Being an Example

To be up front with you this is more of a tribute than a blog post. I had the opportunity to be part of the celebration of life of my friend Scott yesterday. I knew him for the last 15 years of his life and I am a better man because of knowing him. Scott and I weren’t best friends or even close friends, we were brothers in our faith; which is deeper than many friendships, regardless of the time we spent together. What I will always have because of my time with Scott is wisdom that can only be gained by 2 guys being confused together, trusting God for the answer and then being obedient to follow though on where He leads you. 

The only way I can truly express what this guy meant to me and those he interacted with is the story about him almost getting fired months after we met. Scott had just started at a new church in our area and was tasked with connecting with the local residents around the church. So he wandered around the neighborhood and did something novel for a church leader and talked to the people he met around the church. After a while, he came up with an idea to help connect with the folks he was meeting in the neighborhood. So he sent out invitations and people came to the church. When they arrived, Scott had moved all of the pews in the church and rented a blow up bouncy house castle sat in there place. That night the people of the neighborhood sat in a blowup castle and learned about the kingdom of God; some for the first time. The thing I loved about Scott is how he was able to bring the Bible to life and he did it in spades with the bouncy castle. In doing so, he showed everyone who sat in that castle that he cared about them, cared about them enough to do something special just for them. After the successful event, the church board who called him to connect with the community now wanted to fire him for moving the pews. As I talked to Scott about the situation, he said something that will aways stick with me, “I am a recovering legalist, it’s way easier to love people then to condemn them”. 

That’s how Scott lived his life, he loved people, helping them know who God is and what He did for all of us in spite of ourselves. He was the pastor of a small little church but his son said it best, “Dad was a pastor to all that he encountered”. He was and will be an example for all of us on how to love people, serve God and meet them where they are at, even if it’s in a bouncy castle.

Geremy Olson

ND AIM Tournament Director, Outdoorsman, Producer, Firefighter & Public Speaker

241ink.org

You Can't

Last week during a really early morning when I couldn’t sleep again like most nights….this sleepless night wasn’t because of nightmares, I was excited and I had a really dry hotel room. For starters, and to get it out of the way, what engineering feat would it be to make a hotel room just a little bit better than a dehydrator? I’m sure if you left some meat sprinkled with some seasoning on a rack in most hotel rooms you would have a good batch of jerky by the end of a show.  Oh, the “show”, that’s where the excitement comes into the story. I was setting up for an ice fishing vendor show that I was helping Peter and Andrew with and had the opportunity to teach a seminar with Peter on “Hunting Big Pike” when God jumped in and did what he does. But before we get to that we need to look at the reason why it was so exciting.

I grew up in a hard working North Dakota home where your work ethics and self sufficiency were cornerstones to an upbringing. Along with that, was financial responsibility and planning. All of these principles were rooted in scripture and taught more by example than anything. After getting hurt, one of the hard things for me, because of this mindset, was accepting help and accepting the fact that I still had any personal worth even though we had to claim insolvency and lost everything we had because I volunteered one day.  Going through this in life was really hard, but I and my family learned some additional Biblical principles that bring balance to what most of us are raised with in rural communities. Reliance, yep that’s right, reliance. It doesn’t take long to figure out how God has taken care of me and my family over the years and it never fails to amaze me at how He does it and when.

What’s frustrating and hardest for me to work though is all the people that make it a point to interject their knowledge and wisdom into our life without looking at the facts of what God is doing. The hardest is when we hear the line, “you can’t live your life like that, you need to take care of yourself.” Now, the last time I checked, I chose to volunteer and did not choose the financial situation I am in because of that choice to volunteer. However what I and my family learned is how when we rely on God, He never lets you down. What’s frustrating is when people tell us,“you can’t live your life like that” they are saying you have to stop relying on God. What’s sad is that they don’t even know what they are saying. 

Which gets to the excitement of the trip. This has been a better year for business but as many business people know that means you don’t always have the cash on hand when you would like it. Planning for a series of video shoots and ice fishing vendor shows one after another means you need to be frugal with your cash and pray that God will supply what you need and this last weekend He did. For starters, the old Missouri Secrets suburban is on it’s last set of tires and we needed a vehicle to pull the trailer to events. What do you know, God supplied both the money and the truck. I can tell you that interesting story another time. For a couple of weeks before the show, we talked as a family about how tight finances are and how we needed to think through every purchase and that if God wanted us to have anymore, He would supply it. On the night before the show, the boys were helping a friend set up his booth because that’s what friends do. As the boys walked out to the truck afterwards, they apologized to me for accepting the money our friend gave them for helping. As we got in the truck and were driving away, I reminded them that we were praying for God to supply our needs and that He just covered all of our meals for the trip with that money. Andrew said, “wow I never thought about it that way.” That’s what’s exciting about this trip, and maybe even this sleepless night, learning about reliance and hard work at the same time with my kids. It’s exciting to see how and when God answers prayers and how we are the answer to peoples’ prayers and don’t even know it. 

Before you tell someone “you can’t”, remember to get the entire story and let God do His thing.

Geremy Olson

Outdoorsman, Producer, Firefighter & Public Speaker

241ink.org

Plagiarism 101

For all of you that know my story I think most of you would agree that I have seen my fair share of stressful situations. In spite of all of my near death experiences there may be one that sticks out in my mind as being the most memorable. It is not the time I fell on a bow saw in third grade cutting my neck wide open, nor is it the time I thought to my self, “If fish can breath underwater why can’t I.” For the record, nearly drowning is off my to do list. No, one of the most death defying events in my life happened when my mouth engaged before my brain and I said the wrong thing to the wrong person. You are also wrong when you sit there reading this and are laughing while waiting to see what I said to my wife. Granted I have said many things to my wife that would be classified as brave, dangerous, or down right stupid, but these pale in comparison to this, my most death-defying action. I looked a librarian in the eye and said these words,”the key to innovation is plagiarism.” Yep, I said it. With that look that only a librarian can produce with a finger up to their lips and eyes that could bore a hole to China in seconds she looked at me and said, “excuse me?”. Yes, I did it. I repeated myself. What is interesting is after explaining myself, she had to agree with me. So I lived to write this blog.

