I feel like I’ve been waiting ALL YEAR to make this song into a fun ”World Race Style” music video. This time, my ideas were much larger than what I could do just by myself. I needed more people. I needed the whole squad.
When I come up with these ideas, because I know a lot of my squadmates aren’t necessarily amped about singing and dancing, I can tend to push the idea away and tell myself I’m a burden. No one wants to have to take time out of their day to help me with a silly video.
That’s what the enemy has told me: I’m a burden. It’s a dumb video. No one wants to do it, blah blah blah blah blah.
Then I remember WHO I am and WHOSE I am. This year God called me to a new dream that involves many creative elements of how He made me. On the race, I’ve learned that when you have big goals and dreams, you need small steps to get there. What is the 1% you are doing today to work toward your dream? So if my dream is to be a director of music videos, short films, movies, documentaries, etc., then my 1% in being faithful to God’s dream for me is making videos like this.
Using what I have: an Ethiopian children’s home, a group of 30 missionaries, a camera, and a crazy idea and then rolling with it! And giving God the glory in the end.
And the root of this entire dream that God has instilled in me is JOY. I want my life to be about bringing joy to the world. That includes the creative projects I make. Whether it’s a fun music video with my friends, or an Oscar winning feature film, I hope it brings joy to the world, and in turn the love of Christ.
Here are some things that I can say about this video:
- Africa: truly the greatest show on the World Race.
- Scratch that. The Lord truly is the greatest show.
- Okay enough cheesy one-liners about the title of the song.
- My squadmates are my best friends for taking part in this fun project. They showed me love and support in abundance. Because they love ME, they took time out of their days to sing and dance when they wouldn’t be caught dead doing that if it wasn’t me asking. Wow. I call that friendship, community, the support of the body of Christ.
- I had so much fun being creative and making this video with my team, my squad, and our ministry with Hope Ethiopia.
- Making these fun music videos on the race has brought a joy in the Lord I can’t explain- they are my small steps to following God’s calling on my life.
- Yes, I do turn into a short Philipino man in this video and it’s hilarious. Thank you Johan for taking the spotlight for such an iconic moment in the video.
- I had my first premiere in a small village in Ethiopia with my World Race squad and 30 beautiful children the night before we left. When I’m going to red carpet premieres in the future, that one will always be one I remember.
- I hope it brings you JOY.
- Dedicated to D Squad- for your given time, patience, support, lip syncing, awkward dancing, and loving me well by saying YES.
All my love,
JJ
