062 - From Baseball to Big Mountains with Ronnie Forslund

In this episode Ronnie Forslund, an expedition filmmaker and high-altitude mountaineer shares his journey from growing up in Las Vegas to discovering his passion for the outdoors and filmmaking. He discusses how his faith plays a crucial role in his adventures and how he aims to connect viewers with God's creation through his work. The conversation explores his experiences in various countries, the challenges of mountaineering, and the importance of community and teamwork in his projects. Ronnie emphasizes the significance of recognizing God's presence in both nature and urban environments, encouraging listeners to find beauty in everyday life. In this conversation, McKenzie Smith and Ronnie Forslund explore the importance of companionship in adventures, the struggles of navigating personal valleys, and the journey of redefining identity after significant life changes. They discuss cultural reflections on love and community, the process of finding purpose in wilderness experiences, and offer encouragement for those facing transitions in their lives. The dialogue emphasizes the significance of faith and reliance on God throughout these experiences.

Connect with Ronnie:

Instagram: @ronnie.forslund

YouTube: @ronnieforslund

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Chapters

• 13:16 [Ad] The Balance of Gray
• 14:06 (Cont.) 062 - From Baseball to Big Mountains with Ronnie Forslund
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• 22:39 (Cont.) 062 - From Baseball to Big Mountains with Ronnie Forslund

Transcript

McKenzie Smith (00:02)
On today's episode of My Valley, His Victory, we have Ronnie Forsland. He is an expedition filmmaker slash photographer and high altitude mountaineer. He grew up in Las Vegas, which inspired his passion and awe for mountains, especially not being around glaciers and high altitude landscapes. This passion quickly developed into his job as he has had opportunities to do projects in Nepal, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador. All of these opportunities, he tries to tell the story through biblical wins so that the viewer can connect the awe and wonder they are seeing to the Lord Almighty and the saving work of Jesus Christ. Thanks so much for being with us today, Ronnie.

Ronnie Forslund (00:39)
Thank you, Bikensi. I'm really grateful to be on here. It's exciting.

McKenzie Smith (00:42)
Yeah, absolutely. So I know we have a lot to cover with all of that I just read in your bio, but go ahead and share just a little bit more about yourself and who you are with listeners.

Ronnie Forslund (00:52)
Okay, well, one thing I didn't add on there is I'm a college student. I'm pursuing a degree in cinematography as well as a Bible minor. So yeah, I study at Biola University and that is my base camp for right now. And so just kind of...

That's definitely put a nail into everything I want to do with Expedition filmmaking because the Lord is causing me to be here and just be patient and just wait on his will and just really be led by the Spirit, which I think is really wonderful because I know I can plan a bunch and I not really look for the Spirit's direction. So being here is really nice and good for me and it's helping me mature in my faith.

and just get that amazing Christian community and just really just know more about Christ every day. So there's that. And yeah, I I grew up in Las Vegas, so I grew up in the heat. I have never even been camping until two years ago. So kind of how all this happened was pretty miraculous. Going from I played baseball.

Even up until my freshman year of college and then I got injured and a lot of things were happening at that time and that was just God going like, hey, like you need to listen to me. Because everything that I was doing was selfish ambition. And so just had this realization, this revelation that what I was doing before was not.

pursuing Christ, even though I did label myself as a Christian, I was raised in a Christian home. And so my life just completely changed and I got into the outdoors and I just had such incredible general revelation, right? Just like seeing God in his creation because he's revealed himself through that. And...

I couldn't deny it and I'm like, I need to show people that you can't deny it. Especially when you get to see places that people don't usually get to see. Like when I was in Chile and we went to like the most, one of the most remote regions of the central Andes to climb this big 20,000 foot mountain. And it's like, people in the Chile because like Patagonia or the Asacama desert, but they don't know like this, this whole place is so massive.

and so like unknown and it was so fantastic to me and I'm like if I can have such a huge revelation for God through his creation I know that the anybody can see that and at least start to think about it.

you know, and that opens up such amazing conversation. And so that's kind of like my goals have just changed to that. Like that is my direction, that is my purpose, which is really wonderful. So I would, yeah.

McKenzie Smith (03:51)
Yeah.

Yeah, when you started college, were you involved in filmmaking and kind of the cinematography journey or has this evolved? how, talk to us about where your passion came for that piece of it.

