No Sanity Required
No Sanity Required is a weekly podcast hosted by Brody Holloway and Snowbird Outfitters. Each week, we engage culture and personal stories with a Gospel-driven perspective. Our mission is to equip the Church to pierce the darkness with the light of Christ by sharing the vision, ideas, and passions God has used to carry us through 26 years of student ministry. Find more content at swoutfitters.com.
No Sanity Required
Living Boldly For Christ As A Pro Athlete Pt. 3 | Interview with Katie Cousins
In this episode, Brody and JB sit down with Katie Cousins, professional soccer player and dear friend of the SWO family.
The conversation dives into what it's like staying at the Holloway house, the authenticity of their family, and the hospitality that fills their home. Katie shares updates on her career, her book, and her experiences living in Iceland. Katie also opens up about the unique culture in Iceland, particularly the challenges of sharing the Gospel in a comfortable society. She reflects on her church experiences, the importance of community, and the role of faith in the everyday.
Plus, Katie talks about her book Just Be Faithful, her journey in writing devotionals, and how she navigates the mundane moments of life with faithfulness.
Katie's Book – Just Be Faithful
Living Boldly For Christ As A Pro Athlete (Part 2)
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Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.
All right, today we have Katie Cousins with us. Katie say hello to everybody. Hello, and JB is here, Hello. So Katie's book we're going to be talking about Katie's book later in the episode and Katie's wrapping up her time in the States and she's getting ready to head back to Iceland where she's going to be playing. We'll get into that. We'll talk about that. Iceland, where she's going to be playing We'll get into that. We'll talk about that. But before we get into an update from Katie on her last year and what the next year is going to look like, we're going to do some more casual and fun discussion because Katie lives with. She lives in the Taj Mahal, away with the Holloway nation the Taj Mahal away.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's the eighth wonder of the world.
Speaker 1:So I don't know. Jb, I want to ask Katie some questions. You know we did that John Rouleau episode where John asked me questions. People really like that. Katie can give a glimpse into what the Holloway household is like I normally stay upstairs, though Katie's brave I go down where the boys are.
Speaker 3:She stays down.
Speaker 1:Katie. What is our name? What name has Laylee and her friend group coined for middle school boys?
Speaker 3:Mungus's, the Mungus Pack.
Speaker 1:Katie stays down. You're isolated. You're in the original Mungus room, which was Tuck's room, the OG Mungus. You're in the original mungus room, which was Tuck's room OG mungus, the OG mungus, and you spent a lot of time in my house.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So both of y'all have seen behind the curtain. Yep, I don't know. I would love for you to tell people what it's like at my house.
Speaker 3:People ask me all the time.
Speaker 1:Really yes.
Speaker 3:What do you tell them? Uh, I don't even know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because you can't. Part of me is like do you say they're just normal people?
Speaker 3:but we are not you guys are normal, but then you're not normal. Yeah, I don't know, I say it's fun. Yeah, I love living there really comfy couch yeah, I got a comfy couch I always mentioned that your wife makes really good food she's phenomenal there's nothing I've ever tasted that's bad. Yeah, her um, you know, living with moses hallways crazy, it's nuts, moses insane yeah, I don't know well, what was moses calling you the other day?
Speaker 3:Oh, so we're in the car going. We just finished soccer practice. I coached his team and he goes. I mean out of nowhere, 9-1-1, one-share emergency. Oh, I got kidnapped by a midget from Iceland.
Speaker 2:I was like what, and then proceeded to have a whole conversation with the operator on his fake phone. He told me. He was like I know why 911 is 911 because of 9-11. And I was like, no, I don't think it's not true?
Speaker 1:I don't think.
Speaker 2:It was 911 before 9-11.
Speaker 1:It was 911 20 years before he thought he cracked the code, though he thought he he had it. You know that was the biggest aha moment in his little 12 year old brain. He thought he had figured it out. Our listeners. They haven't heard from him in a long time, but they know Mo.
Speaker 2:His voice is starting to. You need to get it back on.
Speaker 1:I need to get him on People will be shocked.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it'd be fun. You won't recognize his voice.
Speaker 1:His voice is deeper than mine. Yeah, yes, I mean he is full-blown puberty. He's puberty to the point. Uh, yesterday it was. As we're recording this, this would be yesterday. He, uh little, went to wake him up. So usually our morning routine I go wake him up at 6 45 and then little goes down there at like 650 to make sure he's out of bed, which he gets up pretty good. So I didn't go down there. I wasn't paying attention to the time I was reading and I realized she had just gone down the steps. She comes back up and says um, moses said that he got out of bed and walked outside and puked at some point this morning.
Speaker 1:And so she said I told him to stay in bed, just sleep it off. So he sleeps it off, but he's up two hours later, maybe comes upstairs. I went home, maybe did we go. Were you at the house the same time I went home to eat. It was two days ago. I went home and got it. Oh, we were off work that day. This was Monday, so we were following a weekend retreat. Everybody's gone so I go down. I go to take him to school. At 1130. He wants to go to school. He's like I want to go to school the second half of the day. He likes school and they love him up there. Andrews Elementary School. He is the top dog.
Speaker 3:He's, the kid, he's that kid.
Speaker 1:He is Every teacher, every, I mean. So he's, I mean he's the bull of the woods. So we leave to go to school and my truck smells like a freaking raw red onion it smells so bad? Yeah, his BO is so bad, it smells like you took a cheeseburger that was heavy on the onion and scrubbed it in your armpit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then took malachi's socks and rubbed it there and took malachi, my other mungus his socks so we're driving to school and I said, mo, you ain't put no deodorant on? He said I forgot. I said I pulled into dollar general, so go get some deodorant, okay. So he gets deodorant and puts it on. I take it to school. Yeah, katie and Mo are like roommates, next door roommates.
Speaker 3:It's fun, though, malachi too.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Me and Malachi always play sequence.
Speaker 2:What's that? It's a board game oh, I've never played that one.
Speaker 1:It's a fun board game.
Speaker 3:And I love talking trash to him.
Speaker 2:It's really fun, he gets spun out yeah. Malachi's fun to mess with.
Speaker 1:Trying to think of what people would ask about.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't know A lot of people ask me about you and Little. Are they as cool as they seem? On the stage. You tell them no, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 2:No man, they're a bunch of goobers. They are yeah. But, I'm like yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 3:It's like what you see on stage is what you get at home. Yeah, which is what you want.
Speaker 1:Yes, authenticity yeah.
Speaker 3:Or like what you get what you might see in a setting at camp and meetings and stuff. That's what you get in the home that's good, that's encouraging.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's encouraging for me to hear that perspective from y'all, because I do. People appreciate transparency and, uh, I, there are enough people that are in our home that it would be. It would be so difficult for us to be living a double high stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean our houses are revolving door and yeah and it's not just people popping in to watch a ball game. I mean, zay came back, came to the house the other night, monday night, after basketball. You know a bunch of snowboard people play basketball on Monday nights at a local church gym and every Monday night he comes in and every Wednesday night after youth he'll bring the kids home and he just comes in and piles up on the couch and makes food. Whatever we have for supper He'll heat up leftovers.
Speaker 2:There and there watching the Voice. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, I want people to know. I had a conversation recently and this is not about us, this episode, we won't talk with Katie but we've talked on this podcast about how a shepherd should smell like his sheep, the idea that pastors, ministry leaders, should be accessible, and we really try to. We want our lives to be like that, and I mean there's times I'm not going to lie there's times where it's stressful, like there was one day last week. I just wanted to go home. Little wasn't home. I just wanted to go home to an empty house and be by myself, and that wasn't an option yeah so there's times where it can be stressful, but you just got to work with it.
Speaker 1:My truck becomes my sanctuary, my truck cab. I'll go drive somewhere up in the mountains and just sit, but I love it. I mean, I think, if the lord, that's why I hate those church models where me and rob just talked about this in the thing that you, where you, you interviewed us, yeah, um, where the pastor is on a bunch of screens on a bunch of different campuses. And that's just crazy, or?
