Devotional, Spiritual Growth, Study methods & disciplines | Tags: , , , | 4 Comments

“Near Drowning of the Bells”: A Christmas Reading

Posted on December 16, 2023 by Karen Thomas Olsen

My dear readers,

I wrote the following script as an Oral Interpretation (interpretive reading) ten years ago for a “Candlelight Carols” event in our home in Arizona. Recently, I found it in my Christmas music, edited it a bit, and then re-wrote the ending, giving it a different turn.

If you can use the script in any way, a home advent reading or with a group, feel free to use it. It is very fitting this year to give attention to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem/carol, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” written on Christmas day in 1863. And to provide fascinating balance, I’ve brought in Phillips Brooks’ “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” written in 1867. What may we gain from their perspectives on heartache, war, providence, and the wondrous gift so quietly given to a noisy world?

Paul and I are going to be presenting this revised version this Sunday evening to our Home Group (five couples from our church that meet twice a month). We are calling our evening “Candlelight Carols and Cafe.” We will sing together, eat a fellowship meal together, and sing some more, scattering a few short readings in here and there, with this reading culminating toward the end.

So, how did Longfellow resist the encroaching despair when heartache upon tragedy invaded his world? Does the loudest noise need to be the most influential voice in your life? Listen to this reading:

Continue reading →

Categories: Devotional | Tags: , , | 5 Comments

A Holiday Homily: “For Unto Us”

Posted on December 8, 2023 by Karen Thomas Olsen

Our church hosted a Ladies’ Christmas Tea on December 3, and I was involved in the planning and preparation. Then I was asked to give the devotional or lesson. I chose to call it a “tea talk” or a “holiday homily”. It could be used as an Advent lesson. I’ve decided to share my tea talk with you, my JNC readers.*

[My opening remark: My mind has been percolating like a boiling tea kettle on and off for weeks now on our theme, “For Unto Us,” so I scripted my thoughts to control their flow.]

For Unto Us

“For Unto Us.” Such a little phrase – “For unto us.”  But what does it mean? Continue reading →

Categories: Devotional | Tags: , , | 4 Comments

A Story Told: The Cosmic Adventure

Posted on December 15, 2022 by Karen Thomas Olsen

A story told is the breaking of the silence.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

“He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (John 1:2-3).

 “Before the foundations of the world, He chose us in Him… in love” (Ephesians 1: 4).

“In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.  The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:4-5).

 

After brunch we read one chapter to the children and adults.

In the breaking of the silence, as in the breaking of bread, a story is told to nurture the life of the world.

Man shall not live by fact alone.

Here’s the way for a nana to live, and I’m looking more like her each year!

Continue reading →

Categories: Devotional | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Anchors, Birthdays, and Busy Summer Days

Posted on June 30, 2021 by Karen Thomas Olsen

I awoke this morning before 6:00 with words swarming through my mind from the refrain of an old hymn I’d heard many times in childhood, but I doubt I’ve heard in years.

We have an anchor that keeps the soul
Steadfast and sure while the billows roll,
Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,
Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love.

My mind mulled over the final phrase, “in the Savior’s love.” Then the final words to Romans chapter 8 mingled with my thoughts, “the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

How does that verse begin? Oh, yes. The connection between hymn and biblical text deepened.

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

These crescendoing verses fully awakened me, and I realized that this hymn needs to be woven into today’s blog post. Yes, I need to post today. It’s June’s last day, and I’ve not posted this month. June, seeming so threatening to me at the beginning of the month, had rolled over me like those billows. I had wondered how I would make it to July.

July 1 is a significant marker for  many companies and organizations, indicating “the beginning of the new fiscal year.”  Every year in the spring and through June we receive requests for donations, desiring contributions before that significant date of July 1.

For me, July 1 is also a significant marker. It always marks the beginning of a new year for me. It is my birthday. This year it marks 67 years. Wow. What a marker. What a sizable wave.

I need an anchor. An anchor grounded in the depths of my Savior’s love — from which nothing can separate me — not anything in life, and not even death itself.  So, the month of June could not destroy me  — nor you. We are anchored to Christ, our immovable rock.

Beauty and peace after a storm.

How does the rest of that hymn go? Who wrote it and why? After my morning routine, I pulled out my hymn history books, hymn books, and some online sources. Time to explore.

Continue reading →

Categories: Devotional, Joy & Suffering -- Good & Evil, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

Escape, Not Just from Winter . . .

Posted on February 28, 2021 by Karen Thomas Olsen

This was our plan from the start. Should we return to the Midwest (which we did do in 2018), then we planned to escape the terse winters. A compromise. We would have preferred to have stayed in Arizona for the rest of our lives. Family in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio wooed us back to the heartland. You understand.

Paul and I have been in Florida for nearly a month now.  I think that one of the most calming aspects of being here is sitting in the lanai (or sunroom), feeling a soft breeze, and watching the sway of the palm branches.

View from the lanai or sunroom.

.

.

Palm branches, slow-dancing in the breeze, sooth my soul, reminding me, ironically, of Psalm 46:10. Ironically? Yes. This verse instructs us to “be still” or “cease striving.” It is the movement of the branches that arrests me. Rhythmic palm branches slow, slow, slow my spirit. My pattering thoughts nearly stop. “Be still” (KJV) or “cease striving” (NASB) “and know that I am God,” waft through my  mind, while the palm trees woo.

Slow-dancing palm branches. (Yes, those are my tootsies. I’m leaning back in a comfortable chair. Being still.)

 

 

 

 

The sons of Korah composed this impressive psalm. Long before the psalmists’ insistent imperatives of verse 8 (“Come, behold the works of the LORD”) and verse 10 (“Be still”) are seven verses of declaratives: truth claims and affirmations.  Just what our hearts need.

Continue reading →

Categories: Devotional, Spiritual Growth | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Finding “Merry” in Good Ole “Merry Christmas”

Posted on December 23, 2020 by Karen Thomas Olsen

Maybe you cringe as the sound of the word — “merry.” It has become trite — an overused word emptied of substance. It may also be a word that seems to mock you, especially this year. First, let’s put some substance back in the word-container, “merry.” Then, let’s see if it still mocks us.

Merry is a word for joy. Joy, as a word-container, holds a broad and deep cluster of concepts discoverable in the Scriptures!  When one facet of joy is absent from our hearts and lives, this does not mean that all joy is gone. We need to further explore both our lives and the joy word-containers found in Scripture to unearth other evidence and the many languages of joy available for us. This is an important way that we can take our distressed, panicky thoughts captive and live by the Spirit rather than by our limited sight (II Corinthians 10:3-5; 5:7). Boy, do I need this today!

Over a period of years I’ve researched these biblical ideas of joy, and I’ve been surprised at some of my discoveries. Certainly, ’tis the season to gift you with some of my finds — not mine to give but God’s gifts for me to share with you!

Continue reading →

Categories: Devotional, Joy & Suffering -- Good & Evil, Theology | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Blog at WordPress.com.