Ronnie Forslund (04:17)
Okay, it's always been plan B. Yeah, just like filming stuff with my friends when I was younger, doing like trampolines or cliff jumping, you know, the typical boyhood stuff. And that kind of changed into me going into places to maybe go cliff jumping, like we went to Oregon. And I started to think like, oh wow, like.

the places are actually better than the thing that we're doing. They speak for itself. And I started to like, okay, if I'm gonna go into filmmaking as a plan B, if baseball doesn't work out, which it didn't, I can do the outdoors. So I was already starting to build that love for it.

And so when I got to school, I definitely felt like a little bit of a black sheep because I didn't want to make movies. Right? Everyone was like, I want to make the next Star Wars movie or something like that. But I was like, I want to do like outdoor documentary filmmaking. Right?

That's not, and so everything that we'd learn is in like studios, renting out equipment with a camera that five people need to manage, right? But I'm like, let's do running gun, stuff like that. And so I, I, I felt a little bit like an outsider and. Yeah, that caused me to just not think of school as the most valuable for me, which was not good because I applied that to like everything.

But even now, it's like, I may not get as much out of the CMA program, the Cinema and Media Arts program, as some others that are gonna go into the film industry. I can still get so much out of it, so much experience, so much connections. yeah, so even just in comparison to freshman year to now, just being at school and being in CMA program is really...

like grown me in my understanding of what I should be looking for, what my expectations are. So, because beforehand they're probably maybe a little extreme thinking, I'm guaranteed to get into the industry I want to get into if I go to the top film school in one of the top film schools in the nation. But it's like, that's just not how it is, you know? So.

McKenzie Smith (06:44)
Yeah,

yeah, that's interesting that they're, I mean, it makes sense that they're

they're teaching you how to shoot, you know, in studios and that sort of thing. But I guess I would have assumed without ever going to film school or any sort of art school that they would kind of like let you choose your medium, you know, and and kind of grade you from what you want to do versus like being stuffed into this like pocket, you know. But I guess it makes sense because they have to have a classroom and they have to, you know, show you these things and teach you these things. But I guess I would have assumed that they would have given

you a little bit more leeway but it's cool that you've and I'm sure it's helped you like take some things knowledge from those things and apply them to you know being in the outdoors and that sort of thing but that's it's interesting going through college maybe with that mindset of like this actually isn't gonna serve the purpose I originally you know started with and it's not gonna land me this like amazing job in the film world because you're going in a different path like

It's interesting for me to wrap my mind around because I feel like people would normally go to school and they're like, hey, I want to go into this, so I'm going to get this degree. And you're kind of doing a little bit of a swing around.

Ronnie Forslund (08:04)
Yeah, totally.

Yeah, and also, yeah, I just want to say, like, Biola, they do, like, everything's project-based. Like, at least when you get higher up in the classes. So, like, I get to do what I love, and they love what I do. But it's like, like, the starting base, you know, they're not teaching, like, actually, like, guerrilla-style documentary filmmaking, and just, and all that stuff like that. So, just, yeah. It's great now, you know, so.

McKenzie Smith (08:20)
Okay, good.

Yeah.

Yeah. Okay,

good. So you're in that spot where you're getting to do the things that you love and getting to showcase. Okay. I love that. I love that. So have these trips to Nepal and Chile and Ecuador and Peru, have these been to shoot for your school or have they been for an outside project or yeah, kind of talk to us a little bit about that.

Ronnie Forslund (08:34)
Hmm.

Yes. Yes.

So these projects are not for school. Because at the same time that God was doing this huge transition in my life, he actually just blessed me with a pretty amazing opportunity on social media. he started, like, profile just started growing and growing and growing, which was so wonderful. And it led to opportunities for me to travel international.

And like my first time ever backpacking was in the Himalayas. And.

McKenzie Smith (09:34)
Okay, we have to stop there. We have to stop there.

I'm just baffled. I'm just baffled by that. Keep going, I'm gonna come back to that. Just keep going,

Ronnie Forslund (09:48)
Yeah,

and so like I didn't have anything. You know, I bought trekking shoes. I brought a backpack just for this trip to Nepal. And I trekked around the Annapurna Massif for eight days, eight, 10 days. And like even then, like I still didn't really know the spirits direction, but.

Like he was revealing it to me, which was so amazing because I was seeing just such magnificence and more than I've ever seen, you know, like what I was saying growing up in Las Vegas, I've never even seen a glacier before. That was my first time ever seeing ice like on mountains, like huge glaciers. And I saw it in like on like the tallest mountains in the world, you know, and I'm just like, my mind was blown.

