You are playing scrabble. You have the letters to spell the 2008 and 2009 mascots. Add one more letter and you can spell this animal.
Mascot Clue #2
You won’t find this animal in Texas, since it prefers cooler summer temperatures.
Mascot Clue #1
Chassidy Rogers (trip coordinator at iGo) was once chased by one of these and feared for her life.
Mascot 2010
Wondering what the 2010 mascot animal is going to be? This year, we’re unveiling it early! Check back right here every day this week for a new clue. Post your guesses in the comments section. The first person to guess correctly may even win a prize!
The first clue is coming Monday!!!
We’ve Moved!
Attention all: iGo has a new headquarters! Make sure to note that our address AND phone number have both changed. Please be patient with us as we get everything switched over!
iGo Global
206 Industrial Court
Wylie, TX 75098
972-442-7578
Staff Meeting Video
We decided to record one of our staff meetings for the three people that read our blog and who might wonder what a day in the iGo office is like. None of this is planned, staged, scripted or any other synonym you can think of. We tried to filter through the boring stuff. Hope you enjoy the ridiculousness that is our staff:
The day Allison edited this video was the SAME day we found our new office! Praise the Lord! Be praying for us as we transition to the new location in Wylie.
The Cost of Forgiveness
I’ve been reading a lot of Tim Keller lately. So, admittedly, most of these thoughts are his, not mine. He made some amazing observations about the story of Namaan (2 Kings 5:1-14).
Namaan is a commander of the army of Syria (an enemy of Israel). He is portrayed as a man of honor and power, but he also had leprosy. He hears of a great prophet in Samaria (Elisha). So he goes to this other country (Israel) and brings a great treasure to offer in exchange for his healing.
When Elisha tells Namaan to go wash in the Jordan river, he is enraged. He brought a small fortune and came prepared to do “some great thing” in order to purchase the healing of his leprosy, but was told to “just wash” and it was too simple. He walked away from Elisha with bitterness and anger.
Like Naaman, we understand that there is usually some cost associated with healing. And the greater the disease (typically) the greater the cost of healing. Now think about that in terms of our sin. We profess to believe in justification by faith alone. We all know that we cannot buy our healing and forgiveness from God. We know that our only hope is that God has “caused us to be born again” (1 Pet. 1:3).
But I think deep down, like Namaan, we have a hard time really embracing this. The command he received, “just wash”, seemed to be too simple. Our command to “just believe” seems too easy as well. We hesitate to approach God in prayer after we have fallen into sin. Rather than embracing, enjoying, and loving God for His forgiveness, we often spend our time making resolution to do things “For Christ” in hopes to make it up to Him or pay Him back.
Naaman’s healing was free. It cost him nothing. However, it did cost somebody something. We learn in the beginning of chapter 5 that Namaan and his army raided a city in Israel, and that he carried off a “little girl” as a slave. It is likely that this raid resulted in the death of the little girl’s parents.
We would expect this servant girl to harbor hatred and bitterness toward Namaan. We would expect her to react to his leprosy by saying in her heart: “You’re dang right you have leprosy. You deserve nothing less for warring against God’s chosen people and dragging me off as your slave.” But she doesn’t. In fact, she is the reason he makes the trip to Israel and finds Elisha. We see her in verse 3 wishing and hoping that he will be healed. She longs for healing for the one who plundered her hometown and drug her away as a slave. That’s crazy!
Namaan’s healing didn’t cost him everything. But it costs this servant everything. Her suffering and willingness to forgive him led to his healing. Sound familiar? The innocent one suffers, and the guilty party is healed and forgiven. The innocent absorbs a high cost and the guilty one is cleansed (at no cost to himself).
It’s easy to read that story and overlook the servant girl’s suffering. Naaman DID NOT have to do “some great thing” in order to be healed. But the servant girl DID have to do “some great thing” and suffered some great costs in order for Namaan to be saved from his decaying flesh.
Likewise, the reason we often find it difficult to accept forgiveness that is made available to us, is that we forget that it was not completely free. We can truly embrace and accept forgiveness that costs us nothing only when we gaze upon the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 who paid the full ransom price for our sins.
We have to remind ourselves and preach to ourselves that “when Christ offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.” Keeping this truth in front of our eyes will keep us from falling into what John Piper calls the “debtors ethic” where we try to “make up” for our sins by working for Christ, as if the cross were insufficient.
Staff Quirks
My name is Elizabeth Junell and I’m the Business Manager at iGo Global. I feel the need to introduce myself because many of you don’t know me and probably have never even seen me.
I’m the one that processes your application when they come to our office. I’m the one that enters your application once you’ve been accepted, and most importantly, I’m the one who processes your payments. I may not ever get to meet you or get to travel with you overseas but I feel I know each and every one of you because I have seen your pictures and I deal with your files on a daily basis.
To fill you in, I’ve been with iGo for 4 years this summer. Before working at iGo, I taught for 9 years. I’ve coached volleyball, basketball, track, and even was a cheerleading coach for 6 years. My husband Clint and I have one son, Brock. He will be two in March and he is the source of a lot of fun and plenty of entertainment. I love to sew and read. Right now I spend a lot of time playing trains with Brock. Clint and I love to ski and would love to live in Colorado some day.