I work with folks all the time who struggle with getting their message across. They spend no time at all on their message or way to much time trying to find a new way to tell their story. There are other organizations that are chiseling their message in stone and are looking for another chisel. What’s funny about this is the dyslexic guy knows there are less than 40 possible plots for any story. Some say there are only four plots. So for starters, if you tell a story you just changed the characters. 

Contrary to popular belief, I am not fond of making mistakes. Especially the ones that hurt me or other people. It kills me to watch people make mistakes that are avoidable. Understanding current and past history is a great way to learn from others’ mistakes and not repeat them. Learning from others’ mistakes is usually simpler and protects us and those we affect. My dad always says learning is what happens when you read the manual and an education is what you get when you don’t. Maybe you need to be dyslexic like me to find the humor in the statement that “plagiarism is copying anyone without giving them credit”. Well, quite frankly I can’t even spell the Ikea guy’s name who wrote the directions when putting together their furniture (how do you give the guy credit if you can’t even spell the guy’s name??). Yet I am supposed to copy whatever he drew on the directions?

I think I am done rambling and ready to get to the point. Every successful advertising campaign, leadership fad, program, fill in the blank has one thing in common. It worked before with another name. All that someone did is make it understandable to a new audience or generation. So if your company, organization or church is having a herd time getting your message across, take a look back and see when it quit working, then look at your audience and see how they are communicating and tweak the message as needed. Take a close look at others that are successfully communicating and copy it with your unique signature. A great example is  missions. Many churches across the country are struggling with declining numbers. Their message and actions haven’t changed in decades and they are confused why they aren’t getting anywhere. They do this while supporting missionaries around the world that have churches that are growing and thriving. The churches that take the basic principles of the missionaries they support are also growing and thriving. When fire professionals take basic pastoral care principles and apply them to people effected by disasters, people are thankful and calm. When the old, cold tactics are implemented, people are angry and frustrated. See? The key to innovation is plagiarism. Take what works and use it to positively change lives without hurting people or yourself. Within your area of influence it is considered innovative. For those who understand history, it is wise. Just don’t tell the librarian.

Geremy Olson

Outdoorsman, Producer, Firefighter & Public Speaker

241ink.org

Staying onTarget

Last week I had one of those nights in parenting that could have gone horribly wrong. I did take my own advice and I took a deep breath, thought the situation through, waited to open my mouth until I was sure I would say something intelligent, useful and educational. We have all been there as parents and as kids, when something didn’t go right and someone jumps to the worse case scenario and freaks out as if being on fire without a fire extinguisher would be better then what they are encountering. Like freaking out has ever helped anything ever, yet it is the go-to for most people in perceived stressful situations. So as things seemed to be going downhill fast, I looked at Peter, who wasn’t sure if he should be concerned or not, and said, “it’s usually the little things that cause trouble, don’t think worse case.” He said OK as we are driving home with randomly dimming headlights, surging engine, gauges flickering and way more wacky things happening that would make any movie special effects coordinator happy as could be. For the three of us in the truck, we were thinking about the possible long walk home. Peter was wondering how he was going to pay for repairs and/or get to the fishing tournament that was on the schedule that week, with a truck that was behaving like the leading character in a horror movie. However, Peter trusted my word and as we made it home we agreed to take a good look at it in the morning and then see if it was ok to get concerned about it.

Five years earlier, Peter and I went through an interesting chain of events that taught both of us a lot about looking at the whole situation before jumping to conclusions. When he was eleven years old, Peter bought a new bow for his first year of archery hunting. Over the last two years he had worked diligently to gain the needed proficiency and strength to go deer bow hunting. There are some out there who love to say this is too young, but the trouble with objective standards is age has little to do with them. The fact was that he was ready and his older brother and I were not. Peter had a consistent three inch group from all shooting locations out to 30 yards. On our first trip to the stand we were two and a half hours into the hunt when a deer walked in at 12 yards. My heart was pounding like never before as Peter stood up and aimed like he had been hunting forever. He gave me the nod and I gave a grunt, the deer stopped and Peter released the arrow and time stood still. I was shocked when the arrow went wide right hitting the deer, but way forward of where it should have been. We stayed in the stand and waited as the deer ran off. I was lost for words as we looked for 3 days for that deer before seeing it alive and well with a graze mark on it’s brisket. As we drove home that night of the miss, I was consoling Peter and justifying in my own mind why he missed that give-me, 12 yard shot. I explained to him that in the heat of the moment everyone gets excited and grips the bow too tight and that throws off the shot. For the next two weeks I worked with him and tried everything I could do help him focus on getting back that three inch group. All to no avail, his shots were flying left and right covering a six to eight foot area. He was hitting dead-on only about half the time. What was most frustrating to me is that I couldn't see what he was doing wrong and he was frustrated because he was doing every thing the same every shot, which is the key to archery. A mentor of mine recommended that I lighten up on the training and just spent time in the tree stand with him. If it is in his head the only way to get it out is with a good clean shot, he recommended. As we were walking out to the stand that trip, Peter look at me and asked, “Dad why is my sight moving?” What in the world? His sight is loose. I pulled out the allen wrench from my pack and tightened up the one screw that the archery shop never put lock-tight on and he was back to his old self and 2 hours later we were tracking the deer he hit at 22 yards with a perfectly placed shot.

Getting back to our seemingly possessed pick up truck. Peter and I went to the place of wisdom and endless knowledge, both useful and worthless, that’s right; YouTube. With less than 5 minutes of searching we found multiple videos that showed the same possessed pick up symptoms that we were encountering and the solution was annoyingly simple. Turns out there is an 11mm bolt on the back of the engine compartment that holds the grounding wire tight. We tightened it up and the truck lost all hopes of ever starring in a Hollywood feature movie. 

