Ross Olson's Web Site
www.rossolson.org
  

      
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Hello, friends, family, visiting skeptics and web wanderers. I am Ross Olson. My wife, Karin, and I (although neither of us is perfect) have been married for over 50 years -- to each other the whole time -- and have four children, five children-in-law, four grandsons and seven granddaughters and a granddaughter-in-law. To see details, go to the family page.

Ross's sister, Merodie Carol Nielsen, died on July 4, 2022 at age 77 of leukemia. Ross wrote a memory. Little brother Bryan also wrote a memory.

On December 1, I turned 80 and my family gave me a party. The party was not a surprise but the number was! If you want to see the PowerPoint, the photos and the video, click HERE.

Our 2023 Christmas Letter and all the historical letters are ON LINE. We sometimes try for hysterical but only achieve mildly amusing at best. What we ought to be aiming for is inspirational.

Chris OlsonGrandson Christopher, alias Chris Olson, former world champion Rubik's speed cuber, is also an award winning videographer. He filmed some of the cleanup and compassion after the fires, set by those who desecrated the memory of George Floyd. Mr. Floyd would never have approved the destruction that followed his death at the hands of Minneapolis police -- a death that never should have happened! View the video, Rebuild Minneapolis | George Floyd, and pray that God will turn this tragedy into a miracle of repentance and reconciliation -- with lasting change to our society. Every person is precious because we are all created in God's image. Hearts need to be changed; that's God's specialty!.

Granddaughter Annika Olson was featured on the website of Chinese American Association Dance theater www.caamcdt.org/transformations/ or /family/Annika_transformations.pdf. She is now with Phoenix Chinese Dance Academy

Thinking Outside the Box

  • "God is Pro-Choice" REALLY??



  • Biblical Drama

    There are over 130 Biblical monologues. They are essentially historical fiction but based on the Scripture with hopefully sanctified imagination to get into the minds of the biblical characters.



    Granddaughters Helen, Esther and Clara have contributed to the dramas. See Drama

    These monologues can also be used as Bible study tools with discussion questions. Click HERE for samples

    Poetry

    Daughter Susan Margaret Anderson has contributed to the poetry. See Poems by Susan Margaret Anderson

    Stories

    A few stories were written for a Hong Kong company which did not accept them. Then a few more were added. See Stories



    We lived in Hong Kong from 1972 to 1980 and speak (broken) Cantonese. Now we are lost in cyberspace.

    Our Grandchildren 2018 I wrote a not-quite-poem to each grandchild for Christmas 2018.

    Karin 2018 I could not write about grandchildren without paying tribute to the one who made it possible for me to be a father.

    A new feature is Stories, a collection which we hope will increase in size over time.

    With despotic rulers in the news again, the stories of Belshazzar, Sennacherib and Herod are timely.

    Our youngest daughter, KaWan, married Brian Powers on November 25, 2011.

    Clara Otelia Olson who was born on April 13,2010 hours before her Daddy's birthday is now already 7! Otelia is the middle name of two ancestors, Great Grandmother Myrtle Eva Otelia Olson and Great Great Grandmother Alma Otelia Marie Johnson. As big sister Laura said, "We are a very girly family. Even our dog is a girl."

    Karin's mother, Edythe Falck, died on November 28, 2010, of congestive heart failure. She was sharp right to the end and hung on to say goodbye to family and friends. The Funeral Brochure can be viewed as well as Karin's tribute to her mother and grandson, Nathan Erickson's tribute from the grandchildren. Great granddaughter, Laura Olson, read the 23rd Psalm at the funeral. Karin wrote "For You, Mom" in honor of Mom's birthday March 16.

    Ross's father, Stanley M. Olson, died suddenly on February 24, 2009. He was nearly 91 and left a great legacy. You may view the Funeral Brochure, Eulogy by Timothy Olson, Tribute by Ross Olson and the Tribute by Luke Olson.

    In 2010, I attended the 50th reunion of the Washburn High School class of 1960. (They used to limit that sort of thing to OLD people but apparently have loosened the criteria.) I wrote a tribute in memory of the 10% of the class who have died. See A Tribute to the Deceased from Washburn High School Class of 1960 I wrote my own bio for the memory book and it looked like THIS.

    The Shack is promoted as a Christian book with a powerful message -- and that is partly true. It also contains elements that ought to cause concern. For a review, click HERE.