Speaker 2:even like celebrity status pastor, where it's like he's so big and but never really with the body or you know yeah.
Speaker 3:But there's, like so many of us that have been in, you know his home and stuff that have just such a good picture.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3:Dads, moms, marriage Hack and I Kids growing up.
Speaker 2:Hack is another girl, another lady on staff, but we were actually talking about that the other day, just how open y'all's house always is and how appreciative we are, because there's been times no one knows I'm coming over and I just show up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no one bats an eyelash or an eye or anything like that. Yeah, we, we love that, we want, yeah, we want people to do that and there's always, there's always a funny like first year staff or people in the institute yeah they. I think they have this sense of it being off limits because it's kind of like that's what's proper in most circles, but our home is.
Speaker 3:It's like going into a 1950s sitcom you know it's like always something going on, yeah, in a world where everybody's just kind of like knows everybody and is welcome.
Speaker 1:And and part of it too, I think, is I live in this little town here where literally everybody knows everybody. Yeah, I literally know everybody in town, and vice versa.
Speaker 2:So I remember one time I came in it was during the summer, it was late and like a bunch of girls like my friends were planning to sleep over, you know, with laylee, and so I came in late and I saw a bunch of bodies like on the couch like laying, and I just assumed it was like my friends. I like started like messing with one of them and like peeking up and then I realized I don't know who this person is and it was juju and her friends and one of them woke up and just looked at me and I was like I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I like ran back to lately's room but.
Speaker 2:I was like.
Speaker 3:They probably think I'm crazy there's so many times where I come upstairs on the weekends because I'll get up pretty early and I'm like who are all these people laying on couches and floors? And I'm like what?
Speaker 1:That's so funny. I was talking to the twins. One day we have a couple gals, a couple girls, young ladies that serve on staff here now that grew up coming to SWO. You were their counselor, right yeah. Jb was there, worked with them with their church, was their small group leader. Um, now they serve here and we were talking one day I was. It was like life counsel. They were going through a family crisis. You know, their granddad had passed.
Speaker 1:Y'all know, this was a month or two ago, we're we? I was sitting on the couch with Annabelle at my house and everybody. The house is always loud and busy and we're just kind of over in the corner sitting on the couch and I said, and at one point we're talking about this is surreal to her. This is surreal because she came to snowbird as a as a camp kid as a camper, as a student, for several years and never met me or little. Just see us on the stage.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And it really is a it's got to be. To me, that's what must be weird. It's not weird to me that people are in our home, but to people to then realize, oh, these really are just normal folks.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Just, we're country, we're Southern, yeah, we're normal, but at the same time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's a lot of things about us. Is that not not normal? There's definitely some things not normal a lot.
Speaker 1:I mean a lot of things. It it is it's kind of a catch-22 or not a catch-22, but like a there's two sides to it, because normal in the sense of accessibility, but yeah, I don't think we're normal, I mean I literally just had a memory run through my head when you said not normal of your wife in her buck boots and like some big jacket running through the yard with a shotgun chasing a chicken down the hill.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I was just sitting at the window watching she wanted that rooster dead.
Speaker 1:Yeah she killed it yeah, or she killed four rats in our barn a couple maybe a month ago, and had them all laid out like trophies. I'm talking about rats the size of my size, 12 and a half.
Speaker 2:Nike running shoe it's funny.
Speaker 1:Katie and I are movie buddies and book buddies, so people have a book club. Katie and I are movie buddies and book buddies, so you know people have a book club. Katie's like the long lost kid that none of my kids liked the books that I like and Katie likes them. So we read. I read all these books by this one author. They're fiction, they're historical fiction books. The author's name is Louis L'Amour and he wrote a series of books about a fictional family that settled in these mountains.
Speaker 2:Oh, cool In the.
Speaker 1:Nantahala Mountains in early, early colonial America, and when she was going to Iceland last year, it was when you were going to leave last year, wasn't it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was about ready to leave and you were like wait, I think you will like these books, I think you'll like it. I'll buy you the first two.
Speaker 1:Yeah about ready to leave and you were like, wait, I think you will like this book. You like I'll buy you the first two, yeah, and so I went over there with them. I was like, okay, these are great. Yeah, loved it so good. And then so that turned into this, this homestay because when katie comes in the off season she's home about three months and this homestay we had. We made a list of movies to movies For listeners that care. Jeremiah Johnson.
Speaker 3:Good.
Speaker 1:The Outlaw Josie Wells.
Speaker 3:Good.
Speaker 1:Tonight we're going to watch Open Range.
Speaker 3:Should be good it's going to be awesome because it's got Robert Duvall.
Speaker 1:He's my favorite character.
Speaker 3:I'd never seen Gladiator.
Speaker 1:The original. Yeah, that was good.
Speaker 3:We watched Last of the Mohicans last week, last of the Mohicans, which was good.
Speaker 1:we watched last of the mohicans, last last of the mohicans which was filmed here. Did you know that?
Speaker 2:I don't even know.
Speaker 1:So last of the mohicans is a book by james finnamore cooper. It's like an american literature classic. It's about some, a native american group, during the french and indian war, and and the book setting is like New York, like the Adirondacks or maybe somewhere up in the northern Appalachians, but they filmed all of that movie here in western North Carolina.
Speaker 2:That's cool.
Speaker 1:And so it's cool watching it, because we watched some of the scenes getting filmed when they made the Moose 30-year-old movie, but it's a really good movie and the book was awesome. Yeah, we watched that at the end of the night. It has Daniel Day-Lewis, who's as good an actor as anybody. He's so good.
Speaker 2:And don't forget about the Proposal.
Speaker 1:The Proposal.
Speaker 2:That was funny.
Speaker 1:So me Katie JB here is over at my house. I mean, I don't know, it was one of the other ones nights we had a house full of people, a bunch of people. It was after a football game, like after the Super Bowl, I think it was unfortunately when Notre Dame beat Georgia.
Speaker 2:After Notre Dame beat Georgia.
Speaker 1:So I know that's hard for you. Jb's a diehard Bulldog fan.
Speaker 2:A diehard Bulldog, not a fan, but an actual bulldog you identify.
Speaker 3:I identify. You can do that now.
Speaker 1:We're over there at the house. I think I was scrolling through, we're trying to find something to watch and I went oh, the proposal, this is literally my favorite movie. And JB pops up and says, oh my goodness, no way she thought I was serious. She's like it's my favorite movie. And jb pops up and says, oh my goodness, no way she thought I was serious. She's like it's my favorite movie too.
Speaker 1:And immediately realized as soon as it was coming out of my mouth, I was like he is joking but I was so excited I was like me too, and then I was like he is not being serious no, I don't know nothing about that movie, but rom-com that was funny, that was real funny. So, um, let's jump into jb. You got some some good talking points and questions so yeah uh, we've, we've, I think we've. It's just the third or fourth time we've sat down, katie one, two, fourth we sat down before you went to la right, yes.
Speaker 1:And then we sat down after that most difficult year, when you were in LA and a lot of folks started kind of following your journey after that episode, yep. And then last year we sat down after you had spent a year in Iceland, back in Iceland.
Speaker 3:Yeah, a quick little one last year.
Speaker 1:So now let's get up to speed on what your last season in Iceland was like. Like, and you're gonna go back to iceland. There were there's opportunities to play in other parts of europe, but you just love it there. We'll get into some of that with jb's talking points, why you love the icelandic culture and people and teams and league and all that um. So yeah, let's just jump into it.
Speaker 3:Good on your list okay, uh, yeah, so last time I was on, I was about to go over to Iceland again and I did, and I switched teams, though, and went to like the top team. They had won the league before that, so it was a pretty big shift, but it was great. I loved my team. I really liked coaching staff. We had a good year. I mean, we in our league alone, we only lost one game and tied three times, and we still finished second place by one point, but it was a good season. We won the cup tournament, which you guys got to watch on TV.