What I love about parenting is learning together with my family. Freaking out about something never helps and never ever makes things better. Think of how much it would have cost if we had rushed to a dealer to have someone else fix our problem without thinking it through. Peter would be broke, he and his brother Andrew would have missed weighing their personal best in the fishing tournament. If I would have scolded Peter for missing the deer he may have never bow hunted again. I would have never figured out that he missed that deer because of a simple mechanical problem that I and the archery shop neglected to find. Most long term hurts in life are a result of losing sight of the target. It’s our job to teach others what we have learned. When we assume what is wrong instead of fully assessing the situation, we hurt people. But when we learn together, we find the real problems together, make the needed adjustments together and hit the target together. No freaking out required. Besides fun stories and laughing about silly little stuff is way better than hurting people because of short sightedness.

Geremy Olson

Outdoorsman, Producer, Firefighter & Public Speaker

241ink.org

You’re Not Really….

I had an interesting discussion with someone last week. We were talking about statements like these: 

“You’re a volunteer, you’re not a real firefighter.” “You have a job so you can’t be in ministry.” “You’re at the bottom of the seniority list you can’t be a leader.” Take a minute to come up with the list of statements like these that you have heard over the years. If you are the one making comments like these, please read the whole blog in context before passing judgment. 

What’s intriguing about comments like these is where and when they are made. Typically these comments are made in the context of an occupation, whether someone is paid for the activity or not. Secondly, these comments are made within the confines of a organizational chart. Another thing about these comments is where they pop up and where they don’t. I have never heard someone say, “you’re not a fishermen because you only fish weekends.” “You’re not a high school football player, you only play 8 games a year.” “You can’t be a wood worker, you don’t own a business.” But when it come to areas of life involving leadership and life safety, these statements come out of the woodwork…sorry couldn't help the pun. 

Let’s take a look at a couple of principles before we look at the statements above. My son Andrew asked me a question the other day after attending his drivers ed class. “Dad there was an ad for a first aid kit that said I am a first responder. Is that right?” I responded “yes”.  Regardless of who you are, if you are the first person on a scene you are a first responder. What makes the difference is what level of training and experience you have. I know life guards who have never had to make a save. I know people that just as part of life, have a half dozen or more. Whether you are paid or just in the right place at the right time, you are the one who saved a life, if you took appropriate action. It’s all about being available and then acting when a need is evident. The second thing to look at is leadership. It’s tough for many people to handle, but here it is. Leaders are people that others follow, not a position on an org chart. Someone may have all the titles they want before and after their name, if they are not a leader, no one’s going to follow them. Leaders are people that have many different qualities and styles but through their actions, compel people to follow them anywhere, through anything.

To start summing this all up, it boils down to this. You are what you are made for, what you step up to do when it’s needed and what you specialize in. There are many kinds of firefighters and they are all firefighters. The kid digging line, the logistics unit leader, the finance team, the runners, the radio dispatchers and all the other positions on the team are firefighters. Regardless if their job at home is biologist, business owner, full time, part time, volunteer, retired or housewife. They are all still firefighters regardless of anyone’s opinion or expectations. 

The same is true when it come to spiritual things. It doesn’t matter if you are a pastor, church worker, new Christian or lifer. Your availability to meet the needs at hand have more to do with your ability to minister than any title or pay grade. Here is another hard pill for many to swallow. If you are not willing to live life with people, you are incapable of carrying out the Great Commission. Let that soak in a little bit. Remember, you are what you are made for, what you step up to do when it’s needed and what you specialize in. Whether you are paid or not, it’s about being available and taking the appropriate action that saves lives. 

Over the years, I have found one other similarity in pretty much every person I have heard who the beginning statements are made about. They are almost always servant leaders. They don’t care about accolades, position, or power. They care about being available to do what God made them to do. They care about meeting the needs of those who have needs. They put others first because it’s the right thing to do. I heard an EMT tell a reporter one time, “I just do what I hope someone would do for my family if they were in need.” 

These beginning statements are made in ignorance, with uninformed expectations and non-practical standards. If you hear someone make them, put them in their place. If you make these statements, think about what you are saying. Realize that your understanding does not determine other’s understanding and most importantly their willingness to be available when needs arise.

Geremy Olson

Outdoorsman, Producer, Firefighter & Public Speaker

241ink.org

Fix It

So here are a few comments that I keep hearing about the church. “It’s our church so we go.” “It’s full of sinners, you just have to accept that’s the way it’s going to be.” “It’s not perfect, but you still need to go.” “That’s just the way they are, we need to show grace.” “Every church is good at some things, you need to find the one that’s right for you.” I have spent years trying to figure out how to answer these false statements but seem to struggle at every turn. For those of you reading this that like to jump to conclusions, this is not an anti-church blog. On the contrary, it is a pro-Biblical church blog and a call to many to look in the mirror; to see what they are justifying instead of fixing. 

It’s kind of funny, really, when you step back and look at it. If every time you took your car to a mechanic where it never got fixed and sometimes got worse, would you still go to that mechanic…nope. What would you do if you took your clothes to the dry cleaner and when you went to pick them up they were mostly clean, except for one new stain that wasn't there before. When you inquire about the stains the answer is, “That’s just the way it is.” My bet is you’re never going back. 

For the sake of space, I am going to break the building blocks of the church down into a few simple points (this is because there is not room to quote all 66 books of the Bible here). The Church is where we are to learn and grow in Christ together. The Church is where we are to eat, pray and worship together. The Church brings people together who, outside of Christ, would never hang out together. The Church meets peoples’ needs.  Finally, the Church lives life together praising God in all that they do. When the Church does all of these things it grows and is healthy.

Now, the comment I hear all over the place is, “but people are sinners, it doesn’t work that way.” One of my mentors in ministry puts it this way, “the Church is God’s perfect institution entrusted to sinful people.” The Church will never be perfect and we do need to operate with grace. What we can’t do is ignore mistakes, ignorance and sins in the name of grace. We need to repent of our mistakes, ignorance and sins, seek reconciliation and make the necessary changes to prevent it from happening again. When we justify mistakes, ignorance and sins in our churches, we hurt people and lose track of the foundation of the church.

