Grandparenting

Remembering my Poet, Preacher Papa

Posted on July 26, 2024 by Karen Thomas Olsen

Today is the twentieth anniversary of my father’s home-going. I miss that dear boy.

In years past I’ve written a number of posts about him. If you look down the menu column on the left, you will find below the list of categories a list of tagged themes. My father’s name is in this list: Marion R. Thomas and Rev. Marion R. Thomas. If you click on either of these, you will find posts about him and his family, including photos and some of his poems, which I believe will bless you.

I’ve provided two links below to two of my articles about Dad. “Getting Home Before Dark” is the first link, which shows Dad’s sweet view of life as he looks back over 70 years, and then in the last line his mind turns to anticipate the future. This post also introduces Dad’s poem, “Suppose”, which presents a contemplative view of the meaning of life. You’ll find the entire poem in the second post. I offer you these two posts from ten years ago, which take us further back to my father’s time. They are encouraging testaments for us today. Click on the titles below and enjoy.

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Categories: A Personal Note, Grandparenting, Parenting | 4 Comments

Provoking More Thought While Harvesting Some Produce

Posted on September 14, 2023 by Karen Thomas Olsen

In this post, I will continue my response to Amanda O and incorporate some photos from a recent trip we took to Aunt Mary’s farm (the Findlay Family Farm, as I call it, where my mother was born and reared). I’ll address the following portion of  Amanda’s thought-provoking, recent comments:

Regarding Mr. Hodge’s claim “the United States’ system of national popular education will be the most efficient and wide instrument for the propagation of atheism which the world has ever seen”, I doubt this. Atheism is very rare in our country and, as best as I can tell, it is very unnatural. Most people want a transcendent explanation of our world. I haven’t looked it up, but I would bet Atheism is very rare globally for exactly this reason. Instead, I think Mr. Hodge’s statement would be far more potentially accurate if he simply substituted the word “secularism” for “atheism”.

When I first read Dr. Hodge’s statement, and then in its context, I wondered the same thing. Would “secularism” be a better term for him to employ? With further reading and thought, I realized, not so. Changing the word “atheism” to “secularism” would not accurately clarify his thought.

Paul, picking apples at the Findlay Family Farm last week.

Why? First, in this context, it would be redundant or circular. Earlier in your comment (note previous post) you had quoted more of Dr. Hodge’s statement: “I am … sure … that a comprehensive and centralized system of national education, separated from religion… will prove the most appalling enginery for the propagation of … atheistic unbelief.” 

Dr. Hodge’s description of public education as “separated from religion” concisely defines secularism: to separate from religion is to secularize. His point was not to say that secularism will produce more secularism.

He meant that secularism leads to atheism — especially when it is made into a comprehensive, nationally centralized system of education.

The question then arises, is this so?

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Categories: Dr. A.A. Hodge, Education, Grandparenting, Parenting, Perspectives on Culture | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

Thought-Provoking Thoughts that Provoke Thoughts About Secularism, Schools, and Christianity

Posted on August 30, 2023 by Karen Thomas Olsen

Over a week ago, I received a probing response to my June 8 post, “From Trans to Trans: Getting Involved in the Transformative Activity of the Gospel.” This kind of response in the comment section of the blog requires an entire post or series of posts in reply. So, please read Amanda O’s thought-provoking contribution below. You may need to read or re-read my June 8 post before reading the rest of this post. I’ll break down my response to Amanda in a series that I’ll publish closer together in the next weeks, so you can follow the conversation without being overwhelmed.

From Amanda O:

This is thought-provoking.

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Categories: Education, Grandparenting, Parenting, Perspectives on Culture | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

#4: “Only the Informed Can Act” Really? What if…

Posted on July 10, 2023 by Karen Thomas Olsen

Amazing. I am overwhelmed at all the ideas and information I encounter daily. You know I spend a fair amount of time reading. And I listen to some podcasts. I also listen to some news on various outlets. But reading is my main avenue of information.

Here are some of the books I’m in the middle of reading:

…

Yesterday, I was reading The Origins of Sectarian Protestantism, subtitled ” A Study of the Anabaptist View of the Church.” My religious heritage is the Brethren, originating in 1708 in Schwarzenau, Germany. The Brethren were influenced by the Roman Catholic, Reformed (Lutheran and Presbyterian), Anabaptist, and Radical Pietist elements of the universal church. So, I pulled out my two volume Brethren Encyclopedia and spent hours in them reading.