Speaker 1:That was so cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that was like the only game y'all got to watch, which stinks that you can't watch more, but that was a good game to catch. And then we competed in Champions League, which, if you don't know what that is, it's like the top teams in every European country will compete in a pretty big tournament. So we're a smaller country, so we have to play a couple games before going to the higher rounds. So we went to holland for that and won the first one, lost the second one, so we didn't make it through after that. But that's kind of like a a bucket list item in the world of football.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that was pretty cool to do that, um. But yeah, finished season there, came back home in October, been here since then, yeah, and didn't really want to go back to Iceland Like I was okay with it, um, but I keep saying it's like I'm torn between the two. I want to move on, but I also love it there, yeah, and so waited it out in this winter transfer window and just nothing was quite. I didn't feel quite comfortable with the stuff that was coming up.
Speaker 1:I think you had an offer from a team in Portugal.
Speaker 3:And France.
Speaker 1:Team in France.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and just didn't really feel that great about both of them. So I'm going back to Iceland, yeah, to play. I'm not going back to Iceland. Yeah, to play. I'm not going back to the team I played for last year. I'm going back to the team that I played my first two seasons with, thraktur.
Speaker 1:Thraktur, thraktur.
Speaker 3:Livi.
Speaker 2:Thraktur, but it's like close right, it's in the same town.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'll live a mile down the street, okay, from where I lived last year.
Speaker 2:That's what I thought Interesting.
Speaker 3:Decided to play my old team. Be good.
Speaker 1:That'll be so good. The city's called Reykjavik. Reykjavik yep, and it's kind of like it's one of those deals where maybe like 80% of the population of the country live in or around that city, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, country live in or around that city, right, yeah, I think it. The population of iceland is maybe like 400 000 and ricky, vacant kind of the area around it I think he's like 280, okay, and then you just have towns all around the countryside did you ever hear?
Speaker 1:uh, me and katie were talking about this other day. Iceland and greenland were named I did know this.
Speaker 2:So like settlers or colonizers or whatever would like go to Greenland because they thought it was nice and green.
Speaker 1:Yep, but it's ice, yeah, and Iceland is green some of the year.
Speaker 3:In the summer? Yeah, it's not Currently, right now it's not great.
Speaker 1:But Greenland's the colder area.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, hopefully we'll get a good summer this year. We had a bad summer last year. I think the warmest day was 60. Yeah, even then it was just windy.
Speaker 2:I've been cracking up because this weather Katie's like oh, this is a nice day, but for us it's like gloomy and kind of chilly and she's like no, this is a beautiful day.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is my last morning at work today, and I was was like this snow is awesome. Sean was like are you going to go work outside? I was like yeah, I am.
Speaker 1:I was sitting at my reading spot. I slept in. This morning, me and Katie have a morning routine. I set the coffee pot for like 5.20. Katie gets up at 5.30. I get up at 5.30. We both get up at 5 30. We both get up about 5 30 and she comes right up and goes to the coffee pot. But I get up and I have a little routine ice bath, cold shower out on my back porch to air dry and it's really cold, you know. So by the time I go down the steps it's about 5 45. She's already got her coffee and went and settled into her reading corner down in her room. So when I come down the kitchen I'm usually by myself. I sit down with my coffee and I start reading.
Speaker 1:So, katie, so uh, they had called yesterday. They called two hour delay for school this morning. Like what the heck why they do that. I'm sitting there reading and it had just gotten daylight and we've got two huge 6-0 windows in the corner. You know those big windows. 6-0 just means six foot six foot windows. They're massive and that's kind of like my reading corner, but I have my back to both windows. Katie walks in and goes uh, have you looked outside and I look outside and I mean it is just dumping snow and it's already white, everything's covered.
Speaker 3:Oh, they're not going to school today yeah, when I left for I usually leave like 730. And I just stood on the porch for like 10 minutes and just watched, I was like this is so pretty.
Speaker 2:When I got, up it wasn't even raining or anything. And then I went to the bathroom, came out of the bathroom it was raining. Then I'm sitting in my car reading and it's like the sleet starts to turn to snow and then all of a sudden it's like pouring down snow crazy I mean, and it don't yeah, and now it's all gone, yeah, it turned to rain this afternoon so that's fine, yeah it was pretty well lasted, but warmest day you had all last summer was 60 yeah, it was just they don't get the same kind of weather every year, it's just a gross summer what, what?
Speaker 1:like the previous two summers you were over there, did you have some days that got warmer than that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, the summer before that, my second year there was the best summer they'd had in like over 10 years. It was great. Now, with that being said, the warmest day was like 67. But it was sunny, but it was sunny and it wasn't windy, and that's where, if you have wind, it's always never going to feel warm if you don't cloudy a lot right yeah, but that wind, because the city's on a peninsula, so all that wind's come. It's coming right off the ocean cold it's.
Speaker 1:It's like piercing you go swimming in that ocean, you go cold plunge I've done it. I don't really do that much hey, jb went cold plunging with me a little last summer in the mighty nana halo, the upper portion of nana halo, where the cold water comes through the dam. That water is like 38 degrees.
Speaker 3:We go down there and cold plunge every day you see the video last year when I was there running off the dock in my clothes and your friends had to think you were crazy yeah, we dropped off for family at the airport.
Speaker 3:It's a 45 minute drive and there's like pools of water in the rocks from the ocean and one of them had a dock and I was like, if there's a dock, I'm going off the dock. So I figured out how to get us around there and it was someone's house but nobody was home and I was like, hey, I'm just gonna run in really quick, no change of clothes or nothing. So I go run off in my clothes, jump in shoes, on everything, because it was like rocks everywhere.
Speaker 3:I want to cut my feet up. And then it was so cold it took my breath away. I got out and I ran straight to the car, took everything off and then we just rode 40 minutes home wet and cold, oh man miserable.
Speaker 1:Uh, laylee's like that. Katie fits so good in our family because I always joke that laylee's my spirit animal yeah I mean she is me yeah in so many ways and and katie's a lot like that and laylee's.
Speaker 1:We were last year. We were we were going to a virginia tech football game and we went up a day early. We were staying on the lake at an Airbnb right outside of Blacksburg and the guy took us out on a pond he's like I'm going to go ride around and it was cold. I mean it was like it was up into the fall part of the season. And Lely said are there any good cliffs that people jump off up here? I mean we're, we're 20 minute boat ride out there on the water from his, from the house. And he said oh yeah, there's a spot over here. I always see people jumping. We and I'm driving the pontoon at this point he'd give me the wheel, so we ride over to the cliffs and laylee jumps off, as people were in shock they're like oh yeah what in the world?
Speaker 2:but yeah, I don't know who.
Speaker 3:Laylee Holloway is I was about to say.
Speaker 2:One thing I've learned is you don't joke with Laylee. I bet you won't do this because she will.
Speaker 1:She'll do it in a second, 100% she will. Kilby did it last week.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh yeah, going on that walk Y'all. We went on a walk through this park and it goes by.
Speaker 3:Here in the valley and there was this new rope swing. We were like, oh, that's cool. And Kilby made a comment of like how much money, or Little made it or something. And so Little was like I'll give you some money and I was like I'll give you $20. Kilby was like done no, change of clothes, nothing. She goes off of it into that river. She was like I didn't think it was going to be that cold. We're like I didn't think it was going to be that cold.
Speaker 1:We're like Kilby, it's wintertime. We're not on the equator. This is not Uganda.
Speaker 3:It's wintertime. In that river flowing water it was cold, but she I mean we gave her a change of top and stuff. She wore her wet pants and her boots and stuff for the rest of the walk. She's a nut the whole time after. She's's like I feel so alive. This is awesome and I made some money that's right, made some money yeah, she was bragging.
Speaker 2:I came to the house later and she was like let me show you this video.