And then literally that same summer, I went to Ecuador after that and climbed the four tallest mountains there. I didn't summit two of them, but still climbed these 19,000 foot volcanoes and then went to Peru after that and then trekked around what's considered the most beautiful mountain range in the world, the Corrida, Waiwash. And...

All of that just happened at the same time, like these opportunities with brands over social media. And I was just overwhelmed. Because it felt like for me, this is the first time me experiencing everything. And I got in the most spectacular ways possible, which was just, I can't be more grateful. So yeah.

McKenzie Smith (11:32)
Yeah. So let's go back. I need to know a little bit of the story of kind of how you went from not camping and backpacking to climbing and backpacking, mountaineering, whatever you want to call it, like some of the highest peaks in the world. And

Like that's not something you just like start out doing. And so one, like what gave you the confidence, I guess, or like how did you even train for something like this without having any prior experience? And I guess like what made you say yes without the experience?

because I know a lot of people would be like that sounds like really hard and really scary and like it's just not it's not the place people normally like jump off into so I'm just I'm baffled

Ronnie Forslund (12:40)
Yeah.

well, that training wise wasn't super difficult. I had an athletic background. I played sports my entire life, including baseball and being a pitcher, like you're running. So conditioning wise, like it was good. but me saying yes.

You know, it's not like the offer was like, mean, I'm trying to think of it, how to say this, because it wasn't me that made the decision, you know what I mean? Like, I was literally just like moved by the spirit, you know? And there's an imagery in the Bible of like the spirit being like wind, right? And how we're supposed to be susceptible to the wind, because we are.

and was susceptible to his guidance. And when he wants something for you, like he wants something and he's going to make it happen. And so it was like, you know, like the decision was made for me, right. And that was so like amazing because I just knew that this calling and this desire and this passion I had even for like, like before I even went there, like I knew I was going to be like,

this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Because I just knew it. It was like, it was revealed to me before I even went there, which was so amazing.

But yeah, it was like a mutual, like I kind of searched out how to do it, you know, and then like the opportunity came. And so it was more so like I kind of initiated. So that was just kind of how it happened. I don't really know, it wasn't me, so.

McKenzie Smith (14:31)
Yeah, hey, that's okay. How, I guess, when I think of like mountaineering, never done it, let me make this very clear, never, never done that. But I feel like there's a lot of like technical training and a lot of like rope skills needed and things like that.

Ronnie Forslund (14:33)
Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (14:54)
Did that come into play? Like, were you being guided on your first couple of trips to where you kind of didn't need to know those things? Or like, how did you, how'd you grasp that side of things, like the technical side?

Ronnie Forslund (15:08)
Well, when I get into something, I'm really into it. I just, the first thing I did was just watch a ton of videos, get the lingo, right, learn up.

And then when I went to Ecuador and I did those massive volcanoes, there's a guy that takes you. So we were just kind of roped up together. And then all you got to do is have your ice axe and your crampons. And then you just ascend. There's a couple steep parts, like maybe like 50 degrees. But it's pretty manageable. Just takes some calves. You know what I mean?

McKenzie Smith (15:35)
Okay.

Ronnie Forslund (15:46)
On one of the mountains, we did a school where I was trained on the glaciers, on Tisana's glacier. So I got to learn like multi-pitch ice, how to anchor, how to repel, how to belay, how to do crevasse rescue. And of course, none of that stuck. You you learn, it's like a foreign language to you at first. So there's that. And then Peru came around just to trekking. You know, I got just.

just walk. And yeah, and so like the technical training came later. And even now, like with the stuff I had planned in the summer, I do have like the ability to do multi pitch like iced mixed climbing, which is also still like

huge jump in comparison to like where it was last summer. So everything's all kind of happening really really really fast. So but yeah, that's just how it's Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (16:45)
Yeah. Hey, you're learning on the go and you are

being led, it sounds like by some by some great people and hey, that's that's one way to learn to be thrown under the fire and figure it out. Yeah, that's just wow to me. You said that on our intro call about like you haven't been doing this stuff, but for like two years and I was like, holy cow, like I'm just I'm just shocked. But was

Ronnie Forslund (16:57)
Yes. Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (17:13)
was landscape or, you know, I know you said you were filming cliff jumping and that sort of thing. So that's kind of always been been a little bit of a passion is is the outdoors and that piece of it.

Ronnie Forslund (17:26)
Yeah, yeah, it was, yeah, even like when I played baseball. Yeah, totally.