 

…

I inherited The Brethren Encyclopedia from my father, the author of that poem, “Suppose” (included in my post from May).  I was amazed at what I found inside these books. No, I should not have been surprised. What I found was just what I should have expected. My dad added lots of highlighting, commentary, photographs, and articles.

In his retirement years, besides writing sermons and poetry, my dad wrote letters to elected officials and submitted many “letters to the editor” of the local newspaper which were printed in the Findlay Courier (Findlay, Ohio). He wrote these letters for the editorial page for years, and we heard about them (mostly positive responses) from family and friends. I’ve often wished that we had paid more attention to this. We were busy living our own lives, and I don’t remember reading dad’s submissions. I found a number of them taped inside the encyclopedia volumes. I want to share one of them with you today that fits perfectly with my current JNC series. Dated March 30, 1984, it is entitled “Bible Reading Needed For Freedom.”

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Categories: Education, Grandparenting, Parenting, Perspectives on Culture | Tags: , , , | 4 Comments

#3: From Trans to Trans: Getting Involved in the Transformative Activity of the Gospel

Posted on June 8, 2023 by Karen Thomas Olsen

In the midst of the messy times in which we live, I have so much encouragement to pass on to you today! Let the exclamation point communicate anticipation and excitement!

(Confident in their Creator, these tall irises transform our front yard.)

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This is the third in a series dealing with certain, current social issues and some needed, biblical responses. I began with a contrast between the trans movement of today and the ancient, biblical trans movement of Christ-transformation. Then, through my father’s poem, “Suppose,” we considered what life would be like if Jesus had never entered human history, observing that the world in which our children live today is rather like that “suppose He never came” world. For many, such supposing is so. Sigh.

But Christ did come, fulfilling Old Testaments promises and bringing us hope.

I concluded the previous post by reminding us of Jesus’ proclamation in the synagogue at the beginning of His ministry when He read aloud from the Isaiah scroll:

The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me because He anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor.

He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind,

to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

Luke 4:18-19

Closing the scroll, with all eyes fixed on him, Jesus explained:

 “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (verse 21).

 I concluded:

“Today. Today is the worst of times; today is the best of times. Today is the “favorable year of the Lord.”

Let us seek Him.”

In this worst-best of times, I ask in today’s post, how can we help hurting people find Him who is seeking them?

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Categories: Dr. A.A. Hodge, Education, Grandparenting, Parenting, Perspectives on Culture | Tags: , , , , | 8 Comments

Grand Camp 2021 and “The Rock!”

Posted on August 7, 2021 by Karen Thomas Olsen

The last week of July was Grand Camp at our house. The following week was recovery. Sort of.

Thus (and for other reasons), progress has slowed on developing the podcast, but the goal has not been lost!  Just delayed. (Hang in there with me…. Anticipation!) This reminds me of an old saying: “God’s delays are not God’s denials.” Well, sometimes they are denials, but not necessarily. So, we develop patience and perseverance. A higher goal for me than the podcast, of course, is time spent with our grandsons. Grand Camp is our main, yearly opportunity.

Paul and I hosted our first Grand Camp in 2017 when we were still living in Arizona. Utilizing our 26 foot camper hitched to our gorgeous, cream and gold colored Ford Lariat that we drove across the country, we set up Grand Camp at “the Findlay Family Farm” near Findlay, Ohio.

We set up our first Grand Camp in 2017 on the farm where my mother grew up. There’s our camper and truck.

Grandpa Cramer built this barn in 1935.

2017. The boys and Papa O fly across the farm yard in front of Grandpa’s sturdy barn!

Aiden and Ryland (now ages 12 and 9) live in southern Ohio, so we don’t see them on a regular basis, although we see them more, now that we live in Indiana.  Then comes Grand Camp. BAM!  We have total responsibility for the boys for a whole week!  Wow!

“Grand Camp: Grandparents and grandchildren together in a grand location having a grand time.”

Of course, our times are not all “grand,” but we’ve built plenty of precious memories. And there are the ordinary moments, some “boring” moments (to the boys), many over the top exhausting moments (to Nana O — me!), and some taxing moments for Papa O (who carries the weight of the responsibility in many ways). Amidst it all, we experience good times.

After a huge June this year, we scheduled three calm and restful weeks before Grand Camp, but several turns busted our plans. Even our steps toward starting a podcast were interrupted!  “Lord… help!” (One of my favorite prayers besides, “Lord, have mercy!” and “Lord, Thank You!!”)

Here’s what’s up — with Grand Camp (GC) and with plan-busting turns.

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Categories: Grandparenting, Parenting | Tags: , | 4 Comments

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