Odyssey Thought: The Odyssey Adventure Club

It's been a few weeks since my last post. I've been keeping with things and once again this blog ended up on the back burner. What brings me back into the world of blogging this time? Well, I've been lurking around the message boards, and the aio facebook page and other things and have noticed a reoccurring hot topic; the upcoming Odyssey Adventure Club.

I have a feeling I might be taking a slightly unique perspective, so I think I'll hide safely in my little cave to avoid  the oncoming torches and pitchforks. The club in question will contain exclusive episodes per month, along with access to all the AIO episodes including some "dusty episodes" which includes most Harley episodes, as well as Last Chance Detective episodes both audio and video, and the animated series for AIO. Along with all that is available for streaming, it also includes subscription to the clubhouse magazine, daily devotions and possibly other things that haven't been mentioned yet. What's the catch? The price is $15 a month.

Now most of you "die-hard" Odyssians already know all this and many have already expressed your views. The biggest down side to this club is that it means only hearing 12 episodes a year, while the clubers get an extra 12 episodes. For the ones that have already collected all of the albums or have heard all of them, would it be practical to join the club? Not really. Are there perks to doing so? Yes. Should you try to tear down the doors at Focus and force them to hand over the exclusive episodes? No. Sure it's disappointing that I won't be able to hear every episode that is out there. However, the way that Odyssey works is that you can listen to the episodes out of order and without ever hearing some episodes. I don't believe that they will create noticeable holes in the canon just to get people to join the club. Could it be that in order to know what happens with Jeff we have to join the club? Maybe. But that doesn't mean more doesn't happen with Jeff in the regular seasons. The fact is we don't really know one way or the other.

Now the common voice of the inter-fans is that they already have all the released albums, so why pay $180 a year to get twenty minutes a month of new material? While many fit into this category, there are probably many fans who might jump onto this club like a hound dog on a pile of hotdogs. The thing that most "inter-fans" may not understand is that this club is aimed for families. It seems to me that a large number of the fans speaking out against the club are more than likely 15+. Here is more of what is included in the club.
BROCK on October 18th, 2013 - 11:05am

• 1. The entire 726+ episodes of AIO streamed instantly to you on your computer of iOs device.
  2. Brand new exclusive Adventures of the month that have, a brand new AIO episode, a real story video doucmentary about the episode, and a whole lot of Web Quests (activities), comics, hands on projects, learning the language, maps, history, games, and more. Plus you’ll have brand new AIO daily devotions to read every morning
  
  
• 4. You’ll get a monthly subscription to Adventures in Odyssey’s Clubhouse magazine
  5. Learn about other ministries and organizations doing ministry and relief work around the world
  6. We’re giving away a percentage of revenue to these organizations each month, to build churhches, dig wells, provide livestock, or pass out vaccinations
  7. And a new community for you to interact with other fans and share your stories
  8. Plus we’ll be adding new content like
  
  
• 8. We’ll be adding new content like AIO episodes never released, LCD Movie, AIO movies, LCD audio, and a whole lot more, even some radio theater titles

Personally I wouldn't join now, but I would consider it if I had was older with a  family of my own and if the money was there. One of the things to remember is that along with many bonuses, a portion of the money also goes to help missions around the world. So while the rice may seem steep, they aren't making money off of all of it. One of the comments in the social shout out was that the club episodes will take the characters to different places around the world and helping others. To me it sort of sounds like an album like the truth chronicles. They exist but aren't really a huge part of the AIO canon.

What it boils down to is this; This club is an ok deal, some will be able to afford it some not. There is value to joining the club, but it might not be for everyone. Sure $15 a month equals $180 a year, but another way of looking at it is this. Netflix is $7.99 a month, Spotify premium is $10 a month. It's basically like paying for one of these services and the surplus going to missions. (I don't know how much of it goes to missions though.) I guess the major point I'm getting at is, while it seems expensive if one is motivated enough to join one will find the money to pay for it. I'm just tired of seeing so many complaints about it when it hasn't even started yet.

Once again this has been Freddy Jay connecting the gap between Odyssey and you. Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments. Chau.

Odyssey Connection: Hard Work

Odyssey Connection - No Chemistry Whatsoever:

No Chemistry Whatsoever tackles one theme from two different angles. Two important angles, but we'll look at each one at a time. 

Connie signs up for what she thought would be an easy Chemistry class and winds up having Eugene as a teacher. She quickly finds out that she might actually have to put some effort into her work in order to get the grade she desires. Honestly there are a lot of people out there pulling a "Connie Kendall". They want to get through a class (or whatever) with very little effort and as quickly as possible. The problem is that with that mindset, you don't actually learn anything or at least not as much. The verse that comes to mind is Ephesians 6:7. 
"7Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people,"

I think they should have tied that verse in there somewhere, but that's alright. The point is even with our school work we should work at it as if for God. 

The second angle was with Barrett memorizing verses. Like Connie, he attempted to take the easy way out and memorize only the shortest verses he could find in order to get the prize of water world. He quickly found out that the prize wasn't the point. Mr. Whitaker was trying to get them to memorize scripture so they would have it as defense against the enemy and as a comfort in the hard times. The Bible isn't just a bunch of words for us to store in our noggins. It's our sword. And it's necessary for us to treat it like one. Let's say you're house sitting for a friend and an armed man comes to the door. You know there's a gun somewhere in the house, but you're friend didn't tell you where. The gun can't protect you since you don't know where to find it. Memorization is oober important for the same reason. It can't help us out if we don't know where to look. And yes it does take work to memorize the verses and their context, but it's worth it. 