McKenzie Smith (17:28)
Okay. Okay, so it just transitioned. Okay.

Okay, cool. Wow. So out of all of the experiences that you've had in the last couple of years, which one of those was your favorite? If you had to pick which track or which objective?

Ronnie Forslund (17:53)
You know, I just gotta choose one. But I would say this mountain I did in Chile over Chris's break because it was like the culmination of everything. We did like the southernmost 20,000th peak in the world. It's super remote. And I was with a team this time. A lot of stuff I did was solo or with a guide.

but here I had two other insanely talented filmmakers and two guides, and we were just completely autonomous by ourselves. It's like all the preparation and training that I've been learning and building up has kind of led to this moment. And so it was like a a great moment of like, okay, this is everything. Yeah, this is everything that's been happening in my life, building up to it. And it was so amazing too, like on itself.

It was so incredible, just so remote. And I mean, it was a beauty that I just can't even describe. So we made a film for that one. We're currently in post-production. And that's really exciting, too. Like, I'm making a film project for it. Like, that's something I've always wanted to do. And now I'm actually doing it, you know? So it's really cool.

McKenzie Smith (19:01)
Yeah.

Yeah, it's got to be cool to be able to look back on on some of those things and kind of be able to relive it and then having that documentary I'm sure will be really special to always remember that trip. Yeah, so you've touched on it a little bit but would love for you to kind of just elaborate on how being out on these expeditions or being in the outdoors plays a role in your relationship with Christ.

Ronnie Forslund (19:18)
Yeah. Yeah.

I like to think of it like I'm all about like scale and just like the massiveness of a place. And it's always in the back of my mind whenever I see something or I climb a mountain, I think like, okay, I put in all this effort.

just to get up here for months, right? And here's like this creator God that made it. But how I feel like connected is because this creator God who's so magnificent, who's almighty is so deeply personal, right? He knows the inner workings of you better than you know yourself, right? There's a verse says, you needed me together in my mother's womb carefully.

Right? And it's like so beautiful because through all this magnificent beauty, it's like God sees you as his image. And I can just rest in that knowing that I mean everything to God. Because it may seem like you're like, it may appear like you're insignificant in this grand world, in this infinite space.

but it's like you're not. If you mean something to God, that's everything. And I think that's just really what I see most in the outdoors, that comfort that I want people to feel.

McKenzie Smith (21:12)
Yeah, absolutely. It can be easy, especially in those really, really, really big places to feel small. And just like you said, you're the only thing there that's made in his image. Yes, it's beautiful and it's grand, but it doesn't mean the same thing that we mean to him. so, yeah, thank you for sharing that.

Ronnie Forslund (21:27)
Yeah.

Yeah, it's, yeah,

yeah, it's still also meant to humble you, right? Like the point of the world, I mean, not the only point, but one of the biggest reasons the world is so big and these places are so big and we're so small is so we can humbly approach God, right, in glory and praise, but also like it's meant to encourage you. So it's a duality there.

McKenzie Smith (21:49)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of a lot of a lot of that a lot of duality in man yeah it's yeah so can you share a story about a way and god maybe has revealed himself to you or spoken to you through the outdoors

Ronnie Forslund (22:02)
Yeah, in scripture.

This, this one actually happened in Chile again. and it's pretty clear, like this one, like this is the most clarity I've ever had, for like God revealing himself to me in a certain way, because a lot of the stuff that I was doing over the summer and before that was kind of just like for me, right. In a way, to build my business, to build like my profile, my brand.

And there was a time where like this, all this mountain climbing, it was, it was taking over my mind, right? Cause I wanted to do it so bad, but I didn't fully, fully, fully know whether or not that was selfish ambition or like that was from the spirit. And so it was like this soul searching time for me. And then when I went to Chile, we were on summit day after, you know, a couple of weeks, like everything was leading up to this moment, right?

And we were on this, we were on the second glacier and, we were all roped up together and the glacier wasn't technical to cross, but I asked my guy, James, I'm like, Hey, can I unhook from the rope? Right. And not like I say that not as like, Ooh, look at me. I'm super dangerous. Right. I say that as like it with me doing this, I know that

I am not going to get any footage of me, even though I'm a huge part of the story of our film. I'm not going to get any footage of me on Summit Day. And I'm going to be the fly on the wall, right? The unnoticed one so I can get my team and I can get those amazing shots. So when the moment came for me to choose like whether or not like I want it was me or to be the fly on the wall, like I immediately chose to fly on the wall.

so I can make that sacrifice for my team. And it was like that moment right there was like, okay, now I know with full confirmation that this is the spirit's work within me, right? Because it's not selfish ambition, you know. It's to serve like him and serve my team and show them and take photos of them. and yeah, I think that was really.

beautiful in that moment.