Working at iGo has never felt like a job. Other than the 45-minute drive, I always look forward to going to work. We all like each other, we enjoy working together and we get to be part of God’s awesome plan of sending students to the nations. I am so grateful that God has given me this incredible group of people to work with.
Because I’m around these guys on a regular basis, I feel I know them very well. They all have some quirky tendencies and I thought you might find them interesting:
Ky is almost always chewing on a straw. You may have noticed this and thought it was gum. Nope. If he recently drank with a straw, chances are it is now folded up very small and he’s chewing on it.
Brad NEVER EVER EVER puts the toilet seat down. I feel this will change pretty soon as he and his wonderful wife add a second daughter to their family. The girls will out number the boys 3 to 2. I often wonder if he just does this to annoy me.
Lance has an unhealthy obsession with the Republic of Texas. Ask him one day how he feels about his oldest son Austin being born in the state of Indiana.
Kent loves to drink tea. This isn’t a surprise to anyone. What I find weird is that he reuses his Styrofoam cups over and over and over and as you can image, this distorts the natural color of the Styrofoam. Until I started working with Kent, I didn’t know Styrofoam could be the color of cooked hamburger meat.
Chassidy or as Brock likes to call her “Chassy” is uncharacteristically strong and she has some unknown issues with mail. Chassy is gracious enough to open the mail for me most days and to speed things up she uses my letter opener. Since May, she has broken 4 letter openers. The letter openers are pretty tough so obviously Chassy uses too much muscle and must be mad that she’s opening the mail so she takes it out on the envelopes.
Crystal loves to bake and she is very good at it. She is very talented and she makes some of the most creative flavors of cupcakes I have ever seen. Here’s the quirky fact—she doesn’t eat them. She spends all the time and effort to make them look absolutely beautiful and taste amazing and she won’t even eat them. Something else that’s kind of crazy about Crystal—she can’t tell time unless it’s on a digital clock!
Jami Lee hates onions. When we go out to eat she always asks the waiter if anything has onions in it and if it does, she wants that on the side. When she eats salsa, her bowl will be completely empty except for a pile of onions. She also loves ketchup and she always uses a copious amount.
Allison is very quiet and I haven’t been around her enough to find out all her quirks. What I do know though is that she is quick to defend everyone. Anytime someone is being made fun of in the office she is quick to come to their defense. If you know our office, you know someone is always being picked on.
Aaron can walk and talk, exactly like the alien from Men In Black. For the most part I consider Aaron to be pretty reserved, but give him some music and a camera and he comes to life.
Emily might just be quirk-free. She did, however, marry Ky so I guess she’s a little quirky.
James’s nickname is Rowdy but as long as I’ve known him I’ve NEVER EVER seen him be rowdy.
Jonathan is quirky defined.
Sarah is the only person I know who goes to the Ellen show around Christmas and wins about 25 prizes worth over $2,000 and gives them ALL away.
I haven’t listed any of my quirks but after reading this blog I’m sure my fellow co-workers will draw up a list of their own.
Jimmy!!!
Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes at iGo? Are you interested in getting to know our staff on a deeper level and experiencing missions mobilization first hand? If so, then you should be a Jimmy! Every summer we have 6-8 interns that serve alongside our staff who are collectively known as “Jimmy.”
Jimmy plays a huge role in recruiting students for the coming year, assisting with the logistics of mobilization, talking with students on the phone, organizing and running base camp, and much more! Imagine yourself at Base Camp with food AND your suitcase!
A lot of time will be spent in the office preparing for Base Camp and completing various administrative tasks. Jimmy is not, however, just an office job. It is an internship – both in the office and outside the office. One of the most important aspects of Jimmy is the spiritual growth and development you will experience through intentional discipleship and Biblical community.
Are you teachable, loyal, servant-hearted and a hard-worker? Do you like to laugh and have fun? Then come Jimmy with us this summer! Click HERE to visit our website for more info and the application. Hurry! The deadline is approaching fast!
New for 2010!!! James “Rowdy” Rodgers is joining the iGo Global staff this year. Rowdy has been working with media for years running the media presentations at Super Summers and Hot Hearts conferences. We are looking for 1-2 students this summer who have media and techy type skills. Rowdy is a great teacher and you will have a great opportunity to enhance your skills in video editing, medial production, etc. as you help mobilize students.
Who Said What??
Life in the iGo office can sometimes be a little crazy…to give you a taste, here are a few quotes from our staff. See if you can guess who said what (Post your answers for us in the comments)! We’ll post the correct answers on Friday.
Note - Staff members include: Shu, Brad, Kent, Ky, AC, J, Elizabeth, Crystal, Jami, Chassidy, Allison, Emily, Sarah & Rowdy
1. “You put power in their hands and they’re going to want more.” (Brad)
2. “85% of your body heat escapes right out the top of your head. Mine is 95%.” (Shu)
3. “You still have time, you’re still a young buck.” (Crystal)
4. “When I woke up this morning I had no idea it would be this exciting!” (Kent)
5. “Maybe you’re allergic to your vitamins.” (Chassidy)
6a. “Hey dude, you’re the most creative person I know.” (AC) 6b. “You don’t know very many people do you?” (Ky)
7. “Ky, do you feel more Asian some days than others?” (Crystal)