Forever Designs

Hey guys! just wanted to share some of the stuff I've been designing for the Olympic Forever team! Check Check Check it out. This is the front of the cards and the back of the cards have information about how to get involved!  If you want a card, send me your address and I'll mail you one :)

It's ok, to not be ok!

Here is the thing I suddenly realized today...I don't know what I'm doing! SUPRISE!  Just in case anyone out there had a misconception that I know what to do, guess what, I don't!  It is completely freeing feeling when I finally come to the realization that I am so inadequate for a job like the OLYMPICS (I put it in caps so you could see how extremely massive the olympics is!  Doesn't it look like a huge word beside the little non-capital words?  

Good, I hope my point has been proven that the Olympics is big and I am not!  I have tried for 3 weeks to live up to an image that I am confident in who I am and what I am doing!  It can almost feel like you are drowning trying to keep everything together and try to please the masses.  It all finally came crashing at dinner tonight when my friend from Switzerland who is here for the week asked me in how I am doing.  I started with a solid "great, things are good, we have contacts around London, we have cool football opportunities lined up" and by the end of the conversation I was crying in a cafeteria full of unsuspecting victums saying "I just don't know what to do,  I'm not strong, I'm not wise, I'm not creative, I'm not good at this job!!"  

Now, this is coming from a girl that has prided herself in the past for not crying in open places and being the strong one when everyone is emotional.  It was a nice humbling lesson!  I think the insensitive me would have sat in the corner mocking the emotional me on this particular occasion, but I don't care anymore, because sometimes it is ok to not be ok.  It was so great to sit there with this friend and be honest.  I came full face with the fact that I am so inadequate for this job, but that God is the definition of adequate!  He makes the capitalized Olympics look like a tiny grain sand in his big picture!  My friend reminded me that it's ok to not know what I'm doing because God does and He is going to get his plan accomplished with or without me.  That is exactly what I needed to hear today!  

I am disposable, this Olympics outreach doesn't hinge on me and will not be held together or broken apart by me.  This outreach has everything to do with God and His name and His story being made known among the whole earth and nothing to do with sports venues and football clinics and church contacts slopped together by Dondi.  I just need to write this now and hopefully get it fully embedded in my brain, so that if I do accomplish anything that looks like even the slightest form of success then I can immediately remember how much I don't know, and how much all of it had to do with the grace of God.  There will never in the next 2 years be a reason for me to ever "pat myself on the back" because I can tell you with confidence, when it's done on my watch and on my own imagination and creativity...it will be disastrous...guaranteed!  

I'm so thankful that God uses people who are so extremely unqualified for a job like this, so it will be obvious at the end of the day who gets the "pat on the back"....(which happens to be one of my pet peeves in Christian culture..."everyone, lets give God a hand!" or "Pat Jesus on the back!" so I just broke my own personal rule...but it's ok, 150 people just saw me break down over a plate of sweet and sour chicken, so today is fair game!)

Witty Jon.

Seriously, this guy Jon Acuff is hilarious!  You need to check out his blog...www.jonacuff.com!   He frequently points out some of the silliness in Christianity, but always brings truth into the situation.  I just get a good laugh out of some of the things he points out and have to nod my head and realize I am sometimes apart of these culture things Christians like. He says things like Sometimes, we fall in love on mission trips even though we know we'll break up when we get back.  Sometimes, you think, "I wish I had a t-shirt that said 'I direct deposit my tithe' so people wouldn't judge me." Sometimes, we have to give the media guy in the back "the head turn" when the slides haven't changed or a microphone isn't on. Sometimes, the stuff that comes with faith is funny  Here is my all time favorite!
  "The Jesus Juke"

Like a football player juking you at the last second and going a different direction, the Jesus Juke is when someone takes what is clearly a joke filled conversation and completely reverses direction into something serious and holy.

In this particular case, when I tweeted a joke about the guy doing pushups, someone tweeted me back, “Imagine If we were that dedicated in our faith, family, and finances?”

I was fine with that idea, I was, but it was a Jesus Juke. We went from, “Whoa, there’s a mountain of a man doing pushups next to the Starbucks at the airport,” to a serious statement about the lack of discipline we have in our faith and our family and our finances.

I don’t know how to spell it, but in my head I heard that sad trumpet sound of “whaaaa, waaaa.”

And that wasn’t even a bad Jesus Juke. I didn’t mind that statement at all. That guy seemed fine. I’ve heard much worse. I once tweeted about going to see Conan O’Brien live and how big the crowd was. Someone wrote back, “If we held a concert for Jesus and gave away free tickets, no one would come.” Whaaa, waaaa.

Chances are you’ve experienced this. Someone pulled the Christian version of the Debbie Downer, they threw out a bit of Jesus Juke on you. If you have, or even if you haven’t, there are three things we all need to know about this particular move.

1. It generates shame.

The Jesus Juke is a great way to tell a friend, “I wish you possessed the uber holiness I do and were instead talking about sweet baby Jesus in this conversation.” It’s like a tiny little “shame grenade,” you throw it into an otherwise harmless conversation and then watch it splatter everyone in guilt and condemnation.

2. It never leads to good conversation.

I’ve been Jesus Juked dozens of times in my life and I’ve never once seen it lead to a productive, healthy conversation. You might think it will before you juke, but what usually happens is just raw amounts of awkwardness, similar to how I felt sitting in a theater watching the Last Airbender.