McKenzie Smith (24:44)
Yeah.

you, I always like to say you did something that you maybe wouldn't naturally do. And so, you know, automatically, you know, like that's God working in you. And especially, I think being being a creator and being, you know, in your shoes, I can't can't even imagine. But it would be it would be hard for me to be like, you know, I want footage of myself, you know, doing this super awesome thing. And, you know, you want to be you are a part of it, but you want to be a bigger part of it. And so.

I think that is a really cool story to see the culmination and the fruit of like, no I'm here to serve others and that's okay.

Ronnie Forslund (25:27)
Yeah, because,

sorry.

McKenzie Smith (25:29)
I think

the Bible talks about that so often. And I'm reading through Matthew right now and I feel like just over and over in almost every chapter it talks about being a servant and the greatest one is the one who serves and it's not the one you think is the greatest. And we see that time and time and time again in scripture and just being...

being full force in our servanthood, which is so not our reflex.

Ronnie Forslund (26:01)
Yeah, yeah. And what you were saying, like, it wasn't in my nature to do that. That's so true. And it's probably more true for me than anyone else because of my whole brand and everything beforehand was like, I did these tripod shots of just me being in nature, right? So everything was like, my content was literally me. My brand was me. And so I was like, you know, I had to...

Sacrifice a lot there, you know, it's like cuz you know, everything that I've done has been like, okay cool But this is like really really really cool, you know, and I'm just like You know, I wish It didn't have to be that decision, but it was and I was so grateful as a result, know, there was not there's not a single inkling of regret and my soul so

McKenzie Smith (26:34)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, that's cool. Thank you so much for sharing that. So I know that you live, I'll say live, you base camp, but you, base camp in LA, right? That's LA. Is where your school is. That's okay. We'll pause. Anaheim, right? You said? Okay. Um, I'll start over. No, it's okay.

Ronnie Forslund (27:05)
Yeah, let's... Anaheim... Sorry.


McKenzie Smith (27:25)
So I know that you live in Anaheim or you have base camp in Anaheim, which means that you are not always in these super awesome remote places in foreign countries. So can you share with us a little bit about how you maybe connect with God on an everyday basis through his creation while being in a more urban environment?

Ronnie Forslund (27:50)
think the most important thing that we need to remind ourselves is that we are God's creatures. We are part of his creation. And so I think people often maybe forget that, right? It's like, I need to be out in creation. I'm like, OK, look at your buddy, right? Because he is.

the culmination of creation. wasn't until God in in Genesis, that God put Adam and Eve on earth until that he said it was very good. And so even though I'm not the biggest fan of cities, being in Anaheim, like I sometimes feel like I'm trapped and I need to go out, I just, it's good to remind myself that people here are the most important part of the entire world.

Right? People everywhere. And not only that, what people do, right? And just all the amazing creativity because that's reflecting God's character. You know, a tree can only serve God by just being a tree. We can serve God in so many ways. Like, in what we do, our creativity, our character, and...

that's so beautiful to me. And so it's also so filling, you know, when I do need that like connection. And also like, yeah, you can just look around and like me being a creator or photographer, I look around all the time, like even just like.

you know, right now looking out my window, seeing how the lights reflecting off the trees and the winds making it flutter. I'm just like, that's so beautiful. And you can see that everywhere, just like these little things. And so I like, I, yeah, I would just encourage people to just like find out what, you really want in nature, you know, cause if it's, if it's different.

and your expectations are different than what you experience like in day to day life you need to do some soul searching. You know what I mean? People are the most important part.

McKenzie Smith (30:01)
Yeah, definitely. I definitely think there's a time and a place for, you know, solitary and, you know, solo adventures. But definitely I know that there is, I know that I have a better time. I know that I remember things more. I know that I just get so much more fulfillment out of out of going with others. And so you're right. Like the people are what make make it. And I think it's important to remember what you said that they are.

they're the culmination of creation. And so don't look past those things and lean into that piece of creation when you're not out and about in nature. So I appreciate that. It's helpful.

