Council Grove Christian Church

6/25/26

6/24/26
Servants of God,
 
Our dear sister in Christ Karli Olson died this week. It came as a terrible shock. It has shaken our church family with a profound grief. Her death came suddenly and unexpectedly. The grief and sorrow are so raw right now that it is hard to think about—let alone write about. We have not lost her. We know where she is. Our beautiful sister has gone home to be with the Lord.
When I was a small child growing up in Southwest Kansas we would sometimes entertain ourselves on Summer evenings by sitting out on the porch. We could not retreat to the air conditioning because there was none to retreat to. We found respite in the gentle evening breeze . The clouds we called thunderheads would slowly form, rising like radiant cotton balls in the western night sky. Eventually, the show would begin. The clouds would boil and bulge. Periodically and unpredictably bolts of lightning would break out of the clouds and race across the heavens in an instant. With each flash of the lightning, the sky would erupt with a blinding light. As the storm moved closer the lightning grew more intense. Eventually, the light flashes were accompanied by the deep and booming report of a powerful strike. The house would vibrate as the earth itself trembled under the shock wave of millions of volts of electricity.
As long as the storm clouds were far enough away, it was all comfortably mysterious. We called those displays electric storms. It is entertainment to watch lightning streak across the night sky if you are a safe distance away. It can be terrifying if the strike is too close. Karli’s death came like a lightning bolt out of a clear blue sky. The reality shocked us all. We all know death can happen. Often an illness or an accident cushions the shock. This came with no cushion.
Christians are people of hope. We are resurrection people. We know that believers immediately go to be in the presence of the Lord at death, but we also believe our bodies belong to God and that they rest in the grave awaiting the cry of command that will bring the body and soul back together in God’s way and God’s timing. We know death will be destroyed—in God’s perfect timing.
We miss Karli already. Her sweet spirit and servant’s heart were a powerful presence. She was a woman who was capable in so many ways. She was a trained scientist. She was a horticulturalist whose love of God’s growing world was evident in a myriad of ways. She was the go-to person for advice about growing plants. Her own orchard was a testimony to her ability to graft trees and produce all sorts of wonderful fruit. She was a natural medicine person who researched and replicated many of the pioneer remedies.
She loved animals and was the quintessential farm wife who could manage a household and care for a herd of animals with equal ease. She exercised her gifts with a humble and quiet Christian grace that never drew attention to herself. Like so many women in our church she knew how to be feminine in a world that is deeply confused about what it means to be a woman. She was a wife and a mother and a teacher.
Karli was an evangelist. She had a robust witness at her work place and was a gentle and quiet voice of encouragement to those who did not know the Lord. She deeply loved the Lord and His word. She was our resident Minnesotan and former Lutheran. She was a dear, sweet soul who was easy to love and admire.
Our dear sister loved and cared for her family with passion and poise. She was the female rose among the three male thorns of the Olson family. She and KC lived out the witness of Christian marriage. Their shared accomplishments in the academic world and in the agricultural community are well documented. Her great gifts and tender compassion made her a person of beauty—inside and out. We will miss her physical presence, her passion for Christ and her tender, merciful heart.
Our human tendency is to believe she died too soon. But if we go to the Scripture we will find that our times are in the hands of the Lord. In His infinite love and wisdom God has providentially taken Karli’s physical presence from us. Her influence, love and investment in her family and the Kingdom of Christ live on. We eagerly await the great day when we will all be reunited in Jesus’ presence to rejoice and worship our King forever, together…again.
Blessings,
Pastor John
Coram Deo