Free Blog Updates

October 13, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
1 Comment

feed-icon.pngDon’t you love it when you find ways to save time and simplify tasks? Isn’t it even better when it’s free?

Hopefully I can simplify the way you read this blog.

Did you know that you can read RodneyOlsen.net via email each day through FeedBlitz? Instead of having to visit my blog each day, it can visit you. Just click here, enter your email address, and you’ll never miss a post. You’ll get one email a day with anything I’ve posted on that day. It’s completely free and you can unsubscribe at any time so why not give it a go?

There’s also an orange button at the top of the right hand sidebar which makes updating easy if you read blogs through Bloglines, Google Reader, Yahoo, NewsGator, MSN or any other service. If you haven’t heard of RSS, Atom or site feeds before you can check out this article at Wikipedia for more information. Basically feeds make it a lot easier to read blogs and other information sources. If you read even a handful of blogs a day you can save a lot of time through feeds.

Can I encourage you to use one of these methods to get your free updates from RodneyOlsen.net? I’d love you to be part of the community that is continuing to grow here and I want to make it as easy as possible for you to stay in touch with every post.

Whichever way you choose to read my blog let me say thank you for doing so. I truly appreciate the fact that you take the time to read my random thoughts and participate in the conversation through your comments.



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I've lost my touch

October 10, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
3 Comments

We had a wonderful time last night celebrating Pauline’s birthday.

We headed out to a smorgasbord restaurant and I found that I’ve lost my touch. It’s probably not a bad thing. In fact it’s quite a good thing.

Even though it was one of those all you can eat places, I’m finding that I just can’t eat all that I used to. I remember when smorgasbords meant piling up the plate and seeing how many times you could go back for more. I was quite the expert at ‘getting my money’s worth’.

I’ll admit that I had a larger dinner than I would on most nights but I was more than happy starting with a plate of cold food, then onto one hot and finishing off with sweets. None of the plates were piled up and I was happy to stop when I felt full.

I must say that it was so enjoyable to fill up on good food and still be able to leave the restaurant without feeling like I’d overdone it. I can still remember leaving restaurants after eating way too much and feeling decidedly seedy.

Maybe I’m getting old or just getting wiser.



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When your god dies

October 9, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
9 Comments

USmoney.jpgWhether you believe in a supreme being or not you’d have to admit that humans have an inbuilt desire to worship. You might not call it worship but we do have a strong tendency to raise people or things high on the pedestals of our desire.

We worship other people, money, success and many other things in our lives. We give ourselves completely and often stake our lives on whatever it is that becomes our god.

The worldwide financial crisis has brought the death of god for many people across the globe. Many people who have put their trust in riches are now scrambling to keep their heads above water. Even those who would have said that money and financial security weren’t the most important things in their lives have started to see just what a hold it has had on them.

This story tells us about a man who found the current crisis too much too handle. Without the trappings of riches he felt it was better that his entire family was dead, so he killed his wife, his three sons and his mother-in-law before taking his own life. Police found three letters he had left in the family home detailing his financial difficulties. What a terrible tragedy. It’s so sad to think that someone believed so strongly that death was better than life without money that he threw away so many precious lives.

I’d have to admit that Bono has given the current crisis a bit of perspective that’s hard to argue against.

It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire (Group of Eight nations) can’t find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable disease and hunger.

I guess it’s a reminder to us once again to decide carefully where we choose to put our trust. When our god is money, we will be let down. When our god is other people, they will fail us. When our god is success, we will find it slipping through our fingers.

What or who will you choose to worship?

Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. – 1 Timothy 6:17



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Let's change the conversation

October 9, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
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Letting your children go

October 7, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
4 Comments

I was reading this story at News.com.au this morning about a mother who had to drop her toddler ten metres from a fairground ride that had malfunctioned. Scary stuff.

Sherri Pinkerton and her daughter Gracie got stuck on the Crazy Bus ride at the fair in Port Orange, Florida, when it suddenly restarted as they were stepping out of it at the weekend, The Sun reported today.

Thankfully all ended well with no one seriously injured but it was still a tough decision for Sherri to let go of her little girl.

A group of men gathered under the mum, pleading with her to drop the child.

“She held on to the baby for probably three minutes or so then she did drop the baby so they could catch her,” Ms Craft said.

Ms Pinkerton said she would never forget having to make the decision to drop her child.

“I held on to her as long as I could until people started getting underneath the bus and told me to drop her,” she said, according to local6.com news.

“I didn’t want to.”

The men caught the child safely while Ms Pinkerton and the other passengers trapped inside the ride were rescued with the help of a ladder.

Reading the story made me think about how as parents we’re constantly in the process of letting our children go. It’s a scary course of action but we’ve got to be continually loosening our grip so that we can release them into the world. We have to be careful not to let go too soon or too late but the process begins from the day our kids are born.

We let go a little bit more every time we hand over responsibilities and decisions to our young ones. It’s not easy to stand back and watch our children suffer the consequences of their own actions but little by little we’ve got to let the ones we love reap what they’ve sown. We’re there to be their safety net but we can’t allow ourselves to swoop in and shield our children in every situation. Wrapping them in cotton wool is never the solution.

I still remember my mum handing me some decisions that I didn’t feel ready to make when I was a young teenager. It would have been so much easier if she had made those decisions but she was letting go and I’m so glad that she did. I learnt that I was responsible for my own life and I needed to discover how to make wise decisions on my own. Having her loosen her grip was a little bit scary but I found that I didn’t really fall that far before I hit solid ground. Surprisingly it didn’t hurt at all.

Now I have to continue letting go of our children. I need to hand over more and more responsibility and so that those young ones who I love so very much can learn to stand on their own two feet. It’s not always easy.

Can you remember your parents gradually letting go so that you could make your own way in the world? Are you letting go of your own kids?



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