Ronnie Forslund (30:43)
Yeah, yeah, and

also, yeah, of course, I'm a huge introvert, so I love being alone. So, you know, so I do like my solo travels, so, okay.

McKenzie Smith (30:47)
Yeah.

I'm not, so I have to

force myself. I need time, undistracted, to spend time alone with God. I'm making it a point to do this versus maybe you have to make it a point to do things with other people. It's funny, it's always...

Ronnie Forslund (31:10)
Yeah, a little bit so

McKenzie Smith (31:15)
It's always interesting to me how God made us so different and there's some people that that really, you know, are just drawn towards other people and there are some people who just really, you know, can feel their cut being alone. I do not lean so much on that way. I have gotten worlds better at it over the years because I forced myself for a year to like, you know, take myself out to like be comfortable eating alone and

Ronnie Forslund (31:18)
Mm-hmm.

McKenzie Smith (31:39)
like doing all these things to push myself to be comfortable being alone because I was not. was like, I need people around me all the time. And so there's a balance in there somewhere and I'm just not sure, sure where it is.

Ronnie Forslund (31:46)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

And bouncing off what you said about how they like we're all created so unique just in terms of like what we do to like, like our passion, like I'll show like one of my friends, like a 15,000 foot mountain face of this mountain in Nepal. I'm like, look at this. This is the coolest thing I've ever seen. Right. And they're like, Oh, nice. I'm like, don't you understand the significance? This is one of the most prominent mountain walls you'll ever see in your life. And it's they're like, I have no idea. I don't care.

McKenzie Smith (32:11)
You

They're like meh.

you

Ronnie Forslund (32:22)
And I'm like, you should. But, you know, so it's really funny.

McKenzie Smith (32:26)
Yeah,

oh my goodness, that's hilarious. Okay, well, switching gears a little bit into the title of this podcast, My Valley, His Victory, would love for you, Ronnie, to share a valley or a season of wilderness that you experienced and just what maybe God taught you or prepared you for in that season.

Ronnie Forslund (34:57)
Yeah. Yeah.

I think the biggest one was that transition from being a baseball player, getting injured, and him just rewriting my whole story. I had a lot of spiritual darkness. I didn't have any direction whatsoever. He rescued me from a lot.

but I also fell into a lack of reliance on him, right? Even though he was calling for my attention, I wasn't really listening too much because what I wanted to do was just so broken and so destroyed. Yeah, and I was just searching for a while.

maybe living a little bit immoral in some ways and yeah, I...

think it really took until I got to Biola and that whole transfer process until I arrived here. Even then, I still hid myself away. People don't even realize I'm a junior. They think I'm a sophomore because I didn't exist that spring semester.

because I was just hiding myself away. Not only like just, it was also the guilt of who I was playing baseball and my whole life before that was that that guilt was pretty outstanding and it was outstanding like the good of of what God has done for me in terms of rescuing me from that that life. Yeah, and it didn't really come until

I studied abroad in Ecuador, right? That fall of 2023 that I started to really ha I had to, I had to rely on people, right? And when I saw them and I saw how loving they were, right? And like they're also really strong believers too.

And just like seeing that good Christian character, right? And seeing them love me, even though like they don't even know who I am, right? It was like a reset for me. And I started to see like, my gosh, like this is the grace of God. This is what God has done for me. Like Jesus says like, has taken my sins and has cast them as far as the East is from the West, from himself, right? And so seeing that grace presently was like,

Wow, like I am completely forgiven from my sin. And like when I was brought out of that valley, was like I was just, you know, flung out of it. You know what I mean? Cause it happened so fast. You know, it was amazing.

McKenzie Smith (38:35)
Yeah, absolutely. And I can sort of relate to your story. Not in totality, I didn't get injured, but I did play college sports for two years and then decided not to continue on my last two years. And so I can kind of understand this.

maybe identity crisis, you know, I'll say that you had of, there was probably a lot wrapped up in that and yours was, you know, unexpectedly taken away versus, you know, mine was a little bit more of a choice, but,

I guess share with us a little bit about maybe like what you have learned or experienced about your identity through this process because I would assume that that's the piece that that maybe was the most shooken shaken shaken shaken shaken shaken and if not just say it say that's not but

Ronnie Forslund (39:34)
taken. Yeah.

Yeah, it-

McKenzie Smith (39:43)
Like was that

the piece that was challenging for you? Was the identity piece? Or was it where you had just like put all of your, you kind of put all your eggs in that basket or yeah, talk to us a little bit about that.

