Karen’s Notes
Celebrating Six Years of Sharing from this Glory-Bound Lady
Volume 6 Number 11
Posting # 255 “The Day Karen Marched Me Back to My Office by My Ear!”
March 15th, 2023

Thanks for stopping by.
Did Karen really march me back to my office as she pulled my ear? Yes indeed.
Was she laughing when she did this or was I in the biggest trouble of my lifetime? I will let you know the answer to this in just a few moments.

Something that I want you to know about Karen.
While we served the First Baptist Church of Marilla, New York, I had an excellent secretary named Marie. Everyone loved and appreciated her. Marie’s husband was a public school teacher, and one summer in our ministry there, Marie asked to have the summer off so that she and her husband could do some traveling on their well-earned vacation.

By now Jeremy was old enough to watch his younger brothers and sisters throughout the morning (the parsonage was next door if there was a problem at home!) and this would give him a little income. So Karen was willing to become my secretary for two months during the summer.

One of the things that you will find interesting is that she didn’t like to call people on the phone. She never minded talking with people who phoned her, but she was always afraid that she would call at a bad time and interrupt someone. We missed Marie but truly enjoyed this very different season of life we were in.

Many years later, Karen would be speaking at ladies’ retreat on the subject of thriving in your seasons by trusting the Lord. She used 1 Corinthians 15:57 to close out one of her sessions. Let me share the Scripture and then I’ll share what she wrote in her final few sentences in the conference worksheets.

“Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).

What a great reminder. Here’s what she wrote one day.
As God’s creation is refreshed and rested through the changes of season, so do we have opportunity to grow and “thrive” though our seasons of life. Some of the seasons are easier to deal with than others. The challenge is to respond in a Godly manner bringing glory to the LORD rather than to react in the flesh and tarnish our testimony.

Here’s my takeaway.
Some seasons of life are so enjoyable that we think of them often. God refreshes us.
Some seasons of life are so difficult that we must not forget how God holds and helps us.
Regardless of the season of life, our highest purpose remains the same: God is glorified through us.

Let me send you on your way with a smile.
I told you that Karen was filling in as my secretary for Marie for the couple of months she would be out. One day no one was in the office complex except Karen and me. I saw her standing at the copier with her back to me. So, I quietly walked up beside her, kissed her on the cheek and said, “You are the first church secretary I have ever kissed!”

We both burst out laughing and in a blink of the eye she had me by my left ear and started walking away, towing me behind her. Of course, I put up a big fuss as if I were being lead to the slaughter. She walked me right out of the secretary’s office, across the hall, still pulling my ear as we marched to my desk.

Before she let go she declared, “And I better be the last church secretary you ever kiss. Got it?”

We both laughed a lot about that. By the way, she was indeed the ONLY church secretary (and any other lady) I ever kissed (except for family of course!) May the Lord bless you in whatever season you are in right now.