Both of these angles stick out in my mind. I'm sometimes guilty of trying to take the easy way out. Hard work is well... hard. But that's the idea. You appreciate something a whole lot more if you actually spend time pouring, sweat, blood and tears into. Ok, maybe not blood but you get the idea. 

Here are some questions to ponder in reflection to this episode;

1. What is God telling me about working hard?

2. Am I working as if for God or for men?

3. Am I armed with the sword of the spirit?

4. Am I constantly working on sharpening my sword by memorizing scripture?

I want to challenge you to use this episode as a spring board for inspiration. Ask God to pinpoint the areas in your life where you need to work harder and put in the extra effort, and remember to work as if for God and not for men. That small change in mindset makes all the difference in the outcome.

Once again this has been Freddy Jay connecting the gap between Odyssey and YOU!

Odyssey Connection: Revamped (Hearing God's Voice)

Hey cyber world and the few possible readers I might have! I know it's been forever, and the main reason is that I've been keeping busy. It's an old excuse but a valid one. Anyway, I'm going to try something different with this blog and hopefully get it going again.

Back when I first started this blog, I did something I called "Odyssey Connections". After a while the connections got fewer and fewer and the news got more frequent. I'm going to try to bring those back in a slightly different way. (You'll understand by the end of this post.)

Your Servant is Listening 1&2- Odyssey Connection

If you take a look at Odyssey's biblical episodes they have covered a lot of the major stories; Moses, Joseph, Esther, Jacob and Esau, Ruth, Paul, Jesus, and more recently the Early Church. Honestly I was surprised when I heard that the story of Hannah and Samuel was gonna be in album 57, only because it came with the realization that they hadn't done it before.

This episode hit me like being double flip kicked in the face. Hannah and Samuel is possibly one of my favorite stories. But just hearing it as a dramatization was phenomenal, plus they added some really deep quotes. (I'll get to those in a minute.) Hannah had it bad. She couldn't have children and then on top of that Peninha constantly reminds her of this fact. The thing I like about Hannah is that she doesn't blame God for not being able to have kids, but continues to pray that God would make it so. She kept her faith strong in the Lord. 
One of the best quotes from this episode is this;

Camilla Parker: God's never talked to me.
Hannah: God is faithful to do what he says he will do. Perhaps the problem is that you haven't been listening. That you have ears, but fail to truly hear.

Mind = BLOWN! Hello? Does this sound familiar. Let's say you're in a classroom and you're "hearing" the teacher but then when he asks you a question you have no idea what the answer is. You heard him but wasn't listening to what he said. This thought is bookended with a quote from Samuel in part 2.

Samuel: I've never experienced God talking to me like he did last night, but he has spoken to me before.
Camilla Parker: Really?
Samuel: Yes, in other ways. Like when Eli reads the words of God out loud from the holy scrolls, or in the things my mother tells me when she visits, or that nudge in my heart reminding me what's right and wrong.
Camilla Parker: I've never thought abut God talking to me that way.
Samuel: I guess it takes time to recognize his voice.

O.O If you intentionally seek God's voice you'll hear what he has to say. He can speak through many things, but if you don't really know him you can fail to recognize his voice. It's so easy to miss God's voice due to the distractions we surround ourselves with. But He's still there nonetheless. Another example similar to this, is the story of Elijah going to the mountain. There was a fire, wind, and maybe some things I can't remember, but God wasn't in any of those. Then Elijah heard a quiet whisper and God was in the whisper. Sometimes we just have to be still and separate ourselves from things in order to hear God's whispers.

Here are some discussion questions to ponder in reflection to this episode;

1. How can Hannah serve as an example for my faith?
2. How has God been speaking to me lately?
3. Have I heard him recently? 
4. Am I truly listening?
5. How am I purposefully seeking his voice?

 The whole concept of this episode has really spoken to me. Which in part inspired the revamp of my blog, and Odyssey connections. I hope to continue these with my insights from the new episodes. (Maybe I'll catch up, but I won't count on that.) Feel free to drop your thoughts, on the new episodes or anything I've said. Comments are always welcome

Well that about wraps things up, I'm Freddy Jay with another attempt at connecting the gap between Odyssey and YOU!

Short Post on Quote World and Album 57!

Alright I don't have a lot to say in this post. However, I think I've been told that spring is finally here! I saw a cardinal the other day and then the following day it was 20 degrees with a high of 30.... However spring is just about here! The groundhog should be fired though.
On a completely unrelated note, there is a relatively new aio site called World of AIO Quotes. It posts two quotes a day, one from the episode on the air, and one from a random episode. AIOQuoteGuy also ha a page to submit your favorite quote if you wish. As of today it has 132 quotes and is still holding strong.

In a final word, we're learning more and more about alum 57! What are your thoughts on what might happen to Connie? What do you think of the cover art? Will you be able to wait until the FALL to hear these future episodes?

This has been Freddy Jay connecting the gap between Odyssey and YOU!

200th Post! Officially!

Hey guys, I know it's been a really really long time.... Here is something for my 200th post though!

On the Soda Shop Message boards there is a topic I made for Aio memes. Below are the ones I made.

So that's about all for now. Thanks for bearing with meme (lol) and for your patience. 

This is Freddy Jay saying " Where's my scarf, it's snowing outside!"