Ronnie Forslund (39:49)
I would think so.

think I mean,

it was for sure my identity because baseball was my whole life, right in some ways. And if it wasn't baseball, it was like my ability to do things. Right? Like I had such identity in that. And then I might get injured like, you know, I was like, Oh, wow, like, can't. I'm pretty fragile. You know, so that not that was also broken down, right? It was like my physical abilities.

And I think one thing I learned is that our separation from God is as a result of our lack of desire to be with him. You know, I think of the prodigal son in the Bible and how he takes his father's inheritance and he goes and spends it all in immoral ways.

And when he comes to himself, right, he goes to his father, right? And the Bible hints that that he's actually not really that sorry yet, right? But the father like runs to the son and embraces him and kisses him and then offers him a feast. And I think of that like

the father comes to the son before the son even like repents. And so before I even had, you know, that apology and that repentance in my heart, like the spirit was already calling me and that was, I mean for identity, I, and when I'm talking about identity, it's like, I'm not known.

I mean, people know me by my fruit. They know, they know me by what I do, but God knows me for what's in my heart. Cause he's the only one that can know your heart. And so when your heart has been reformed to desire him, that's probably all, that's all that matters. And what comes as a result is, is because of that, you know, change. So

McKenzie Smith (42:14)
Yeah, absolutely. When I hear your story, I think of the...

or I think of kind of just the worldly and the secular, you know, we...

we do these things and we feel loved because we perform or we, you know, have this title or we, we do this. And I think your story of going to Ecuador and not being, you know, maybe known as the person that you were back home, not being known as this athlete and being known as, you know, whatever, whatever it was and seeing people like just openly love you and accept you.

I think that's just such a beautiful story of God's love for us, you know, because we can try and do all these things and like earn love, but it's like at end of the day, whenever it's just like freely given, you know, that's God's love to us. And so I think that it's beautiful that you had that experience, you know, in the flesh and you saw that and it wasn't this like, I have to perform or I have to be this for people to love me.

I can just be who I am and that's had to have been so freeing for you. And I just think that's it's beautiful that you got to experience that. And I feel like the, you know, people in.

like South American cultures just do such a good job of that. You know, I've heard so many stories of people in South America just opening their doors to strangers and feeding people and just like loving people so well. And man, I just think we all need to aspire to get back to some of those things.

Ronnie Forslund (44:06)
Yeah,

yeah, we've become way too individualistic. So, introvert extrovert doesn't exist down there.

McKenzie Smith (44:08)
Yes.

Yeah,

yeah, it's just the culture of loving and we've yeah, I feel like that used to be used to be a big thing. And now it's now it's not so much.

I was gonna ask you something and now I just forgot. Blah blah blah. My brain, my thoughts went blah blah blah.

Sorry, one moment please. Reloading. Reloading.

Ronnie Forslund (44:42)
You're on the clock. Hurry up.

McKenzie Smith (44:51)
I know what I was going to say. I also find it interesting that God has kind of, in a way, like, pivoted your story and you had this identity in baseball and, you know, being an athlete and all of that. And

it's now changed into something so different to actually align with a greater purpose. And so, it's not that you're not an athlete anymore, because you totally are. You're out here doing these crazy expeditions. It's just a different kind of athlete that you may not have been before. And so, I think it's interesting that even though you were stripped of this piece, you kind of got something.

I would say, you know, more in a line with everything else that you're doing. And I think that's just really cool. Because this may not have come if you had continued on playing baseball. I don't think your schedule would have allowed for you to be doing all of these things.

Ronnie Forslund (45:59)
No, I don't think the schedule is the problem.

McKenzie Smith (46:07)
But yeah, I think that that's really cool that it's not been like a total taking of an identity. It's just been a transition into a different kind of athlete.

Ronnie Forslund (46:17)
Yeah, it was really

a heart problem. You know, it was like what baseball represented for me, you know, and like when God did pivot my life, he broke me down in every way possible. Like he took away my physical abilities. He took away my like everything spiritually, right? Like, and then also just like relationship, like the guilt that I had and just like, you know, my lack of wanting to connect, like everything was broken down and then everything was reworked.

into what he wants and that was like, that's just what he does. When God wants something in your life, he's not subtle. So I truly believe that.