Here is the painful reality many in churches are unwilling to accept. Church is not an excuse. Regardless if it’s a mistake, something done in ignorance or a sin, it is something that needs to be identified, repented of and not repeated. When these things are ignored and justified they are rewarded and they replace the Biblical building blocks of the church. Churches with these weaker foundations still do some good but are like an engine running on five of it’s eight cylinders. They have all sorts of great stories that sound good about things happening in their church but are leaving a wake of spiritually and emotionally hurt people. 

What is sad about this problem is it has a simple fix. If your car needs oil, you add oil, you don’t say, “that’s the way it is.” If we make a mistake, we need to say we are sorry and work hard to not repeat the mistake. If we don’t, then we are now justifying our actions and are guilty of sinning. We need to listen to others and the Holy Spirit so we can recognize when we have done something wrong and instead of justifying it we need to make amends, repent and take actions to keep it from ever happening again. The goal is not to be perfect, it is to help people, not to hurt them. Because what is rewarded is repeated, what isn’t corrected is assumed to be correct. It kills me to hear church leaders sit around asking why their church isn’t growing, while refusing to look in the mirror or the wake they are leaving. If they did, they would see what building blocks they need to attend to. We can only fix that which we are willing to look at. So don’t be afraid to identify what’s wrong in your church and fix it. 

Geremy Olson

Outdoorsman, Producer, Firefighter & Public Speaker

241ink.org

Catching Fish

I had someone ask the other day, “why is it that you catch so many fish and we can’t seem to catch a fish at all.” Before I could answer I had to get more information. They preceded to tell me about all the things they had tried and went into great detail about all the work they put into planning every trip. After they were done filling me in on everything they had to say, I saw the problem. Every decision that they made was based on something they wanted. Their trip was scheduled on what worked for them. They went to the part of the lake that they had success before, even though the lake has changed a lot since then. Finally, they were fishing with the latest lure they saw on tv. What I told them was not revolutionary or even a secret. It’s the way people have successfully fished for countless generations.

First, you need to go to where the fish are. Fish can change location at any time and for many reasons. If you are fishing where they are not, you’re going to get skunked. To figure out where the fish are, you need to understand the fish: how they see, what they eat and what conditions they are most comfortable in. To understand what make a fish tic takes time on the water. Time observing and learning. Fishermen that catch fish understand that they have to go to where the fish are.

Timing is everything when your fishing. Knowing how to predict where and when fish will be is the second step to catching them. You see, if you plan a fishing trip on your schedule it almost always leads to a boring trip without fish. But when you plan your trip around the fish, it’s amazing how exciting that trip can be. And when you are willing to drop everything and go fishing when you get word that they are biting, those are the days that you will never forget. It really stinks when you hear, “man you should have been here yesterday.”

Once you have found the fish, if you want to catch them, you need to give them what they want. This can change day-by-day and hour-by-hour. Sometimes they are active and they will chase your presentation and other times you need to give them something right in front of their face before they will bite. Color can make all the difference in the world. Red can be the hot color one day and other days you have to cycle through gold, black, green, blue and white to trigger a strike. It is also important to understand what they are hungry for. If it is a worm bite and you are using minnows, color may not matter, you’re not going to catch anything.

If you want to catch fish you have to learn to ignore what you want and like and start understanding what the fish is looking for and what they are reacting to. You see, fish react to their environment. They make decisions based on the environment they live in, not based on what we think or even want. Productive fishermen have figured this out and that is why they catch fish. They are not lucky, they are purposeful in their pursuit of fish. 

The question we need to ask is, do we want to fish our way or God’s way?  Here are a few resources to look up to help you answer the question. Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 28:16-20, John 13, 1 Corinthians 9:21-23 & Philippians 2. These are just a place to get started on learning how to catch fish the way Jesus called us to.

Tight lines.

Geremy Olson

Outdoorsman, Producer, Firefighter & Public Speaker

241ink.org

Purpose

Well one down and three to go. Yep, my oldest graduated from high school and has ventured out on his own. To say that this was an interesting experience would be an understatement. Not because of Dan leaving home, but all of the crazy comments my wife and I have heard about having a graduate. You know the comments. “He’ll be back”, “Get your wallet ready’, “You need to constantly check up on them so they don’t screw up”, “You have to be so sad that he is leaving” and way more. These comments are not anywhere close to accurate.  I will miss having him around, but missing him doesn't come close to how proud I am of the man he has grown into and the future he has. 

Disclaimer: this is not a blog about what we did right as parents, it’s a blog about confidence in God’s direction. Way too often I hear parents say they hope that their kids grow up to do the right thing. Hope is important in life but it can’t be the goal to parenting. The reason I have confidence in my kids’ future is because of the deliberate purpose that we are raising them with. I am not talking about guarantees here; like I said, I am talking about following God’s direction. 

The Bible tells us to raise our kids up in the way they are to be. This means in the way that He made them. So if we have a gifted athlete, it is our responsibility to raise an athlete that loves and serves God. If we have a gifted artist, it is our responsibility to raise an artist that loves and serves God. To do this we are responsible to raise our kids to know all the attributes of who God is. This means showing and teaching grace and judgment,  love and anger, hope and brokenness, joy and sadness, friend and ruler, and a whole lot more. Just like God knows everything about us, it is for us to understand who our kids are, what makes them tick, why they make the decisions they do, what are their dreams, their gifts and limitations. Then set your expectations on what they are capable of and NOT what we as parents want. Finally, as parents we need to realize our kids are entrusted to us by God and He is still in control. 

When it come to Dan heading out on his own, I have confidence in what God has done in his life over the last 18 years. This confidence comes from knowing that we don't have unrealistic expectations for him, but have brought him up in the way God made him. As parents, we always had a purpose, and not hope, in the decisions we made while raising him. We took the time to know him and understand who he was and made the sometimes tough and sometimes absolutely hilarious decisions that would help him be the man that God made him to be. One of the things that every parent struggles with at some point, and will overwhelm you if you don't keep it in check, is taking it personally what your kids do. Part of growing up is testing limits. Sometimes the limits they test are gravity and sometimes they are the limits we as parents set. As parents, we need to understand and remember to be objective and just, when these limits are tested and not take it personally. This is one of the core causes of parent-child frustration. We need to make sure our limits are Biblical and appropriate to each kids’ level of responsibility. Holding a kid back is just as destructive as not having limits at all.