Speaker 1:A bunch of money, yeah one time me and little were uh, we've done that a lot in their lives. I mean, I little's jumped off so many bridges where you just pull up and literally I shouldn't even probably be telling this pull up on the on a main highway and little jump off a bridge and and I'll pick, you know she'll swim around whatever get come up to the road, jump in the car and we've had a couple of run-ins with the law, you know, with our kids in the car.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I've been there one time the bridge over in graham county yeah there's literally like no jumping off bridge by state ordinance and it's got the law number, whatever little's like. If I go real quick, it was. You know it's winter or whatever it's like, or fall, it was fall. Maybe nobody will ever see me. She jumps off and then that's a phone pulls the police.
Speaker 1:You know graham county sheriff, he's like uh, what are you doing? One time we were in wisconsin when mugs and kara, uh, so matt jones, we call him mugs, he is my executive partner at snowbird. So snowbird is led, the day-to-day operation is led by an executive team, three, three people me, matt jones Jones, aka Muggs, and then Hank Parker Jr, who's been on this podcast. So at the time, before he came here to serve, mugs was running a for-profit sports camp up in wisconsin, what's called. It's like iceland, I mean they have warmer summers, but he's right up next to the canadian border.
Speaker 1:So we went up to lake superior. We were up, we were up there hunting. We'd gone up there it was like late october on a hunting trip and I was like I'm gonna see lake superior. So we ride up there and there's a marina and all the boats are on these lifts up out of the water because the lake freezes over. But it hadn't started to freeze yet, but it was cold and I said I'm not coming all the way up here, not jumping in this lake.
Speaker 1:I'm going swimming in Lake Superior. So I run down this dock but I strip down to my skivvies, you know, and I go in and I did not know there is a restaurant on the marina and you can't tell, it just looks like there's buildings.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but and the parking lot was on the other side of the restaurant. It was hidden, and this place, this marina, looks like a ghost town and I'm literally doing gainers off the dock and swimming in front of and when I, when I come, out of the water, finally get out yeah, finally get out. And uh and little's laughing. We realize literally you can see people's faces up against the window.
Speaker 3:They're all looking out at these stupid idiots from down south, you know. Hey, life's more fun that way yeah. I did that when I was in Cleveland. Whatever lake is right there.
Speaker 1:Cleveland, ohio. Yes, I went up. The reason I lake is right there, cleveland, ohio.
Speaker 3:Yes, I went up to those.
Speaker 1:The reason I said that is because there's a Cleveland right down the road here. There's two. There's one in Georgia and one in Tennessee. I think that's Erie.
Speaker 3:Yes, I think, and I was speaking at an event in January dumping snow and same thing. I was like I've never been to the Great Lakes. I'm getting in. Ran into the water jumped in. Same thing when I was up in I was at the mississippi river in minneapolis and I was about to have that surgery done and I told my trainer I was like yo, I'm getting in the river and he was like okay, so we pull over before we go to the hospital.
Speaker 3:So I jump in, I had changed clothes, change and then the surgeon was like we're gonna have to clean your leg extra gig because you just jumped in that dirty river and I was like, sounds good do what you want. It was worth it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's funny um, katie, I'm always curious about like the culture in Iceland and like, specifically, I guess, the culture regarding like Christianity. Um, I really don't have even a thought of like you know, what's it like? Is it popular, is it common, is it rare, is it hated? What's the deal on that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, their culture in regards to Christianity is on paper, they look like a really, really like strong Christian country.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And it's because of their national church. So, like, when you're born, you get registered to the church, and I mean all my teammates, they've been registered to national church. So that's just the stat right there. But if you ask any of my teammates, they've only been in a church maybe twice in their life. So it's it's on paper. A very christian country. It is not lived out and people don't go to church. Um, they have everything they need in their eyes. Yeah, um, like so many conversations of wait, I, why I don't, I don't need you this, because I'm good, I have I got my family, I have kids, I have a good job, I like living here. Yeah, um, so it's non-existent there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a couple of years ago, when I was in high school, we went on a mission trip to Montreal, canada, and I remember we used to go to like El Salvador, and so I was like Canada, where are we going to Canada? My youth pastor, jody, was like I think it's like 0.2% of people are believers, cause it's very similar, like they're not hungry and they're not, you know, like they have everything that they need, um, and so that's interesting. I didn't know Iceland was like that. Yeah, the.
Speaker 1:I was listening to a podcast. I mean not a podcast. I was watching an interview the other day, this guy that we've been talking about a lot, wes Huff, who all of a sudden is mainstream because he was on Joe. Rogan and just was phenomenal. So I've been kind of following his work and he was. Let's see, he was talking with Russell Brand. I don't remember. I think Russell Brand was on Wes Huff's podcast and they asked him about his.
Speaker 1:so Russell Brand is like a former, you know movie star or whatever he's a big time influential guy, culture shaper, but known as being just a complete hedonist sex, drugs, rock and roll addiction and so his journey to faith was real, was chronicled very publicly last year, including his baptism, so he's now professing christian. He and and it seems like it's very legit Like this dude's really made a profession of faith, which I think he was married to, katy Perry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was about to say.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and just by his own description hedonistic lifestyle, just straight sexual promiscuity He'll say he was living for fame and sexual promiscuity and achieving all of that. And Wes Huff asked him how did you get to this point of faith? And he starts walking through his story and at the crux of it he got married and started to really feel the need, like the longing to settle down with meaning and purpose in a relationship, because he had just been so promiscuous and he and his wife had I think they have three kids. But they had a kid who was severe, had some severe medical condition I don't remember what it was now, but was like possibly gonna die yeah, and so wes huff basically turns the conversation to yeah, when people suffer, they're most ripe to receive the gospel, you know, or just that. So you talk, you compare, you know, the poverty of el salvador to the wealth of montreal, and there's no desperation in montreal or in reykjavik, iceland, where everybody's comfortable. They got what they need, they got more than they need yeah, I think that's why it's so difficult.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and they like I've had conversations too where so many people are I'm like, all right, so what's like? What's after this? Like, all right, I know you say your purpose in life is to be a good person. You want to do right by your friends and family. What's after this? You're like, well, you just die. Yeah, I'm like, and you're just good with that. Like just dying and going off to whatever. Yeah, I'm good with it.
Speaker 2:That's crazy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I can't do that yeah.
Speaker 1:You wonder, you know, I wonder what their attitude would be with a terminal illness, you know, or if they're faced when they're, when they're really faced with death. You hear a lot of people talk about how that's when, that's when they really, when they're faced with their own mortality, they start to consider those things. Uh, but you know that there's that. Jesus tells that story where, you know, guy, he's so rich, so and he's got all these, you know, he's got a massive facility where he stores all of his. You know, wealth was measured often not by money but by livestock and possessions, and crops and fields and land and harvests. And this guy has to build extra harvest supply houses, you know, like grain bins and barns to put up. He's just got so much. And then, you know, he makes the comment eat, drink and be merry. He might die tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But then it's like, oh, tonight your soul's going to be required of you. And then there's this sobering moment where he realizes, oh, there's so much more than what I've lived for. And people, people in in europe, are so post-christian right now. I wonder what happens around the culture of death.
Speaker 1:You know, like when a person's close to death, you know they start to consider those things Um, and that that's where longevity of ministry is so good for. You know when, when you put roots down in a, in a community or in a certain area you know we've been doing ministry here for so long. I was talking with Lely the other day like, if God gives, I mean I might die tomorrow, but if the Lord lets me live another 20 years, 30 years of productive life here, and then you minister here for all of your life, our family will have had a century of ministry impact on this one community.
Speaker 2:That's crazy.
Speaker 1:It's just cool to think about. But when you do that, that's when you're going to come that person that says eat, drink and be merry, merry, or I'm happy or I don't need jesus. There's going to be a point where they, where they realize something's outside of themselves and that might be a good transition to the church you've plugged into. Over there you talk a little bit about that because there it's a reminder god always raises up a faithful remnant in every you know culture, society, city, town.