McKenzie Smith (46:56)
Yeah, yeah,

I think of like the pruning process. And I think a lot of times whenever we see the pruning, we think like, we're just trying to chop things off of a plant. And it's like, no, this is actually so that it can grow more abundantly and so that it can, you know, become more of what it's supposed to be. And you gotta, you know, get some of those things out of there in order for that to happen. And so I just, I see that in this story.

So for a listener who's maybe going through a similar season, having their identity kind of shaken or, you know, going through a season of where their life, know, not kind of everything they knew is just being jumbled. What piece of advice or word of encouragement would you give to that person?

Ronnie Forslund (47:52)
It's always so hard once you're kind of like out of it in some ways, you can get that bigger picture and you get to see like the work of the spirit. But I would just encourage you and I know moving forward for myself, like when these problems come, I know that if I have my identity in Christ and I can recognize Jesus as my Lord and Savior.

The spirit lives within me. He's guiding me. He's in control of my life. And I can rest in that. And because it's so easy to just

want to take things in your own hands. And that's subtle too. And it's a slippery slope. Cause like once you do take in your own hands, maybe some, maybe God allows something good to happen. Right. Then you're like, okay, hook wire, sinker, you know what I mean? Like hook line and sinker. I don't even know what I just said.

McKenzie Smith (48:57)
I love it. Go ahead.

Ronnie Forslund (49:03)
I was about to say like, uh, you know, um, and maybe when God lets that one thing happen in your life, it's just like hook line and sinker. I'm going to follow that, you know? Um, and then all of a sudden, yeah, you're, you're your own Lord. So an autonomy is the self laws, the greatest sin, you know what I mean? It's like turning away from God's law and wanting to do your own. And so

McKenzie Smith (49:41)
you

Ronnie Forslund (49:45)
And so for, if somebody is just in a valley where they're not really seeing the work of the Lord and your life, I would just say like, the only thing that you can fall back on is God, whether or not you see him. It's like, cause if you rely on yourself, you'll never be filled, right? You'll never have direction and

It's just like, would just remind myself every time now going forward, you know what I mean? Like this is, this is his will, right? And if you are actively pursuing like Christ, your decisions actually are going to align with actually what God's will is, right? Because you're growing closer to him. You're understanding his character more. And so it's like a

If I pursue the Lord, right, it's like, I have a clear understanding, like he's going to reveal himself more to me. Right. And so that's like, that's a huge motivation. Right. And that's just what sanctification is. So.

McKenzie Smith (50:56)
Yeah.

Yeah. Amen. If you put God first and you make Him your identity, everything else will work itself out. That's just, it's just sometimes, like you said, the hard part. It's like, we just are so, we just, we just want to do it and we want to, we want to make it happen. And we can, we can not even realize, you know, like you said, it's a slippery slope and we can not even realize sometimes how we're doing that. And so.

Ronnie Forslund (51:02)
Yeah, everything. Yeah.

McKenzie Smith (51:25)
just being very intentional to make it God and to lean on God and to look for His will in whatever it is. I appreciate you sharing that. I know that's going to be really helpful for someone.

So Ronnie, for someone who wants to check out all the things that you're doing, the amazing cinematography and just, gosh, I'm obsessed. Every time I see your stuff, I'm just like, it's amazing. It's great. It's so pleasing and it's so beautiful. I'm one of the people that appreciate it. So I appreciate what you're doing. But if they want to see the same things and connect with you, where can they find you?

Ronnie Forslund (51:58)
Thanks.

Well, my Instagram is Ronnie Forsland. I'm not going to spell that out. yeah, YouTube is the same thing. Still working at the YouTube. But and yeah, I mean, just from my Instagram, you can probably access my website and just check out my portfolio, my gallery. But I mainly operate off of Instagram, so.

McKenzie Smith (52:10)
I'll put it in my show notes.

Yeah, very cool. Well, y'all go follow along, go watch some of his stuff because it is absolutely aesthetically pleasing and just so beautiful. And I want to go to all the places, but I'm sure that I'm not capable. yeah, keep doing what you're doing. And I can't wait to see more.

Ronnie Forslund (52:49)
No, you got it.

McKenzie Smith (52:56)
I just really appreciate you taking the time to be here and for sharing your story with our listeners and for just walking us through this season because I think that especially, you know, in college, it can be really easy to get wrapped up in different identities, whether that's sports or fraternities or career paths or whatever it is. And so I know that this will be helpful to someone. So I just thank you so much for being here and sharing with us.

Ronnie Forslund (52:56)
Thanks.

No, thank you. This is

an incredible opportunity. I'm really grateful. You have me on.