Marnie Swedberg – Transforming Perspectives

September 6, 2021
by Rodney Olsen
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From being the girl to struggled to learn to read in school, to the woman who has read thousands of books and authored over a dozen of her own, Marnie Swedberg is remarkable.

Marnie Swedberg is an international leadership mentor, the author of 13 books, the host of her own radio talk show, a media expert, and a keynote speaker for organizations around the world.

Fun and fast-paced, yet peaceful and approachable, her history includes fires, floods, a tornado, car wrecks, business set-backs, a burglary, lightning strike, ambulance rides and more. She models come-back behavior, possibility thinking, and profound faith.

She owned and operated businesses in the restaurant and retail industries for over a decade and is now the webhostess of the largest online directory of Christian Women Speakers in the world. The website connects event planners with speakers from every experience level, fee range, and denomination and currently features over 1000 speakers.

As a public speaker herself, Marnie recently solo-circumnavigated the globe, speaking 26 times at six conferences in four countries. She has presented for large corporations including Honeywell, Prudential, and Pillsbury; for non-profit groups including Chambers of Commerce, Professional Women’s groups, colleges and libraries. and for Christian women’s retreats, conferences, and other programs.

I had the honour of speaking to Marnie recently on my podcast Bleeding Daylight.

You can hear our conversation by finding Bleeding daylight wherever you listen to podcasts or just click play on audio player below.



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Father’s Day 2021

September 5, 2021
by Rodney Olsen
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Dad was a FIFO worker before there was such a thing. These days FIFO stands for ‘Fly In Fly Out’ but back then dad would ‘Float In Float Out’. He worked as a cook on ships, mostly heading up and down the Western Australian coast. That meant that dad would be absent from our home for weeks at a time.

When he was home I don’t know that he really knew how to interact with his children and I’m not sure that I knew how to interact with him.

Even though there was often both a physical and emotional distance between us, my dad was a good dad who did the best job of fathering he could.

I’m now coming to realise that there are many things that I see in my self today that can be traced directly back to my father and the influence he still has on me.

Maybe I could point to things I wish were different when I was young but really, I didn’t miss out on much. Life was pretty good and a lot of that was down to the love of an imperfect father. These days I’m an imperfect father, so the last thing I want to do is blame dad for the things I may have missed out on while growing up. Instead, I blame my dad for a range of other things.

I blame my father for the fact that time and time again I suddenly find myself awake in the middle of the night. I wake up and sense someone is in the room. Someone small and furry … with whiskers. It’s Simba, our cat, wanting to get in under the covers. I love cats. I love them because my dad loved cats. He loved most animals but especially cats.

I blame my father for some of the music that is still stuck in my head. Dad was almost 44 years older than me and so his musical tastes weren’t exactly ‘current’. Which explains why to this day, among a very wide range of music in my collection, covering many different styles, I still listen to Bing Crosby, dad’s favourite singer. (Just don’t mention that I also listen to Sinatra. Dad was certainly not a fan.)

I blame my father for the fact that I’m a qualified chef. Dad was a chef and I followed that career for a number of years. I completed my four-year apprenticeship then decided it really wasn’t for me, but it has given me skills I’ve been able to use ever since. It also meant that some years later I was able to work alongside dad for a week when he was cooking at a camp on Rottnest. It was a memorable week.

There are many more things I can see in me that come from my dad. Some good, some not so good. I also know there would be many other parts of who I am that I don’t even recognise as coming from dad but are still part of his influence.

My dad was a good dad who provided for his family well and did the best he could.

It’s Father’s Day in Australia.

This is my twentieth Father’s Day without my dad. George Thomas Olsen passed away in August 2002, just a few days before his 83rd birthday and around a month before Father’s Day of that year.

I really do miss dad but it’s not with an overwhelming sadness because I know he’s in a better place and I know I’ll see him again one day.

I still wish he was able to see Emily and James grow up into the wonderful young people that they’ve become and to get to know Pauline even better. I reckon he would have really enjoyed getting to know Emily’s husband, Josh. I wish Emily and James had more time to get to know their grandad.

I look forward to a new day when we’ll catch up on everything we’ve missed over the years.

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” – Revelation 21:4

Today won’t be a sad day because I’ll be spending the day being a dad to my own children and working hard to ensure that there are many ‘good’ things that they’ll be able to blame me for in the years to come.

(Yes, that’s me with my dad and mum in the picture above. You can click on it for a closer look.)



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10 Weeks to Go

July 7, 2021
by Rodney Olsen
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It’s taken years of planning and now we’re just ten weeks away from beginning a ride from one side of Australia to the other.

Here’s a short video I recorded talking about how soon we’ll be on the road.

The ride will start in Perth, Western Australia on Saturday the 18th of September. We will arrive at Compassion’s head office in Newcastle, New South Wales on Wednesday the 20th of October. There’ll be 28 riding days and 5 rest days. The average riding distance for those riding days will be just over 150 kilometres. Our longest days will be just under 200 kilometres. There’ll be around 30 cyclists and a support team of around 12.