Speaker 1:That's what the gospel is doing is it's raising up a faithful remnant in every you know culture, society, city, town. That's what the gospel is doing is it's raising up a church that reaches every city and village and country. And so I think you've you've had an incredible experience with your home church in reykjavik yeah, it's called you.
Speaker 3:Remember the name of it no, I know it's't. It's called Loftafon Baptist Kirky Means Upper Room Baptist Church.
Speaker 1:Loftafon.
Speaker 3:Yeah what he said. Yeah, it's cool how I got plugged in there. I remember when I found out I was going to go to Iceland. I remember us researching churches, but the church I went to in college also reached out. They're like hey, we support this church oh cool, um, because they were a startup, I think. They are like, I think they're 10 years old.
Speaker 3:The churches, um and I think that when we were looking they were only one of two churches we found so it was pretty english yeah english and then your your church from Knoxville yeah, there's another church that's in English and they're a Pentecostal church in the city that might be fun.
Speaker 1:I've heard some stories might be a good time should go visit it one day.
Speaker 3:But yeah, got plugged in pretty quick with those guys. I really love that church a lot. So it's an Icelandic church, it's in english, but I think we maybe have like four or five icelandic families in the church and then a couple of americans married to an icelander in the church. Other than that, everybody else is from somewhere outside of iceland. Cool, I mean, on a given Sunday we'll have 16 countries represented of people consistently coming. It's pretty cool. Yeah, we get a lot of refugee families, so we've seen people come.
Speaker 1:You said most of the refugees in Iceland are from Venezuela.
Speaker 3:We've had some Venezuelan families, some Ukrainian families, we've had a couple of Iranian families, so like we actually had a huge group of refugee families the last year and a half or the last two years now, and we've had to say bye to some of them, which was pretty sad, knowing, like, what they're going to go back to. Like a couple of them are on hit lists in their countries. They're having to go back, but we've had some families get accepted, like two months ago, which is cool.
Speaker 1:To stay? Yeah, they get to stay. They get their Residency.
Speaker 3:Social security numbers, they can get jobs now. They've been living here for two years, not had a job.
Speaker 1:Refugee status is tough in most countries because you get to live there but you can't work you can't take up jobs or you're basically just on a basic minimum handout.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm. And so the church like part of the giving that goes to the church, they go get grocery cards and support these families so that they can get groceries, because a lot of them have kids, yeah, for sure. So support them in that way. Yeah, yeah, I like the church a lot. Yeah, it's fun that's cool.
Speaker 2:We were talking earlier before we started recording about, um, I feel like three big stages in your life college, la, and then iceland and you mentioned how it was a priority each time to you know, find community and find a church, and I think that's at least the stage of life that I'm in. That's a huge thing that I see people kind of fall away at or just not be like super diligent at. And so would you talk about that just like the drive, like why it's so important?
Speaker 3:what do you look for when you're looking for a good church home, good community stuff like that why it's so important yeah, I think I don't know if I was like looking for something specific in all those churches, but it was more of I asked people, like I can remember asking you about churches in Knoxville yeah and then asking people about churches in LA.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then the church I was going to in college told me about the church in Iceland. So I I just trusted the people I was talking to about recommendations but, yeah, it was a priority when I went to school. Can I get plugged in immediately?
Speaker 3:One because I like being around people. But two, just, I think the community aspect is so important, just to be able to have people you can talk, to, sit under, get teaching, just being in fellowship with other believers, yeah, um, so college la, all of it. I'm like I don't know where I would have been without, yeah, having the community around me in all those situations wait, what church did you go to in knoxville?
Speaker 2:it's called severe heights oh yeah, I went to. Uh, what's the college ministry that they have? The Walk, the Walk. I went to the Walk a couple times.
Speaker 1:How far is Carson Newman from that area?
Speaker 2:It's like 45 minutes. Oh, cool yeah the.
Speaker 3:Walk's gotten big.
Speaker 2:Yeah, huge. It's gotten very big. It's a huge ministry. Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 1:The company we're using to do our master development plan for camp as we start this expansion. They are members of that church and they designed and did the campus development design plan for that church. It's a big campus.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it really is. That's cool.
Speaker 3:They send a team over every year to do an English camp at Wadsworth. Yeah, oh, that's cool. They send the team over every year, uh, to do an english camp at washington. Yeah, oh that's so cool and they just invite local families in the it's like in a neighborhood the churches, and so they just go around door to door inviting families. Yeah, send their kids over yeah, I also am curious.
Speaker 2:Even just like in my brain I'm picturing sort of like just the differences of each church. You know, like I'm sure your church in Iceland looks way different from the church in LA, from the church you know in Knoxville. You know, like even just worship or like, how things look. So will you just give us a little bit of insight on that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, the church in LA was John MacArthur's church. I remember walking there the first time. I didn't know I was going to this church. I just knew people that were going to it and just asked my first Sunday, can I come to church with y'all? Yeah, so we're walking up and I'm like my gosh, this is a whole village of people here when is a whole village of people here where are we yeah?
Speaker 3:they're like, oh, it's, it's called grace, and I was like, okay, they're like that's john mcgarth's church. I was like that explains why there's so many people here. And it was huge. It was huge. And then I went to my church in iceland where we have like, yeah, I think, 30 members in the church. We'll have like maybe 50 to 100 people every sunday and it's so different yeah and then you talk about music. Well, they have a whole symphony there. It's just me and a microphone and piano for our church in Iceland yeah, so different.
Speaker 3:um, but both churches are singing like good biblical songs. Yeah, um, I know it's completely different and a lot of people will be like, yeah, this music doesn't fit me and stuff. But I know, for me I'm like if you're just singing good biblical songs and worshiping Jesus with other people, like it's still good, yeah, and the teaching's faithful. Yeah, teaching's good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm always encouraged by like. I remember you showing me some videos of your church in Iceland and just so encouraged of like man. It just looks so different even from like red Oak, but it's just still so good. And you know, I don't know. People get so caught up in silly things.
Speaker 1:I appreciate that you asking that question, jb. You did a good job with that question when you interviewed all the college students on the college episode. It's so important and it's important for people to understand the value of church fellowship and congregational membership and a lot of people there's a lot of people that I know well that don't believe. They'll say, well, church membership's not biblical or you shouldn't be tied to one church and this is not what we're going to get into in this episode. Maybe we'll do an episode about that later, but it's just not true.
Speaker 1:And you see the fellowship and community of the church working together in the book of Acts and then also in Hebrews 10, that verse that says don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is. It's a command and instruction in scripture to meet with God's people in worship. So, yeah, I appreciate you shedding or shining a light on that, because it's something that people I think need to be aware of. I'm not of the opinion that when you go on family vacation you need to find a church on that Sunday. I know a lot of people do. When we go on family vacation, we typically our our family vacation looks different than most. Ours is typically in a secluded, isolated place with nobody except hollow ways you know, because because what we're saying earlier, we live.
Speaker 1:Because of what we were saying earlier, we live such an open book life. So typically, when we travel and go somewhere, we don't go to church, unless, but other than that, church is priority.
Speaker 2:For most people.
Speaker 1:it's not priority. When it's convenient, we go, which is why I appreciate Red Oak. If I plug and shout out our church Red Oak, I'd love the faithfulness of that community of believers. And it's pretty consistent there's a high-value place. Don't come together to worship each week.
Speaker 3:I legit will plan trips and when I come home, when I leave, so I can be at church on Red Oak, like this weekend, when they're like when are you coming? Because they wanted me there two weeks ago I was like I can't go back until Monday, the 24th. I was like I got stuff to do. They're like okay, deal, got to go to Red Oak.
Speaker 1:Hey, I get to preach this Sunday. I typically preach the first Sunday of the month, but February got jumbled and switched around and we are in a survey series of Job and I get to preach. I didn't ask Joseph for this, but I got assigned one of my favorite passages, passages of scripture in the whole Bible. It's that four chapter stretch where God speaks to Job out of the whirlwind.