Kirsten and I set out to raise our kids to be adults that will serve God and serve those who God puts in their life. Every decision we have made and are making comes back to this purpose and what each individual kid needs to get to where God wants them. It seems wrong to most people, but to do this we have less rules and not more. The four rules we have for our kids are: If the Bible says its wrong, it’s wrong. Don’t lie. Don’t be defiant. And put other before yourself. Yep that’s it. These are the only things that were punishable offenses. Everything else is a lesson of life that we lived and worked through together. Just like God does with each of us. This includes letting each kid live with the decisions they make. Yes, again, sometimes it’s hard to watch and sometime it is hilarious to watch. Here is the hard fact about raising kids. You can’t give them what they need to grow up. You can supply tools, vision and motivation, but they need to experience all of life, both the ups and downs to grow up. They can’t learn responsibility without the ability to fail. They can’t learn to have faith without the ability to go through trials. As parents we are called to protect our kids but not to shelter them. As Dan ventures out on his own I know he will have successes and he will have trials, and he can’t have one without the other. 

Like I said, I will miss him, but not nearly as much as I will have fun watching what God’s does with him. Kirsten and I have confidence because we taught him to follow God’s direction and we did so with purpose as our goal not hoping that he does the right thing. 

Geremy Olson

Outdoorsman, Producer, Firefighter & Public Speaker

241ink.org

Real Answers

It has been just over 13 years ago now that I was injured as a volunteer firefighter while engaging a wildfire near my hometown at the time. As I laid in my hospital bed asking what happened, many people gave their opinions, quick anecdotal answers, and life experience. Without fail, they always justified their comments by saying, “there was nothing you could have done” or “it’s fire, it just happens.” I knew in my heart and mind that they were trying to make me feel better, but the reality was clear they didn't have any more answers than I did to why I got hurt that hot April day. Instead of feeling better, I struggled. Struggled with what I had done wrong, what I should have done different, why I did everything right and still got hurt.

On the third week of my hospital stay a young man pushed in a pastor friend of mine who was recovering from a stroke. The pastor induced him as Dave, a wildland firefighter, and that we might have some stuff to talk about. Dave and I started talking and without either of us knowing, the pastor snuck out of the room leaving Dave and I to talk. Turns out, Dave was more than a wildland firefighter, he was a fire behavior analyst. As we talked I was able to ask questions and he was able to give me the straight forward and sometimes hard to hear answers. In the weeks after we met, he sat down with me and helped me go through the computer modeling so I could see exactly why I got hurt and what I did right and what I did wrong. Without what Dave did for me I would still be asking those questions. I was able to get closure on that part of my injuries.

Fast forward 11 years and questions were still coming up. Questions I did not anticipate or quiet frankly know how to handle. So I did what everyone does, I started asking around wondering if someone had some answers. The trouble with these questions is that they were dealing with the emotional injuries I was either still recovering from, or in some cases, was still finding. Just like after I got hurt, people gave their opinions, quick anecdotal answers, and life experience. But this time, without fail, they ended their thoughts with statements to  my questions like, “you just need to get over it or that’s in the past you need to move on.” Needless to say, this only made things worse.

It wasn't until one day at a local bait shop that I ran into a guide named Chuck who takes  wounded veterans out fishing, that again life began to change for the better. Chuck had some of the answers to my questions and found me someone who had even more answers. Chuck did two things that the others didn’t. First, he listened before I started talking. He knew I was struggling before I ever opened my mouth or asked a question. Second, he didn't make up answers and found someone who had the answers. This gave me the hope I needed to keep working through the emotional struggles I have daily. 

Last week I had the opportunity to go fishing with a group of guys who made a huge impact on my life. Healing Patriots is a group of guys who have been there, asked a lot of the same questions I have and found the resources they needed and I that have desperately been looking for. What they did for me emotionally on this fishing trip was no different than what Dave did for me while I was in the hospital. They answered my questions honestly and started giving me the tools to work through the struggles I am having. They did this without placing blame on me for struggling, unlike many others I have asked for help from. 

I am writing this for two reasons: first, if you have struggles in life there is hope. It’s discouraging and even seems hopeless when you ask questions and you are blown off or condemned for even asking the questions you are struggling with. The answers are out there and there is hope. Secondly, when people come to you with life questions don’t make up answers, give anecdotes and tell them to get over it; that only makes it worse. Give them the truth and if you don't know what it is, help them find the people that do know the truth. The real answers are powerful and life changing. Here is just one example: since the day I got hurt I have asked why people would call me a hero if I was the guy who fell off a fire truck and had to get rescued? Last week I got to ask a combat veteran that question. First thing he did is give me a hug and then he said, “Geremy, you are a hero because you got on the truck in the first place.”  This is just one of the answers that changed my life and gave me a new perspective and hope. There is power in having the questions in our life answered regardless if those answers are good or bad because not knowing the answers is one of the most difficult things for people to handle. 

Geremy Olson

Outdoorsman, Producer, Firefighter & Public Speaker

241ink.org

That will never work

A hundred years ago when I was in high school I had an opportunity to go on a skiing trip. Now I thought this was a completely awesome opportunity, due to the fact that it was one week after MY spring break. Meaning,  I would get two spring breaks. Not a bad idea at all. There was one thing getting in the way, money-that’s right money. I needed some. Every year I worked all summer and had plenty of spending money all through the fall, but by March, cash was not necessarily readily available. The youth group I was attending, saw this very similar problem with more kids than just me and came up with a fundraiser. They planned a bowl-a-thon. You know, go out and get pledges for each pin I could knock down to raise money to go skiing. For me this was a bigger problem than the money. The fact that I bowled so badly that I would have never raised enough money to go, was the least of my worries. I just couldn't get over the fact that I would be asking people for money, so I could go have fun skiing. I needed a better option. While I was considering my options, everyone, youth leaders, parents and friends were asking/telling me to either go bowling or take my name off the list. Then I figured out the way I was going to pay for the trip. It was perfect. I could do what I was good at, earn my own way and have extra spending money. I was so excited to have finally figured it out. But when I told my youth leader that I was going to fish an ice fishing tournament to pay for my trip, I heard it for the first time, “That will never work”. “You gotta be kidding me, what’s he know?”, I thought. 