So much has already been done in planning and preparation but there’s so much still to be organised and completed.

It’s Too Important

The cause behind the ride is too important to treat lightly. Hundreds of children living in extreme poverty are depending on those of us making this journey and making it count. They don’t know we’ll be riding across the continent, they’ll probably never know, but it’s an important cause all the same.

There are children, through no fault of their own, who are living in the most unacceptable circumstances. We plan to make a difference for as many of them as we can by offering them a hope more powerful than poverty.

The World Bank is estimating that the current pandemic will force around 150 million people into extreme poverty this year. I can’t stand by and see that happen.

If you’d like to support my ride you can do so in two ways.

I am personally seeking to raise $25,000. I really need your help to make that a reality.

You can make a direct donation to my fundraising page. Your donation will touch the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in our world, children living in extreme poverty.

So far, I received donations from $10 to over $1,000 from some generous friends. All donations above $2 are tax-deductible in Australia. Your contribution, of any amount, will put me closer to my target of $25,000.

The other way you can help to boost my total is to sponsor a child living in poverty. By visiting my fundraising page and clicking the yellow SPONSOR A CHILD button, your sponsorship will count towards my fundraising goal while releasing a child from poverty in Jesus’ name. Every child sponsored through my fundraising page counts as $1,000 towards my fundraising goal.

Sponsorship gives kids safe places to play, the chance to see a doctor when they’re sick, education, and the opportunity to discover Jesus’ incredible love for them.

Sponsor a child. Give them a brighter future so they, and eventually their own children, can live free from poverty.

Whichever way you choose to support me and however much you choose to give, your contribution will not only help push me closer to reaching my target, you’ll also change the life of a child or children living with the devastating effects of extreme poverty.

The Long and Winding Road

Will you support me in this massive venture?

It’s unacceptable that millions of children are living in extreme poverty so I’m putting my body on the line to do whatever I can to make a difference for as many of those children as I can.

Will you help me give more children a chance to live, dream and hope?



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Samantha Jackel – My Purple Pants

May 24, 2021
by Rodney Olsen
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Samantha Jackel was raised in an Australian country town, the fourth child to alcoholic parents. Instead of finding love at home, she encountered manipulation and abuse.

My father was a violent, threatening man when he drank. He was well known to the police and often spent time ‘cooling off’ in their cells. He was a constant source of fear in our home and his repeated violent attacks on our family would lead my mother to relocate the children in cross country escapades. My father would always find us, my mother lived with the fear that he would some how not only find us but would destroy what she had worked hard for – the love of another.

While growing up my mother seemed to be constantly drunk. She was a paranoid, unstable, abusive and desperately manipulative woman who forced those around her to constantly feed her need for emotional support. She was an expert at playing emotional mind games, and I was often used as the bargaining pawn in dramatic, violent fights that would break out between her and my father and later my step father.

Starved of a husband’s love, she instead looked to me to help meet all her needs. – My Purple Pants

Samantha suffered a traumatic and abusive childhood, but even in the midst of the trauma, there were moments that held out a hope for the future.

As my guest on this week’s episode of my podcast, Bleeding Daylight, she shares the journey that brought her to wholeness and forgiveness.

Hear Samantha’s story on Bleeding Daylight wherever you listen to podcasts or click play on the audio player below.



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Dorsey Ross – Overcomer

May 8, 2021
by Rodney Olsen
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His parents were told they should abandon him. They didn’t listen and Dorsey Ross has been ignoring every limitation ever since.

Dorsey Ross was born with a severe congenital disability. Now, in his mid-40s, Dorsey has proved the doctors wrong, but life still has been full of challenges.

Dorsey was born on January 16th, 1977, with a congenital disability known as Apert Syndrome. When Dorsey was born, his forehead was pushed outward, his nose and mouth were pushed inward, and his fingers and toes were fused, meaning he had no individual movement of them. Doctor’s gave Dorsey’s parents no hope for his survival and advised them to put him into an institution. His parents both knew and trusted in God, and they believed that God would do great things in Dorsey’s life. Throughout his life, Dorsey has had to overcome a lot of obstacles, and trials, being bullied, called names like monster and freak, and undergone multiple operations.

Teachers told Dorsey he would not make it in college, and with all odds against him, he entered Queens Borough Community College. After four years there, and after attaining an associate degree, he entered the University of Valley Forge. After years of hard work and perseverance, he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Youth Ministry. His life saying is, “can’t is not in my vocabulary” because, for most of his life, he has never used the word can’t. He believes that with God, all things are possible and that he can do all things through Christ who gives him strength. It’s with God’s help he is overcoming life’s obstacles.

He’s been told that so many of the milestones that most of us take for granted would be impossible for him. He’s refused to listen.

Dorsey was my guest on my podcast, Bleeding Daylight, this week. You can hear his incredible story wherever you find podcasts or by using the audio player below.



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