Speaker 1:Three chapters 39, 40, 41, which says brace yourself like a man, and he answers him out of the whirlwind. And then god just goes on this like declaration of his authority and sovereignty. It's one of my favorite passages, I read it out loud this morning.
Speaker 1:I was like everything to this point has been a survey, because we've done huge chunks. I was like I need to read all three of these chapters, almost four chapters. So I read it this morning and it took 10 minutes. So I'm starting by reading the whole thing Sunday night and then I can't wait, I'm going to spend 25 minutes unpacking it. 20 to 25 minutes unpacking it. I'm stoked. Anyway, it'll be your last Sunday. I'm glad you get to stay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, me too. And then back to love some fun.
Speaker 1:We heart Red Oak.
Speaker 3:In Iceland we say I els. And then back to Lofstenfjalln we heart.
Speaker 1:Red Oak, Lofstenfjalln. In Iceland we say I've learned some Icelandic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, ready Ney, that means no, I was going to guess that that meant no, I say that all the time.
Speaker 3:Still, I know.
Speaker 2:I started picking it up from you. What's yes? Ja, ja, and that's it nay katie always says yo okay, so I kind of want to talk to you about your time here in the states. What is it like three months, four months that you're here?
Speaker 3:I've had almost four and a half months this time.
Speaker 2:It's never the same yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is the longest time I've had at home, yeah, but I know that that can be sometimes hard, even sometimes when I go home on the weekends, you know, just gearing back up to go back to work or, you know, go back to Iceland. I know that's a silly analogy that I just used, but I kind of want to just hear about, like your thoughts about going back. What like you've been in prayer about, how can like we be praying for you gearing back up to go? Just stuff like that Leaving, leaving this community, going to a good community still, but just different and might be harder in some areas.
Speaker 3:So just stuff like that yeah, I think this year is pretty bittersweet because you know I love being here. It is home. But I am very excited to go back to Iceland because I do have it's like a second home now. Yeah, been there three years. Previous years it's been different because it never felt like a second home. So I was pretty sad to leave. I can remember leaving two years ago and I think I cried the first 24 hours. I was like what am I doing? Why?
Speaker 3:did I leave again like but this year, like, I'm gonna be sad for sure, but I am very excited to go back um, but it's it's always so nice to come back home after a long season and just not do any working out or anything for at least two, three weeks and just be here, just be with people. Go see my parents travel around a little bit.
Speaker 1:And then settle into the Taj Mahal away and we eat copious amounts of ice cream.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:Me and Katie have consumed because Greg and Kilby were here.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, they don't stay with us this has been the worst winter I've had this has been I.
Speaker 1:It's the first winter I ever remember gaining weight like I've actually gained it's ice cream weight ice cream weight it's a thing and so but it's been so fun it's been so fun, but me and katie were talking. You know the days are finally starting to get a little bit longer. Hopefully it's going to start warming up.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I'm going to start. I've already kind of made the commitment to scale it back and get back in some sort of semblance of decent physical condition.
Speaker 3:We'll have one last go on Sunday night.
Speaker 1:Yes, we will.
Speaker 3:One last go on Sunday night we're going to choose what we're going to get.
Speaker 1:I'm voting Tillamook.
Speaker 3:That orange cream one, no, something else.
Speaker 1:Not that flavor, that's been good, but Tillamook as a brand. Because they use Tillamook when they make their ice cream. They use cream, not just whole milk, they use like heavy cream.
Speaker 3:Interesting, that's good.
Speaker 1:Milk fat. It's wonderful. It's very Icelandic.
Speaker 3:It's always very nice to come home and just do stuff like that. I don't really have to worry about what I'm eating and all that kind of stuff. It's just nice to you know that church there I said it I do worship and stuff there every Sunday I can. It's so nice to come home and just be in the congregation. That's a big change.
Speaker 1:And because you play the piano and sing there and you're not I mean that's still fairly new Like you're not an expert piano player, so it's no, I still think I'm a bad piano player.
Speaker 3:You have to work hard at that.
Speaker 1:I mean, I can't imagine the stress of that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I am not. I taught myself how to play piano so I know all the chords and I can keep it beat and sing yeah, and that's it. And I haven't got any better at it. And so every Sunday I'm still like stressed out because I don't want to mess it up, because I'm the only person doing it. That's crazy. So if I mess up, everybody else is messing up with me and staring at me.
Speaker 1:When you're here, what are they doing? They play a CD or they not have music. Is it acapella?
Speaker 3:A lot of times I do Spotify.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 3:When I first got there, they had two ladies doing acapella and that's when I was like, hey, I'm learning chords, I can just play the chords and you at least have something to sing to. That's bold, yeah, yeah. So I basically was learning it on sundays doing that's crazy I remember you would send a video or audio.
Speaker 1:Hey, check this out. How bad is this?
Speaker 3:because then, after a couple weeks of doing that, the lady that was singing was like hey, I'm leaving the country for the next couple weeks, can you sing as well? And I was like, uh, sure, do I have a choice? See how good it goes, so I've done that last years, but it's nice to come home and just worship here at Red Oak and a full band and a lot of people, and it's just different.
Speaker 2:It's just really nice. Yeah, I think that a lot, even about Little, because she does worship all the time for Snowbird and for Red Oak and so I'll think that I'm like wonder if she ever misses.
Speaker 1:you know, just being a part of the congregation and yeah yeah, it's very rare that she gets to, but she does enjoy it yeah it was a couple weeks ago she she didn't do it yeah, she asked donovan to. This was at church and so she could just hold the grandbaby and be with Kilby and. Laylee. She's right back there between Kilby Laylee and Juju.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 1:And yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, anytime I can there, like I will say, I do love doing it. Yeah, it's so. I really enjoy it. So anytime I can on Sundays there I'm like, yeah, I'll do music. I'll do music Because I can't do it every Sunday.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I can't go to church, which goes back to it adds one more layer to that point we were making about how important, like you know, when I was saying I appreciate JB bringing up the importance of finding a church and plugging in not just finding a church and attending three out of four Sundays and kind of walking in and sitting down, clocking in, clocking out, yeah.
Speaker 1:To the fullest of my capabilities. I want to plug in here and be a part of what's going on. That's a word for people that I would challenge all of our listeners Get involved in your church. There's something you can do to be involved. Don't be a consumer, don't just be a consumer and a critic the two C words. When people come to church they're either consumers or critics, or both. Like they criticize the sermon or they criticize the music or they criticize. You know they're just critical or they just consume. I just want to come in get my coffee sit down and I want to get there late but I want to get on the back row. But everybody fights for the back row, you know like just get out of that mindset and be a part of it, you know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, one of the things I love that we do is we're almost getting to the point where it's becoming tough now, but we have a meal after our services over there Cool, so we'll meet. Small enough crowd. You can always do it, just small enough crowd and we get a lot of tourists. What do y'all eat? I mean, we eat all kind of stuff. Basically, there's like a rotation of families, all from different countries, and when they're up they just make food from their country.
Speaker 3:So there's no telling what you're going to get on a Sunday and it's always so good.
Speaker 1:You ate Iranian food. What was that like? What?
Speaker 2:was that, what did?
Speaker 1:they eat. I don't even remember who knows.
Speaker 3:But yeah, we've eaten all kind of stuff. Yeah, it's cool because we get a lot of tourists and we'll announce it at the end of every Sunday, Like, hey, we're going to have a meal outside hang out. Yeah, it's so fun.
Speaker 1:Is it outside, outside? Inside it's just in the next room or something.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's in our lobby area. Also has a bunch of tables in the kitchen and stuff. That's cool.
Speaker 1:What is the Icelandic diet? We've talked about this a little bit, but not a lot. They eat a lot of fish, don't they? A?
Speaker 3:lot of fish lamb.
Speaker 1:They eat a lot of lamb because there's sheep herding on the island.
Speaker 3:Is it an island? It's a big island, yeah it's a huge island.