These four words cut to the heart when used in the wrong context. I see so many people wandering through life empty because of the way these words have been directed to them as they grew up by the people they love and look up to. Now, because I know someone is reading this with a hyper-critical, pessimistic world-view, thinking to them self, “What if it won’t work, what if they could get hurt, what if they have unreal expectations,  what if                        ”. To you I am saying, “take a deep breath and quit taking things out of context.” In fact, you may be the very example I am talking about. The person whose vision and ability to explore was robbed from them because of these four words and others that have the same damaging results. There are times to use these words. Like the time a college roommate was going to mix some cleaning supplies that would have ended us all. Or when someone is hooking up a vehicle wrong to pull it out of the ditch. What I am talking about is when these words are used to condemn creativity and the pursuit of someone’s identity. This happens when parents, coaches, teachers, guidance counselors, pastors and others are shortsighted, only looking at their own history and not the capabilities and opportunities of the person in front of them. 

I was frustrated but not defeated. I did however keep my mouth shut and not share my plan with anyone else, including my parents. The night before the tournament and the bowl-a-thon, I asked my mom to borrow $20 for the entry fee and bait for the next day. She gave me a crisp, new $20 bill and she asked me if I really wanted to go fishing instead of bowling (she knew how badly I wanted to go on this ski trip).  I confidently told her it was taken care of and I could fish and go skiing…no bowling required.

The irony to this story is when I was on the lake and all set up, I had multiple friends and other guys I knew stop and ask why I was fishing where I was because “there’s no fish here”. I remember thinking to myself, “really, is everyone narrow minded and pessimistic?”  

I went home that night with enough money to pay my mom back, go on the trip and have plenty of spending money. That’s right, I won…in two categories. Not only that year, but through the rest of high school. I fished to go skiing each year.

This isn’t a fishing and skiing story. It’s not even a story about me. 

I could tell you countless stories of these words - “THAT WILL NEVER WORK”. In my life I heard these words in: how I chose to go to college, how I got my first job, how we raise our kids, and more. I hear these 4 words all the time and witness their misuse and destruction almost everywhere I go.  

We are called to build each other up. We are called to raise kids the way God made them. To do this we need to stay away from these four words, learn who people are and focus on learning together instead. We need to work with the people and opportunities that are in front of us, not the history and heartache that is behind us. I make sure everyone I work with knows that, “the key to success is failure and not repeating our failures.” 

We all have a choice: look at what won’t work or take the time to learn who somebody is and figure out what support they need to reach their potential. You might just be surprised at how well it does work. 

Geremy Olson

Outdoorsman, Producer, Firefighter & Public Speaker

241ink.org

Stop Being Thankful?

It’s Black Friday and I am up way too early and waiting around almost like everyone else, wondering if this is worth it. You know, wondering if we really learned anything about being thankful yesterday while gorging on turkey and stuffing, or in my case, ribs. Now, I’m not in a store shopping, I'm up waiting to go back to sleep because at 42 years old, I am getting to learn about how thankful I am for little things like toilet paper at 6AM. Sitting around waiting to get tired enough to get to go back to sleep so I can at least feel like I got to sleep in on a day off, is almost as much fun as waiting around to get something you never knew you needed until it is 75% off at 4AM for one day only. 

We hear a lot about being thankful and learning to be thankful as we grow up. Currently I’m still trying to figure it out as I raise my kids; but maybe that’s the wrong goal. I am not making some big, huge new parenting declaration here, I’m just making an observation and talking it though with you all because my bladder decided I should be up this morning. So here it goes. 

Should we focus on thankfulness or contentment?

I remember growing up having adults tell me and other kids that “you need to learn to be thankful”. I, like every other kid, have gotten the look on a birthday or Christmas that promptly tells you, “you will act thankful for the white socks that are 3 sizes too small that you got from Grandma’s aunt that came to the party this year…don’t say anything but ‘thank you’…do not embarrass me a parent or you may stop breathing…are we clear”. What I have learned is that being thankful gets way harder the older you get if you don't understand contentment. This is partly due to the fact that most adults harp on the act of being polite and call it thankfulness-leaving the heart out. I made this mistake with Peter when he was about 2 1/2 years old. We were all sitting around the table for a meal and he look at Kirsten and boldly said “I want more juice”. Being a good Dad I looked at him firmly and said, “Peter, what do you say to your Mother?” Because after all, you need to be stern with this young misguided kid so they don't grow up not being thankful, right? Peter looked at me, looked at Kirsten and you could see the wheels turning, the gears grinding as he contemplated the next words that would come out of his mouth. With apprehension and a lot of uncertainty he looked at me and the words that come out of his young, innocent 2 year old mouth, “I, I wannn’t morrre juice???” Ding, ding, ding, I needed to learn something that morning…not him. I was so concerned with teaching thankfulness (politeness) that I missed being content with Peter. He had just learned to simply say what he wanted when we asked him. He wasn't being rude, I just didn't meet him where he was at.  

Fast forward a year later, and I am sitting in a wheelchair after I got hurt and the kids are being polite and thankful for all the gifts that people were getting them for Christmas. I, on the other hand, was a mess. The guilt that I couldn't get anything for my kids was overwhelming. I was thankful, but far from content. This emotional dilemma went on for many years, fueled by the mis-teaching that my generation received on politeness over thankfulness. Life sucked. We were never taught about the relationship of contentment, thankfulness, grace and giving. 

