Freedom of the Hills

Sabbath- a day at Beyond set aside for staff to be still and seek the Lord, process the past week and prepare for the week to come, to find joy in fellowship and in play. Fourth of July sabbath- a day that included all of the above, plus a rare sustained ability to bask in the sun all day and bellow patriotic songs over a dinner together on the dock. Being part of the 5% minority (yes, this is the exact math) of Canadian staff at Beyond, it was fortunate that the other Canadian and I were well versed in the ways of America and were proudly able to holler the anthem, those “bright stripes and bold stars, through the dangerous night,” declaring the independence and freedom of America.

Freedom was something that had already consumed my thoughts that day, before I had even realized that it was the fourth of July. I had just returned from the mountains. For me, the mountains have been marked by reoccurring encounters with the Lord teaching me what freedom in Him looks like. Last summer, I spent most of the summer in the Wyoming wilderness and it was there that the Lord freed me from lies and bondage that had held me back from confidently coming near to Him. I returned from the summer clinging to two truths that had become real to me, “now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17)... “let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16).

As I prepared for another summer in the mountains, I began to pore through the technical mountaineering book “Freedom of the Hills” that we had been assigned to read. I think that the title of the book points to one aspect of the freedom that is encountered in the mountains, a removal from distractions of everyday life that consume- the cell phone, the internet, the seemingly never ending list of things to accomplish. The mountains are free of these things that bind. The hills stretch out before you, inviting you to explore their vast expanses. Yet, I have come to realize that there are other things that bind- thoughts, conceptions, and feelings that can't be left behind like a cell phone can be; the towering peaks and expanses of land point to something much more than the idea of freedom. It isn't the wilderness by itself that has brought healing and freedom in my life, it is God who has used the mountains as a space that I've been able to come away from the busyness of life, come to the quiet and seek Him. It is here that He has renewed my focus, softened my heart, stirred my affections for Him, renewed my desire to pursue Him, and brought freedom from the lies and burdens that keep me from approaching His throne with confidence.

God has been so faithful in reminding me of His goodness, His provision, and His sovereignty. As guides, before each trip we are given a sheet that fills us in on what each group wants the framework of their trip to look like. Skimming over the folder of what would be my first trip guiding at Beyond, the leader had written her desires for spiritual content: Freedom in Christ. That week we grappled with what it really means to have freedom in Christ through the trials and challenges of the trip. Our girls were able to recognize the lies that they were enslaved to, surrender them in a new way, and claim the truth of who they are in Christ. It was through this week in the mountains these girls were able to see a glimpse of their strength and beauty as they overcame challenges, redefining over and over what is possible through Christ who lives in them.

Now that we are back from the mountains, I want more than ever to continue to claim those truths for myself and those around me. Truth: it is only through Christ that full and complete freedom can come. Truth: because of Him, the power of sin over us is broken. Truth: because of these truths, we can freely come into the presence of the Lord with confidence. Truth: where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

-Rebecca Chin, first year mountain guide,
never without her stellar and smokin guide partners Taylor Rice, and Whitney Agassiz.