Speaker 1:It's an island nation.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sheep are everywhere. I mean, it's not much different from here Okay, they got McDonald's. Much different from here.
Speaker 1:okay, they got mcdonald's, no mcdonald's, oh they got green beans, but they don't put no bacon in them.
Speaker 3:You can't get pork they don't know what sausage and bacon is.
Speaker 1:You can get bacon you said that, but what you weren't saying sausage. I was about to say, that's what they don't know what, they don't know what sausage is those people?
Speaker 3:you're talking about sausage.
Speaker 1:I know I'm thinking about taking some hey, we just butchered a hog and we've been eating. That sauce is good, ain't it? That pig we just killed, oh my gosh, it's good.
Speaker 3:So they don't have that, so I need to maybe figure out a way to get some over there.
Speaker 1:I'm big on the pig.
Speaker 3:Big on the pig. I'm big on the pig.
Speaker 2:Kind of also jumping back to like serving in the church, like there's something to say about even using Katie as an example, like she's not fully comfortable, you know, like playing, like it's not something she's done forever. So I think even that I think sometimes people can stray away and be like well, I don't know how to do it, or I'm not comfortable serving, or whatever. But I'm encouraged by that of like you know you're serving, not to flex your abilities to play the piano or like your voice, but to serve and to worship and to provide for others.
Speaker 3:So I think that's really cool they're true yeah, there's been so many times where I totally butchered I mean one time the in christ alone song. There's four verses. I switched two and three and everybody else was singing something else. Well, I have the microphone, I start singing. I'm like I'm not singing the same thing as everybody else, so I backed up. I started laughing so hard. But they're all pretty great, like they just kept going yeah so many things like that. Yeah, I rarely go with something without messing something up part of it.
Speaker 2:Um, okay, katie is a published author and I want to hear more about your book. What is it? Just be faithful.
Speaker 3:It's called just be faithful yes um available on amazon, amazon and in the snack shack yeah, I think they're trying to get it onto the the website at the store.
Speaker 2:I think it might be already, but I'll double check that, yeah, I wrote a book.
Speaker 3:When I came home from LA that winter, this woman, Susan Greenwood, convinced me to write a book. She was like hey, you should write a book about your experience in LA.
Speaker 3:I was like well, I'm not a writer at all. I literally chose a major because I didn't have to write papers. She was like what about a devotional style book? It's shorter stuff? And I was like, all right, I'll give it a go, just spent the next eight months writing um it was. It was pretty cool, like it was good to just go through some stuff too, like writing it. Um, it was also very challenging because after about 20 entries I was like I'm done writing, but I still had to write like 10 more.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So that was challenging, but it's out. That's crazy. Yeah, brady did my forward. That was cool. I've gotten good feedback on it, yeah.
Speaker 3:That was cool. I've gotten good feedback on it. Yeah, it's called Just Be Faithful because I feel like that was. I've heard it a bunch before the whole LA thing. But you know, in my own head that's what I was telling myself all the time. But I'm also hearing it from so many people here over there. Like all right, like just every day, just plug away and just be faithful. Like, keep your like mind fixed on that to just be faithful to Jesus today. Um, whether you have a good day or bad day, like can you just be faithful today?
Speaker 1:yeah, um, I, I love that. I love it so much because we're we've tried to, we've tried to pare down. I want to quiz, I want to quiz y'all just a little bit here. We've tried to pare down, I want to quiz, I want to quiz y'all just a little bit here. We've tried to pare down the christian life at swo into a few phrases that will stick in people's heads. One of them is just be faithful. Can you think of any other ones?
Speaker 2:take a day off.
Speaker 1:Get eaten by the lion keep your hands to the plow, yep um those are the two big ones yeah and, and it's that, and every one of those carries a a simple but life-changing. It's, it's like a mantra take a day off, get eaten by a lion. It comes from a, a story in the old testament. Which guy is so faithful?
Speaker 1:and then, just one day, he just decides to be disobedient and do what he wants to do, and it it costs him his life, and the idea is there's no days off in the Christian life and then hand to the plow, keep your hand to the plow, you know, jesus said no man who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. So just keep your hand on the plow and keep plowing, plow on, plow on. I sign off my off hand to the plow. So I do like coming. You know, narrowing things down to simple, single little phrases that encapsulate a massive mindset to the Christian life and every day, in every situation, you can be faithful, faithful to the Lord, faithful to your calling. And that summed up your your in la, which you know, I'd encourage people, jb, maybe, maybe let's link that episode that post la episode for sure um yeah in the show notes to this episode that's kind of.
Speaker 2:When we and katie were planning questions and topics to talk about, I was asking her. I told her I was I kind of don't like the question you know, what is the Lord teaching you right now? Like, sometimes that's a bit overwhelming, or like, but we were just started talking and she was like I just kind of feel like I'm, you know, kind of in the mundane, like you know I'm not. I don't feel like I'm in a crazy season of growth or not, that I'm walking away or anything. And then we just kind of started talking like that's, that is the Christian life though.
Speaker 2:You know, like there, there's going to be seasons of LA where you know every day you're struggling and having to remind yourself and it's hard, and then obviously Katie has grown so much from that. And then there's seasons where it's this, where it's like yeah, it's like, yeah, it's good. But it's just you know, I still have to be faithful, but it's not like there's anything crazy happening or you know.
Speaker 1:But it's just that mundane life like, day in, day out, just being faithful, you know sometimes it's harder to be faithful in those seasons because, it's not such a dynamic thing, which is, you know, in revelation, when jesus is speaking to the churches, and I think it's the church at laodicea where he says you're neither hot nor cold, you're lukewarm that's that that's that being faithful in the mundane is what keeps you from being lukewarm yeah and, and I tucks got that tattoo, I think it's on his thigh.
Speaker 3:It says highs and lows lows I think that's from a song. It is. I love that song.
Speaker 1:Well, I don't know if I know that song. I'm sure I do. Would I have heard that song? Is it one we sing here?
Speaker 3:We don't sing it here, but I think Little.
Speaker 1:Likes.
Speaker 3:It Tissue. You've probably heard it.
Speaker 1:Then I probably would have heard it. It's I talk about this a lot in this Philippian study we just did in Winterswough, eb and flow highs and lows. Most of your life is lived in the and Highs and lows. And if you're graphing high point, low point, you're looking at a chart or a graph and you're taking a pen and you're drawing a high point on a graph and then a low point, then a high point and then a low point. That's the Christian life. That baseline through the middle is the end. That's where most of your life is going to be lived.
Speaker 1:That's probably the hardest place to be really faithful and not grow cold, because when you're in the highs you're just so on fire for Jesus and when you're in the lows it's that crucible of suffering we talked about. And when you're in the lows it's that crucible of suffering we talked about. And I think something I appreciate about Katie, about your walk, is LA. It's easy to look back at that and go, oh, I see how the Lord was growing you. But a season of life where you go yeah, I'm just kind of in a holding pattern or I'm just there's nothing crazy going on being faithful then can be harder sometimes I think, yeah, I would agree.
Speaker 3:I uh, after we talked about that, I went in.
Speaker 3:I remember, like I say, I'm not a writer, but I do like just writing my thoughts and stuff down sometimes yeah, I was like I think I wrote something in december talking about this and I went and found it, um, and it was. It was almost like at a point where it was like what am I doing right now? But it was. And then just quickly reminding myself like, well, it's just not like a crazy time of life right now, but can I just keep staying in the word, keep time in prayer, like just staying faithful, yeah, yeah, that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:Do you have any plans for the future? Do you get that question a lot?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we've talked about it. I get that question, especially every year I come back and I've played another year. I get that question so much and I've had it. I've had it a lot this year. Um, and I I just tell everybody I'm like I don't know, because I haven't played soccer since I was four. That's all. I've ever done is play soccer.
Speaker 2:So I'm not sure Yep To be announced, yeah To be decided.