I had to learn a few tough lessons in order to even come close to understanding what it meant to be thankful. The first lesson came one day when I was having a conversation with a mentor about not being comfortable receiving anything from anyone else. He looked me in the the eyes and asked, “Geremy, do you take joy in giving to others?” I replied “ Well, yes, what’s that have to do with it?” He answered, “Then why would you take the joy away from someone who wants to give to you?” Yep that stung and took a little time to get over. The next lesson is this: as a culture we are so worried about safety, that we do everything possible to prevent anything bad physically and emotionally from happening to us. The unintended consequence is that we lose the opportunity to overcome, the opportunity to learn faith. It is interesting to see the look on peoples’ faces when I tell them that one of the best things that ever happened to me was getting hurt.The third lesson is this: no matter how hard you work to change your circumstances, life still happens. The difficulties in life aren’t personal, they just happen. When we take them personally, we skew our understanding of grace. We don't deserve anything, grace is getting what we don't deserve.

Contentment is interesting because it changes your view on a whole lot more than you think. It changes how you are thankful. Contentment is being ok with whatever you get. It means you are ok with financial security or wondering where your next pay check is coming from. It means you are thankful for the success of other and the toys they are able to get, while not craving anything more for yourself. It’s not about politeness, it’s about being at peace with what you have and where you are at. 

Yes, life is worth waiting around for, both the good and the bad, the happy and the sad, the frustrating and the success. Many years ago a young man said it best, “God will get us through this, but if He doesn't, that’s ok.” So as we go through the holiday season let’s learn contentment and thankfulness. 

I wonder what the chances are that I can fall back to sleep…

Geremy Olson

Outdoorsman, Producer, Firefighter & Public Speaker

241ink.org

I Want My Money

We just got back from a long, rewarding, hard and fun weekend selling fishing tackle at a ice fishing show in South Dakota. Peter is going to be sixteen soon and it is a blast watching him shine doing what he loves-talking fishing. It’s hard to believe that he has been running Missouri Secrets Tackle with his brother for 8 years now. At first, Kirsten and I were just parents with a drivers license at sport shows like this one, but this year Peter got his own drivers license, bought a new truck and keeps mom and dad around for moral support. There is a lot of parental pride watching Peter and Dan’s success in a small little venture they started when they where eight and ten years old, respectively. However, there is a back story that needs to be told, not because of what we see in our boys, but what we hear from the older generations.

So how did Missouri Secrets Tackle come to be? Well, when I got hurt in 2005 we lost everything in a gradual destruction of our business and finances. It was a time when every financial decision we made was a no-win situation. Money wasn’t tight; it was non-existent. Due to our situation and the plan that we were going to raise our kids to work for what they wanted, before I got hurt, we started having the kids do odd jobs to earn some spending cash. Keep in mind that Dan was 5 and Peter was 3 when I got hurt.

When Peter was 4 or 5 he wanted to start shooting the .22 so we asked him if he had some money to buy some rounds. He went to his room and came out with a handful of change and bills. On our next trip to town we stopped at the sporting good store. Peter ran to pick out two boxes of .22 rounds and we looked at the price and made sure he had enough money to cover the cost. This was not the first time he bought something with his own money, but is definitely the time I remember. He proudly walked up to the register and placed his rounds on the counter. The clerk rang them up and asked for the total. Peter proudly counted out the money and gave it to the clerk. She took the money and placed it in the till. Peter’s face instantly turned from pride to a horrified, confused combobulation as he look at me and said, “what is she doing with my money?”. I said “putting it in the register, that’s her job”. He looked back and forth between me and the clerk a few times and with a desperate confusion in his young, crackling voice and tears streaming down his face he proclaims “I want my money” without skipping a beat, the clerk leaned over the counter and with all the compassion she could muster looks at Peter and says, “Honey, I feel the same way every time I go shopping”. After a little convincing by me and the clerk, Peter decided to leave his money in the till and take the .22 rounds home.

Fast forward 11 years…Dan and Peter are selling fishing tackle at sport shows across the upper midwest and one of my favorite things to do is talk to all the folks who are watching Dan and Peter sell tackle.  There is a comment made that completely caught me off guard the first time I heard it. But now that we've been following the boys selling tackle for eight years, we hear this comment between five and 10 times every show. What's interesting about this comment is who it comes from. It's typically from the generations that lived through the Great Depression and World War II. These are folks that I have a lot of respect for and they generally don't speak about personal things with much of anybody. And because of this, I was first caught off guard by this comment and now realize how close I was of been guilty of the same thing they're commenting on.

The conversation typically goes like this. They ask what exactly is going on with two young boys selling fishing tackle and I give them a quick little description of how Dan and Peter were earning money to support their hunting and fishing habits and learn the value a dollar. And then they look at me or Kirsten and say “this is amazing, I ruined my kids.” You can see why it caught us off guard the first couple of times we heard it. Every time I hear this comment we ask, “what do you mean by that” and the answer is typically the same. They say something to the effect of “I did everything I could for my kids so they didn't have to work like I did, and because of that, they have no work ethic and they expect someone else to do everything for them.” This show was no different; we had six people come and ask what was going on at our booth and make this comment and we had the same conversation.

What's humbling about this conversation is that Kirsten and I probably would've never stuck to our plan or at least never been as strict as we talked about before we had kids, if I never would've gotten hurt. And if that was the case, none of our kids would've learned the valuable lessons about faith that we as a family have had the opportunity to learn over the last 12 years. There's a really good chance I would not have had the opportunity to take the stage with my son Peter at this sport show and teach a seminar entitled “Raising an Angler”, where he and I discuss what it takes from the parent’s and child's perspective to raise a kid to love and respect the outdoors. So don't be afraid to make your kids work for things. Don’t be afraid of not giving them what everybody else has given their kids. What I've learned over the last 12 years is that the most important thing you can give your kid is the one thing only you can give and that's you. You can only teach them what you know and help point them in the direction they need to go for the rest of their life. It’s a lot of fun to learn hard work, determination and what it means to have faith together as a family. 

Don't miss out.

Geremy Olson

Outdoorsman, Producer, Firefighter & Public Speaker

241ink.org

Questions from the Blind

This year our house made an life changing decision. You know the kind of decision the neighbors and friends will question. The “what are the Olson’s thinking, have they gone mad” kind of decision. We chose to not apply for rifle tags for deer gun season this year, so we would have no excuse to not learn to waterfowl hunt. Yes, you heard me right, we gave up tenderloins for ducks. 

