Adventures in Odyssey Home Page

After you’ve heard “The Jubilee Singers, Parts 1, 2, & 3,” check out this devotional thought. (If you haven’t heard the episode, check out the Media Player. You can also find a station in your area.)

The Jubilee Singers today

By Catherine Wilson

The Jubilee Singers sang songs like “Swing Low Sweet Chariot,” and “The Gospel Train.” Have you ever sang songs like those or “This Train is Bound for Glory,” “Children Go Where I Send Thee,” or “Go Tell It on the Mountain?” I always loved these songs, but for a long time, I didn’t know their history. Christians wrote them in slavery many years ago. When these songs were created they weren’t written down, but they were sung over and over, and memorized.

Now that I know the story behind the music, I like to think that by singing these songs, I have a connection to the authors, and the other Christians who’ve sung them. Now I can sing “Go Tell It on the Mountain” and remember that one-hundred-fifty years ago, Christians were just as excited about Christ’s birth as I am now, even though they were in slavery.

It’s so special to sing these songs because we are brothers and sisters in Christ with the authors of the songs we sing. By singing, we can praise God with brothers and sisters from all different walks of life. And by knowing the history of these songs, we can sing them with even more enthusiasm because we know why they were written!

What are some of your favorite church songs? Do you know their history? Let us know in the comments below!

After you’ve heard “Grandma’s Visit,” check out this devotional thought. (If you haven’t heard the episode, check out the Media Player. You can also find a station in your area.)

Dinner?

By Catherine Wilson

In “Grandma’s Visit,” when the Parker family got to know their strange relatives, it sounded a little too familiar to me. I took some unusual vacations when I was a kid. While other kids were going to Disney World or to a cabin on a lake, I was going to my Grandma and Grandpa’s house. When I got there, the table was always set with raw hamburger, cabbage boiled in lemon juice, hummus, spinach turnovers, and mashed garbanzo beans. These are the kinds of foods that my grandparents ate on a regular basis! After watching all the adults eat this strange dinner and eating all the plain rice that I could stand, it was time for me to do the dishes. Who would call this a vacation?

My grandpa has since died and my grandma can’t cook by herself anymore. And guess what? I really miss those big meals at Grandma and Grandpa’s. At the time, I spent way too long complaining to myself about the weird food. Now I look back and miss the good conversations, and the fun games that I played with my cousins.

You’ll never guess how I connect with my Grandma now. I’ve decided that I really like all that “weird food” now (well, except for raw hamburger). When I go see my Grandma I ask her to help me make stuffed cabbage, hummus, and spinach turn-overs. I never would have thought of those “weird foods” as something I would like, not to mention make it for myself and my friends!

I’ve realized that I love my family, especially the “weird” stuff. That’s really what makes them unique and special. Just like the Parkers, it took me a while to realize how cool my weird family was.

Do you have any unusual family traditions? What does your family do to stay connected? Let us know in the comments below.

After you’ve heard “For the Birds,” check out this devotional thought. (If you haven’t heard the episode, check out the Media Player. You can also find a station in your area.)

By Catherine Wilson

Camilla’s adventures with pets reminded me a lot of my own family’s pet experiences. Just like Camilla, my parents told me that our family was a “no-pet family.” And just like Camilla I really, really wanted a pet. Then, one day in the summer, in the empty lots behind our house I saw a creamy-white and orange tabby cat. “Hi there kitty, do you belong to somebody?” I asked. I knew it wasn’t safe to pet a strange animal and the cat wouldn’t let us get within ten feet of her. Still, I was excited. Maybe God sent this cat to our family!

Some of my neighbors and I looked for its owner, but no one came to claim her. We took turns with the neighbors leaving food for the cat, and named it Tammy. Tammy got to be more and more friendly, eventually letting us pet her. The leaves began to change color and I asked my mom again if we could keep Tammy. She finally said, “Catherine, if winter comes and that cat still doesn’t have a home, then we can talk about keeping her.” I was so close! I practically had a pet!