Speaker 3:Hopefully we'll be able to keep playing for a couple more years. That would be awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, I can tell you, when the career ends, she will have a job as well.
Speaker 2:I was about to say, and it will not be just stacking firewood.
Speaker 1:Katie works when she's here, she. She works part, a little more than part-time. I don't want to say part-time, but you don't work all day every day, but you put in a good bit of hours, um, just doing work on our grounds crew. She enjoys it. I think you really enjoy that. But yeah, we'll put her to work. We got as long as she wants to be here If the Lord doesn't move her somewhere else.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we'll see. Yep, It'll definitely be a big life change. Yep, when I'm done. I know I'll be good and stuff, yeah, but it's going to be a big life change For sure. But it's going to be a big life change for sure yeah, it will.
Speaker 1:Tuck has talked about when his football career ends opening up with a buddy. He's got a couple buddies. One plays at Michigan, has a national championship ring. One's now at Chapel Hill. He just transferred from a Big Ten school. He's going to go play for Belichick at Chapel Hill. But they've talked about opening a facility somewhere between here and maybe around Waynesville. Yeah, that would be a legitimate training facility for up-and-coming athletes because there's nothing really like that here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that'd be cool.
Speaker 1:That'd be cool, you'd definitely.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I definitely want to stay around soccer somehow because I mean I love it, Playing it, watching it, getting to coach Mo's team, it was fun.
Speaker 1:You're here for just enough time to do four or five Mondays of instruction with those kids, and it's so fun making the most of your time. It could be cool if you're here doing that long term.
Speaker 3:Yeah, giving them a different style of coaching.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, because a little community like this, very few people ever played soccer. So you know, kids, you're just trying to keep them active and be fun to see them get instructed.
Speaker 2:Well, we're going to miss Katie. I'm going to miss Katie.
Speaker 1:Oh, last thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:We have Katie, and I have a plan for August of 2026.
Speaker 3:Yes, let's go, let's hear it. Okay, so it was the plan for August 2025, until this morning and I realized we missed the date.
Speaker 1:We missed the draw date.
Speaker 3:So reindeer hunting in Iceland.
Speaker 1:Oh, they look like for people listening. Reindeer look very similar to caribou, so they're a hooved animal.
Speaker 2:This might be stupid, but reindeer are real. They're real, yes ma'am, I know.
Speaker 1:That's why I said they look like caribou, because a lot of times people go wait, reindeer are real, so it's like in Siberia. There are massive reindeer farms where people herd the things.
Speaker 2:I thought they were fictional.
Speaker 1:No, they're real.
Speaker 2:It's called JB a dummy.
Speaker 1:Look, I'm gonna look it up.
Speaker 2:I'm like, but can they fly? And like, do they carry?
Speaker 1:Okay, so Okay, now you're asking Dumb questions.
Speaker 3:This is when you enter Into the mungus category, so the plan is to. It was this year's plan. You know, I really want them To come to Iceland, so I'm like man, I gotta find something besides myself to entice them over to iceland. So hunting, of course, of course. So they have reindeer hunting. So we looked it up august. But you have to go through an outfitter yeah, but the draw was two two weeks ago so we missed it. So now the plan is for next year. Make sure we have everything ready to go.
Speaker 2:August 2026. Put it in your calendars, folks. Here's one, whether I'm in Iceland or not. Aw, they're cute.
Speaker 1:Look at that one. I wonder if they call them bulls or bucks.
Speaker 3:That's crazy, I don't know, but it would be so cool we were looking at.
Speaker 1:Google Images pictures of reindeer.
Speaker 2:Do you see one with a red?
Speaker 3:nose images, pictures of reindeer. You see one with a red nose. None of them have red noses, and so I read that if you shoot one on the first day or two of the hunt, that third day they'll take you fishing, or you can go bird hunting, they'll just take you to go do something else yeah, look, there's a caribou.
Speaker 1:So for folks listening, a caribou and a reindeer are very similar.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't really see the difference. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So you can hunt caribou in Alaska.
Speaker 2:Interesting.
Speaker 1:But anyway, our plan. I'm saving my money right now.
Speaker 3:Me too, it's going to cost, I think, a couple thousand bucks. Me too, it's worth it.
Speaker 1:Hey, listen NSR listeners. I need a GoFundMe Me and Katie yeah yeah, add me on to the list. So we're going to.
Speaker 3:I'm on a low budget.
Speaker 1:One year from now. We're going to put in next February for a reindeer license for a tag.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I'm going to go over in the next August. If she's there, if Katie's still there, then I'll just travel over. If she's left and is playing somewhere else, we'll meet up over there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm going coach, but I've been playing this for two years.
Speaker 1:I will not be here for this week. We're going reindeer hunting In northern Iceland.
Speaker 2:That would be so cool.
Speaker 1:Next is I want to take my own gun. I gotta see how hard that is, if you gotta use theirs.
Speaker 3:I was reading about it. It has to be minimum 243.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's not a problem, and I'm gonna bring hand loaded bullets. I'll load us up some good ammo.
Speaker 3:Oh my gosh, what if one of us gets it and the other one doesn't?
Speaker 1:That'll be fine, it won't matter. The one outfit said they have 100% success rate. Because I think the way that caribou hunting works. You're hunting a herd when they're on their migratory route.
Speaker 3:So you just get ahead of the herd, wait for them. That's crazy, oh it'd be so cool.
Speaker 1:And if Iceland's an island, how hard can it be to find they can only go in a circle. We'll find them.
Speaker 3:They live about eight hours east of the city.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:You can take an hour flight over there, that's so cool, I've seen them. My first year there. We went out there and played a game. We had a drive. I remember looking in the countryside and I was like that's reindeer. That's so cool that is cool.
Speaker 1:We're doing it a year and a half from now. We'll do an episode after that. Yeah, I need to do an episode and do an update on how my hunting season went.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:People like that, or you can say you shot one, I shot my first gun with Katie the other day.
Speaker 3:You did Yep, they came over for breakfast.
Speaker 2:It was like 7 in the morning.
Speaker 3:I gave my little .22 and said shoot it in the water.
Speaker 2:And that was the best day of work I've had. I was so that whole day. I was like whoa, let's go.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you guys are pretty amped up.
Speaker 1:Oh, we're going to have to ramp that up.
Speaker 3:I was scared to shoot it.
Speaker 2:You, you're to shoot it. You can ask Katie.
Speaker 3:No, I had a .243 in the house too. I was like I should have gave that to them too.
Speaker 2:It was me and Annabelle, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Annabelle shot a gun, but I'm not. My carry gun is laying here on the table in front of us. Hello, it's funny. Yep Took it off my belt and put it on the table. So here we are recording this podcast with a firearm laying on the table.
Speaker 3:We're safe, y'all Yep.
Speaker 1:Alright. Well, thanks. I love both of y'all, Thankful for both of y'all, and I hope our folks enjoyed this. Hope y'all enjoyed this episode. It was a little bit longer than normal, but I know I enjoyed it and I hope you did too. We'll keep you posted on Katie's journey over the next year. It's going to be awesome. I don't know if we get a chance to at some point watch games like we did last year. We'll let our audience know how they can do that. That was fun getting to watch a couple games.
Speaker 1:It's not easy because they don't the way the rules work, I guess of broadcasting is very difficult to watch your games, but we got to see a couple and I love that.
Speaker 3:Hopefully, this year it'll be more than one.
Speaker 1:Good.
Speaker 3:Because last year it was because we were playing such lower teams.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, they picked the better games to stream, so we didn't get it.
Speaker 3:But hopefully this year it'll be more than just the final game.
Speaker 1:It'll be fun, all right, see you all next week.
Speaker 4:Thanks, just the final game. It'll be fun. All right, see y'all next week. Thanks for listening to no Sanity Required. Please take a moment to subscribe and leave a rating. It really helps. Visit us at SWOutfitterscom to see all of our programming and resources and we'll see you next week on no Sanity Required.