What makes this so hard to explain is that I really should be writing a blog on confessions of a failed water fowler. Quite frankly, I stink, no hope of ever being successful at water fowling, stink. My record for the last 30 years is 1 goose and maybe a dozen ducks. A couple of years ago some buddies invited Peter and I to go goose hunting on a cold, snow-covered veterans day and I shot my first and only goose to date. It took me 2 boxes of shells to down that first goose and I should look at it as a life long accomplishment. But I have to live with Peter who has the ability to humble any man in his presence with what I like to think is a unequalled lucky streak. That day at age 12, Peter, with a half a box of shells got his first 5 geese. This, with the knowledge that my kills are 1 duck for every 10-12 boxes of shells that I shoot, and my wife hits everything she shoots at, is enough for most guys to hang up the decoys and stick with the tenderloins.

So you are wondering what’s up with the life changing decision; well there is something about a waterfowl blind and the conversations that happen in that blind that you just can’t replicate anywhere else. In the blind you need to be still, but not quiet, giving you a time to talk about life, while allowing nature to put it all into perspective. There is a beauty to watching the sun rise over a fog covered pond with the anticipation of what is to come. Knowing you will always learn something that day that will help you make it through life. 

This year’s waterfowl season is only half done but it has exceeded any expectations I could have had when our family made this life changing decision. This isn’t because I shot my second goose and 2 ducks and I am only two boxes of shells in to the season. It has been a great season because of the questions from the blind.

There have been a lot of questions this year but the one that sticks out so far is, “dad, how do kids learn about God as their Father if their dad here on earth abuses them?” I’ll let that soak in for a minute. Pretty deep questions for a 13 year old waterfowl hunter. It is the kind of questions you get however when you’re sitting in the blind. 

The question, discussion and answer was the reason we made this life changing decision. It is our responsibility to demonstrate for our kids all the attributes of God our heavenly father: loving, patient, kind, just, forgiving, merciful, perfect, authority and all-knowing, just to name a few. This is a responsibility that we will never be able to fulfill perfectly or even close to perfect like God does for us. But it is our responsibility to work on our relationship with God so that we can better demonstrate for our children what God has done for us. So what about the kid who grows up in a home with the lack of this example and worse, the opposite of what God is done for us.

Scratching the surface of this question, sitting in the duck blind, we talked about the fact that we don't always learn everything from our parents and each one of us needs to be an example of what God does for us. We need to hold true to what our heavenly Father teaches us in the Bible and work on our relationship with Him daily. So that through us as parents, friends, coworkers, customers or just somebody a person runs into on the street, people see an example of the attributes of God. 

The questions from the blind are the questions that help us grow. The questions from the blind are the questions to help us learn what it means to change the world.

Geremy Olson

Outdoorsman, Producer, Firefighter & Public Speaker

241ink.org

Losing My Song

There has been a lot going on over the last 5 years and even more over the last 12 years since I got hurt. The kids are growing up and next year the oldest is heading off to college. As a family we have had a lot of fun, worked though a bunch of hard times and made a lot of memories. While doing all of this I have been learning how to deal with growing nightmares and PTSD related to the fire accident and the recovery from it.  

This last summer we had more fire than usual in the western states, meaning I was away from home more than usual. I love working on an incident management team because I am able to be myself and use the gifts God gave me to serve others during some of the hardest times of their lives. What made this summer unique is that I was in a season of life where I was broken and hopeless. I wasn’t sure how I got there and I was desperately looking for a way to get out. Little did I know, this fire season was what I needed. I needed to “find my song”.

Back in high school I was at a retreat and the speaker talked about “your song”; the thing in each of us that makes us tick, the thing that makes each of us different, the song that tells the story of what God is doing in and through each of us. I remember saying to myself “that’s cute”, and am pretty sure I never thought about it again until this summer. One night in central Montana this summer, I was evaluating life while gazing at the stars with all their brilliant beauty while the entire western horizon was glowing red with fire. As I lay in the back of my pickup watching the stars it started to make sense. As I laid there I realized I not only stopped singing my song, I put it in a box and lost it. 

What I realized is that I lost my song because I started listening to a group of people around me without questioning if their input was valid. They picked apart my podcast list, the music that spoke to me, mentors in my life, my life experiences, the books I was reading and even what I was learning in my personal Bible studies. Looking back I realized it was easier to stop listening and reading what I needed than fielding all the personal opinions of those around me. The natural progression was then to give up who I was for the same reason. The end result is “I lost my song”.

It wasn’t until the long summer out in Montana, where I got to be me without this group’s influence, that I found my song again. I had given up who I was for a group of people who are willing to naively sacrifice others for their own dreams, a group of people that asked me for my help, but really wanted me to do what they wanted at my expense, people who are impatient and willing to take every shortcut to get to where they want to go. I did this because they asked for my help and their dreams were and are the same as many of mine. But unlike working on a fire team, they are unwilling or incapable of working as a team, a team with mutual respect, a team worried about each other before yourself, a team that realizes that you don’t sacrifice another for personal gain, but you sacrifice together to save lives. 

I am not laying blame on these people for what happened, it was me that gave up who I was for them. It has been a hard lesson to learn. Most lessons have a sting to them. Like most lessons, however; it has been rewarding to see what happens when you live them out. A good friend unexpectedly passed away this last weekend and is the reason for this blog entry. Because I learned this lesson, we got to spend some much needed time together before he passed away. He and I talked about spending time together for four years but could never seem to make it happen because both of us were guilty of putting other people’s agendas before our call. Fortunately we were granted the chance to spend some great days in the boat together, gaining insight and wisdom that I would have lost if I hadn’t learned this lesson. Don’t give up who God made you to be for other people. It is hard to live with purpose when you give up who you are. It is impossible to go where God called you if you get off the road because of everyone’s personal opinions. So what is your song, your story and your call? Don’t be hindered by others, sing it, tell it and share it without apology. 

Geremy Olson

Outdoorsman, Producer, Firefighter & Public Speaker

241ink.org