One day I got off the school bus and Tammy wasn’t there! One of my neighbors had taken Tammy to the vet for a check up. I thought that was nice. If Tammy was healthy, maybe that would be all my mom needed to let me adopt her! Then, after dinner, my neighbors came over to tell me more news: “Catherine! Catherine! The vet’s assistant adopted Tammy!”

How disappointing! I was so close! Like Camilla, I was sad that things didn’t go my way. I was even angry for a while. That was going to be my cat! But I had to learn that even though it wasn’t my plan, God had taken care of Tammy and now she was in a good home.

In Matthew 6, Jesus said, “look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” Jesus is telling us that He will take care of our needs. I guess that I didn’t really need to have a cat.

Sometimes things don’t turn out the way that we hope, but we have to learn that God’s plans are bigger and better than ours, even when we don’t understand what’s happening. That vet’s assistant was probably better at taking care of cats than I would have been. I’m sure that Tammy and her owner are very happy together.

Have you ever had any adventures with pets in your family? Tell us in the comments below!

After you’ve heard “Target of the Week,” check out this devotional thought. (If you haven’t heard the episode, check out the Media Player. You can also find a station in your area.)

By Catherine Wilson

Matthew had a tough time with bullies in today’s show and decided that his only way out was revenge. Later, he did the right thing by apologizing to Vance, but even then, Vance didn’t give up his bullying ways.

Matthew’s dilemma reminds me of two kids I know named Thomas and Michael. One day at school, Michael was waiting in line for the drinking fountain when Thomas pushed him out of the way. Michael was upset, but when he went home that day, his mother suggested that maybe Thomas just needed a friend. The next day Michael talked with Thomas, and found out that both of them liked spaceships and water balloon fights. Today, the two are best friends. They build enormous Lego spaceships together and they’re always on the same side in water balloon fights.

In the Bible, Jesus says to “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” Sometimes, a bully just needs a friend. And sometimes, a bully is just a bully and being their friend won’t make them treat you any better. But, however a bully acts, we know that revenge isn’t the answer.

When you treat a bully with love, you might gain a friend, like Michael did with Thomas, or gain respect, like Matthew did with Vance. But even if you don’t get either of those things, you will please God because you treated others as Jesus did. And if nothing else works, you can always pray for a bully.

Did you ever have an enemy that God helped to change into a friend? I’d love to hear about it on the blog!

After you’ve heard “Game for a Mystery,” check out this devotional thought. (If you haven’t heard the episode, check out the Media Player. You can also find a station in your area.)

By Catherine Wilson

Ah, what a beautiful day outside! The sun is shining. The birds are singing. I think I’ll go take a bike ride right now.


Oh, wait, I said that I would write a devotional thought first. Oh, but that sun feels so nice through the window…


Sorry, everybody. Back to Adventures in Odyssey. In today’s episode, Barrett didn’t do the chores his father gave him and, instead, he played his video game. I would never do something like that…oh wait! I think I almost did that just now, when I wanted to go outside. It’s easy to put off the tasks that we’re assigned. Chores can seem so unimportant. But what if we looked at chores and tasks a different way?


The apostle Paul tells us that, “whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Colossians 3:23). If we look at all our work as God’s work, maybe we would all change how we go about our tasks and chores. If Barrett had thought of trimming the hedge as something he was doing for God, he probably would have started his chores a lot sooner! God wants us to honor our parents. So doing the chores that our parents assign us is working for God.


You know, I actually did enjoy writing this devotional thought, and I still have time to go for a bike ride. But do you know what’s even better? By writing this devotion I honored God, and, by going on a bike ride I can honor God again, by appreciating his creation. I think it’s pretty great how you can honor God in “whatever you do.”


By doing our everyday tasks to the best of our ability we are working for God. Can you think of some of the jobs that you do everyday? How do you do your best at those tasks? You can tell us about it right here!