by Elaine Olsen | Jun 5, 2014 | church life, conviction, courage, friendship, living God's truth, ministry life
My heart is tender toward her tonight – the new girl who showed up at our summer kick-off, Wednesday night fellowships at the pool. She was easy to spot, stuck there at a table of men who out-aged her by at least fifty years. Talk about awkward. When I asked...
by Elaine Olsen | May 13, 2014 | calling, discipleship, family fun, grace, Holy Spirit, Lessons from the Lunchroom, living God's truth, obedience, out of the mouths of babes, parenting
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we...
by Elaine Olsen | Apr 24, 2014 | a quick word, discipleship, friendship, kingdom, living God's truth, ministry life, peace, peace for the journey, pilgrimage
A few things occur to me this morning while reading Luke’s account of “Jesus sending out the seventy-two” (Luke 10:1-24). In particular, I’m focusing on two sentiments/phrases that Jesus instructed his disciples to use in their evangelism campaigns. What...
by Elaine Olsen | Apr 22, 2014 | brokenness, calling, faith, grace, living God's truth, ministry life, peace for the journey, pilgrimage
“But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; … There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything...
by Elaine Olsen | Apr 9, 2014 | freedom, grace, hope, kingdom, living God's truth, pilgrimage, thanksgiving
I’m turning forty-eight this week … again. Let me explain. For the past year, I’ve been telling folks that I’m forty-eight. I’m not kidding. Somewhere in the madness of this last year called My Life, I lost a year. So when my birthday rolls around on Thursday, really...
by Elaine Olsen | Mar 16, 2014 | calling, cancer volume 4, faith, living God's truth, obedience
Whew – I just made myself exceedingly dizzy. Really. Dizzy to the point of dazed and to making erratic mumblings along the lines of “I wonder if Gwyneth Paltrow is doing this right now . . . on a Sunday night . . . crunching her abs in hopes of trimming her...