    An article by Karin about our son Matthew Lloyd, who died as an infant in Hong Kong, can be viewed by clicking HERE. It appeared recently in the First Free Church Newsletter

    Ross' mother died at age 92 on December 5, 2005. Yet she was ready, she was mentally sharp right to the end and went quickly without suffering. Click HERE for her funeral program and HERE for my tribute.

    KaWan -- the artist previously known as Stacy -- (our youngest daughter) was in Hong Kong from May 8 to August 28, 2002, working with Youth For Christ.


    Act of Grace Radio

    The drama "Nehemiah" was broadcast on the web by Act of Grace Radio on September 28, 2006 and now can be accessed at http://rossolson.org/drama/other_bible/nehemiah.mp3

    The drama "Gabriel" was broadcast on the web by Act of Grace Radio on November 17, 2006 and can be accessed on www.rossolson.org/drama/advent/gabriel.mp3


    Thanksgiving Katherine Kersten wrote an article for the Star-Tribune about hosting Chinese for Thanksgiving. She didn't put enough emphasis on the fact that we are only one of about 50 families who hosted for the Chinese American afternoon and who knows how many who had Chinese over for the real Thanksgiving. Also the Thanksgiving Day celebration was at Jeff and Rachel's house. But to see the article, click HERE.







    What does @ have to do with {at} ? Because internet spamers search for and collect e-mail addresses from web sites, we are changing the addresses that appear on this site. anybody@something.net becomes anybody{at}something.net. This should fool the robots for a while but not be too hard for the average human net surfer.

    Doctor and Chart

    I was a Pediatrician with a large HMO for 23 1/2 years, laid off due to downsizing. Then I worked with a small pediatric clinic for 6 months but my contract was not renewed. At each location I have been an "outlier" and a non-conformist and these qualities have arguably had a great deal to do with with my departures.

    I am concerned about the societal issues that affect the health of my patients and my family and began to speak and write on these issues a number of years ago. My time in the Far East allowed me to see American culture more clearly, especially where it has departed from its roots, not to mention wisdom and truth.

    My opinions are based on scientific data, practical experience and my own Christian faith. Because of these opinions, I have sometimes been ridiculed and even punished. But as time has gone on, more and more of those opinions have been vindicated.

    I firmly believe that there IS truth and that it is important to know it. In the areas that I explore, I may not have it exactly right and welcome interaction with both allies and opponents. I condemn censorship and dirty tricks, however, and have established this site partly because the media only allow brief and partial exposure of these ideas.

    Interestingly, my site is sometimes blocked by internet filters that identify key words, like "pornography." Also, by looking at the hits and searches it can be determined that some who find articles here were actually searching for pornography. And the fact that they clicked on "What's Wrong With Pornography," or some other critique, means that at least for a few seconds (and hopefully much more) they were exposed to the other side of the story.

    The design of this site is by my son and heir, Jeffrey R. Olson, computer software engineer and all around nice guy. He taught me everything I know about HTML and, when he gave me the technical assistance to set up a family web site, probably created a monster he will long regret. After learning the ropes, I proceeded to steal from his site the last few things that he did not give me. Thanks, Jeff. Don't complain or there may be no inheritance.

    The site is a real potpourri (French for "pot luck," I think -- or was it "pot-hole"?) It includes commentaries on social issues but also some humor pieces. There is poetry ranging from angst to whimsy, seeking to following, fascination to maturation.

    Some of the stuff is heavy and there are issues that deserve it. But sometimes it is also necessary to release all that pent up frivolity. So, for a totally ridiculous flight of fancy, check out The Wafting Guide (also see Whimsy).

    There is also Biblical Drama -- an attempt to get inside the skin of some of the familiar, and perhaps not so familiar, stories in the Bible.

    And certainly not least of the categories is an attempt to explore the foundational question of "who are we?" If cosmic accidents, then the search for meaning is a cruel joke. If created in the image of God, then even our own creativity is a reflection of His. See also the Twin Cities Creation Science Association Web Site which I am trying to manage.     www.tccsa.tc


    Is the future really unknown to God because it does not yet exist, as Dr. Boyd maintains in his book, God of the Possible? To consider other possibilities in a review, click HERE.


    Ross Olson did an uncontrolled and unapproved study of gravity
    at Vermillion Falls in Hastings Minnesota on 8/11/01 while hiking with a group of teens
    and has recovered and hopefully learned.

    For the whole story, click HERE.



    Did Ross Olson's experience of 8/11/01
    turn out to be a parable of the nation's experience of 9/11/01?
    For an analysis, see


    Article


    Awards

    Minsky Award

    Golden Crown

    Send comments to me at ross{at}rossolson.org


    The URL for this document is