Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Gratitude

Our pastor often reminds us, "The only thing we can give God is our gratitude." I believe that. And I am deeply grateful for the chance to be a part of the Beyond community.


Cyrus and I (Abbie) had the priviledge of leading the guide team this summer. We spent our days planning for trips, briefing guide teams, debriefing teams and meeting individually with guides when they were in basecamp. It was an honor to walk alongside individuals as they were striving to know God themselves and to share His love with participants in the mountains.

And each week we had the honor of meeting with the trip leaders on Friday afternoon, when they returned from the mountains. As the rest of their group continued swimming and relaxing, leaders would join us on the Red House porch to debrief their trip over a cup of coffee. Week after week we listened to stories of God using Beyond Malibu to meet the needs of the people who came. It came in many forms, but a few of the ways God was faithful to us included; the perfect route, weather, group dynamics, participants, leaders and guides. By "perfect" I do not mean "easy". But that perfection that only God can bring because He knows our deepest needs and desires before we can speak them ourselves. One of the female guides I met with this summer said she felt most known by God when he provided for needs she didn't know she had. How true that was this summer.

We collected the following notes and quotes from our weekly leader meetings. If you've been to Beyond, picture yourself on the Red House porch, on a Friday afternoon and listen to the wonders God has done. If you haven't had a chance to visit us yet, listen too, I hope you join us soon.


"It was what a Beyond trip should be - a challenging deep experience with God."

The content we studied was "exactly what we wanted".

"I don't know what my expectations were, but they were blown away!"

"I wouldn't know they (our guides) had been here all summer; we felt like their only trip."

"The trip lacked nothing."

"I have never seen a trip led with such wholistic excellence."

"Vigor and excellence."

"Childlikeness, not childishness."

"Exceeded all expectations."

"They made everything fun!"

"It was the right amount of difficulty."

"We loved the mountain...there are no sissy mountains up here!"


"The guides got involved right away and build quick trust. They were able to be conversational as well as deeply relational."

"We accomplished something big as a group and we will take that unity home with us."

"We loved memorizing scripture together."

"Fantastic route and physical challenge."

"We read lots of scripture and the activities really helped us apply it to life. It was all very cohesive and deep."

"The content made us think and reflect."

"The guides were incredibly solid; both personally and spiritually. The kids really looked up to them."

"We shared deeply with one another."

"The guides were encouraging, helpful, serious and funny all at the right moments."
"We pushed our minds like our bodies were being pushed. We pursued truth together."
"We were pushed out of our comfort zone. We focused on God and we experienced a lot of growth."
"Each kid was filled with wonder at the beauty of this place."

"We had a great guide team, we were confident in their leadership the whole time."

"Another awesome week at Beyond!"


It was a great summer. From all of us; thank you for your prayers, for your participation, for your support. We were grateful to be a part of Beyond Malibu this summer. May we continue to give God our gratitude.