3. I’ve never met someone who was “juked to Jesus.”

I once tweeted, “No one’s ever said: ‘The way you bitterly mock other Christians helped me begin a life-changing love of Jesus’ (Be kind).” I wrote that because I wanted to remind us that our jerkiness never led folks to Christ. I don’t think our jukes do either. I don’t really see it as a conversion technique. It’s more of a conversation killer technique.

I hope we all keep talking about Jesus. I hope we talk about him lots and lots. I hope he defines our life and conversations. But if I tell you that when it comes to My Little Pony, I tend to prefer Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie and that Toola Roola has been riding their coattails for years, please don’t respond, “You know who created ponies? Our Lord God did, that’s who.”

Has anyone ever pulled a “Jesus Juke” on you?

Cheerio Ole' Chap!

Here is a picture of the entire forever sports team!!  Myself and Rebecka from Sweden (who has made it very clear that she is uninterested in country music....I have 2 years with this girl...we will see how she feels about it at the end of 2012!) Together, we are networking with churches and sports organizations and providing platforms for people to come and join the outreach for the Olympics in 2012.  

Things I have learned in the last month in England.

-As much as I have resisted...it is hard not to naturally say football now when referring to soccer...I've CONFORMED!!

-Never trust the weatherman...so called "sunny" days are a tease...they should just do a month forecast and copy and paste "cold and rainy" on every day of the week.  I haven't de-thawed since I have arrived.

-Saying "my pants are dirty" is actually is referring to your underware...trousers, always say trousers.

-mocking the english accent by saying "bloody" and "cheerio" all the time doesn't help the whole making friends process.

-4 cups of tea in one day is a low count for the day

-Fish and Chips is the meal to eat here...sad when you have your hopes up for fish and doritos and they bring out Fish and Fries...Chips=Fries.

--There is alot of work to be done and only 24 hours in one day.

--I officially work for Youth With a Meeting.
--Having a chat with a friend over a cup of hot tea make bad days, good and good days, better!

--Football  Soccer is an international language. 

--On my own strength, I'm worthless. In my weakness...He is strongest.

--I'm not wise enough, creative enough, bold enough to do this task...God provides so much grace.

--The nations are already in London, in one area we will work there are 67 different languages spoken in one school.

--God is going to be known and famous in this City.

Gordon Keith's uncomfortable interview with Zach Galifianakis

I can't explain why, but everytime I watch this video, I just can't stop laughing!

Matt Chandler on Leading Your Church and Yourself through Suffering

Good Quotes

"Best-case scenario is that God heals you. . . . Worst-case scenario, honestly, is that you get killed in a car wreck on your way home today."

"Nothing’s really changed for you—you just get to be aware that you’re mortal. Everyone is, but they’re just not aware of it. The gift that God’s given you is that you get to be aware of your mortality."

288 months OLD and 23 trips around the sun!

Surfing in Australia

Cape Town, South Africa

Semi-Finals of the World Cup. Netherlands vs. Uruguay

African Safari.

Quarter Finals Argentina vs. Germany....Vamos Argentina!

South African Safari!

Magazine Photoshoot! We're FAMOUS!

Sydney Tower, We were in the Sydney Newspaper here!

Sydney, Australia

Skydiving!

Ice Climbing in New Zealand

Bungy Swing, New Zealand

Skiing in the Swiss Alps!

24 years old today!  I remember when I was 18 thinking…man, 24 year olds are so old, and yet here I am reaching old age and loving every minute of it!  I have decided I really like birthdays, because it means I went through one more year of learning from my stupidity and realizing more and more that I really don't know much.  At 18, I thought I knew alot and had life figured out....so now, I can look back respond back to my 18 year old self..."oh yeah, well I think 18 year olds are stupid because you already know everything!" I just pray that each birthday I can look back at the last year and see growth in wisdom and humility!  So conclusion, Birthdays are great! My life completely changed last year, so I'm challenging 24 to try and beat 23! 

I pulled a few photos from my life this last year to remember the crazy adventures of 23! I can’t believe I was able to surf in Australia, go on an African Safari, attend a few world cup games, skydive, bungy and ice climb in New Zealand, and ski in the Swiss Alps!  I look at the places I have been and it really feels like I completed a life time bucket list in one year!  I have learned so much from these adventures like Learning more of what it means to be in awe of the Creator. Watching the violent waves crash against the shores of Australia and Africa and sitting in wonder of the power and majesty just in His pinky.  Or noticing how the mountains of Switzerland and the Sunsets of New Zealand seem to be God’s way of exclaiming “This is mine, this belongs to me!” that Creation is pointing to a creator and then in turn having a desire to not be out done by a rock.  Learning what worshiping as a lifestyle looks like and learning about fear of the Lord.  While on the African Safari, the Lion demanded my attention.  I couldn’t keep my eyes off of them, there was a fear of them but not in a oh crap that animal could destroy me sort of way, but a fear as in an awe inspiring, powerful sort of way.  The term “Lion of Judah” was brought to life!

Yes, I have seen a lot of cool things this year and I feel extremely blessed, but all of those things fail in comparison when placed against the fact that I was able to know God and make Him known among the nations!  The other things were almost worthless in comparison!  The adrenaline rush fades, the soccer team I love so much will lose, the snow will melt, but the word of the Lord is eternal.  The things I was able to see God move and restore and renew was so much greater than I could ever describe on paper!  The friendships I have made this year and the people I have grown to love is what I will look back at in 50 years and remember how life changing 23 was!  I pray that next year, I will look back at this point and get to pray “wow, God, I thought I knew you then.”  That God would continue to reveal himself and overwelm me with his love that I can’t help but share it with others!  Here’s to the 24^th time around the sun! OLE!