The Greatest Secret

You know the greatest secret that this universe has to offer.

You know the greatest secret that this universe has to offer.

You know it, but I will go ahead and remind you. It is this: You are known- beyond the point of intimacy, beyond those skeletons that fill your walk-in closet, even beyond those things that you can't stand about yourself so you've suppressed those pieces of you behind everything else just so you can bear to look yourself in the mirror each day- you are known beyond all of this. You are known, and you are loved.

You are loved with a love that abides eternally. You have been freed from petty attempts at trying to earn salvation. You are loved, you are loved, you are loved. I cannot say those words enough times or with enough power, that their true severity would be understood by our human minds and human hearts, but you are loved.

As Jesus died on the cross, He bore the full weight of every specific, individual sin that we have ever committed. And you can bet that He did not ignore a single one. Every sin, every time we pushed God out of our conscience just to have a little fun, every dark thought that we indulged in for just a moment, and even those soul-crushing decisions that we have begun to define ourselves by. Jesus was crushed by those same weights. Oh, how He must know you!

In the garden that night before He went to the cross, He was given a taste of what was to come. He was given full understanding of that burden He must bear. He was given full knowledge of who you are. He saw the full map of your heart. And He still went. And His grace abounds.

This love is what you have been looking for all of your life. And nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. He will never leave you; He will never forsake you.

You are known, and you are loved.

You know the greatest secret that this universe has to offer.

How will you respond?

-Tyler Jewess, Base Camp Staff 

A Base Camp Prayer

“Have I mentioned how much I love this place?

I love this place. It is magical.

Your peace rests over it, coddles it like a fresh-out-of-the-dryer blanket.

Your grace settles like the rain: unobtrusive, subtle, gentle. Here you are at work. Everywhere you are, but here I am less blind to it.

I feel your peace in my soul. I feel tangible renewal. I feel the hot coffee slipping down my throat, warming my body. I feel the cool breeze tiptoeing over my skin.

It is euphoric.

It demands my attention.

I am aware because all the things I cram on my plate, heaping and ugly and messy, are wiped clean. All I have before me is to serve you, this community, and campers on trips.”

-Madi Krueger 

Paying Attention

Ali Savage is a second-year mountain guide who will graduate
 in the fall from Western Washington University.
She studies education & political science,
and is passionate about freedom, the mountains,
and Jesus. 

I see two types of people in this world: movie-talkers and everyone else. For better or worse, my mom is the former. I grew up with her elbow perpetually jabbed into my side, always accompanied with the question, “Who is that?” or, “What did she just say?” Utterly committed to understanding a plot line, she’s never been afraid to ask questions, even in a very crowded movie theater. She is, in one word, engaged. I’ve found that this same binary exists in every other arena of my life as well. The breakdown I see is as follows: there are those who pay attention, and everyone else. The Gospel demands that I pay attention; to others, to the movings of the Holy Spirit, and to myself.

Jesus paid attention to the ones most vulnerable to being ignored. Jesus paid attention to the voice of the Father compelling him to listen to and love the broken and the cast-off. Jesus was, and is, unyielding in his desire to pay attention. In order to emulate Jesus, I must pay attention.

As I prepare to finish my second summer of guiding, and thus my time commitment to Beyond Malibu, I believe that this is one of the greatest things God has taught me during my time here. I live in a world where my brain is addled by stimuli, everything vying for my attention. As a Christian, particularly a Christian who does ministry with high school kids, I often believe falsities. Sometimes to my peril, I believe that if I just yell the Gospel louder I will be heard. I believe that if I listen to more sermons, read more books, and have more or louder or better worship, then I will hear the voice of God. In reality, what I actually need is to be stripped of excess so that there are fewer things distracting me from paying attention to the voice of God. Beyond Malibu is a place thick with that presence. I am given the time and the space to be engaged with others, with the movings of the Holy Spirit, and with myself.

Because of this space given to me to pay attention, here are some things I’ve come to know:

I know the soft and powerful movement of air overhead, heron’s wings beating a divine rhythm.
I know more shades of green and blue and grey than language can put form to.
I know the slow breathing of the Inlet, tides rising and falling like the chest of some sleeping aquatic giant.
I know bare feet on green floors and 5:30 AM belly laughs.
I know the sight of hot, holy tears in the eyes of a participant as the clouds open up and they get their first view of the mountain that they’ve spent the last three days climbing.
I know what it means to love, because He first loved us.

Because of Jesus’ example, and because of this tiny corner of the map named Beyond Malibu that so many have called home, I know what it means to pay attention to the presence of God; not because I have more of what matters, but because I have less of what doesn’t.

With love,
Ali

“What does it mean to pay attention?

And by this, I mean, what does it mean to be alive?”

- Mary Oliver

Thoughts from the Pack Shack

Madi Krueger works in the pack shack at base camp. She spends her days meticulously measuring ingredients for trip meals, making sure that each camper, leader, and guide who goes into the mountains has enough food to conquer the trails. Madi is a senior at Western Washington University and is studying journalism. While here at base camp, she loves playing her ukelele named Whimsy, spending time on the dock, and reading through the Harry Potter series for the first time.

It’s funny how my priorities have changed since arriving here at Beyond. Objects that once used to be strapped to my body or mind have taken flight from my thoughts and now wither in the cobwebbed corners of my mind. My phone currently sits at the bottom of my backpack, lifeless and untouched for days. I only use it to read downloaded sheet music for my ukulele, which gets a lot more action since I’ve gotten in the habit of worship on the dock or subtle strumming with the sunset. The makeup I devoted twenty minutes of every morning to and the chemicals and substances which, I believed, made me “pretty” and “enough,” were hurriedly tucked away to the bottom of my bin. The few mirrors here at base camp show me an old and familiar face that God always saw as beautiful and enough, mosquito bites, sunburns and all. I had cautiously tucked away that face full of childlike wonder and playful curiosity in the name of growing up. I bathe in the salty inlet, breathe in open and star-lit skies from my sleeping bag on the dock, and laugh at how very ridiculous it is to get frustrated over exactly 33 bags of skim milk powder. I cram my body on the floor of a crowded room to watch the first movie I’ve seen in a month, forget what a flushing toilet sounds like, and give thanks for a massive bowl of that rare vanilla ice cream. I wish I could save up enough of these moments to last the rest of my life.

My mind, even, has been freed from the shallow places I once anchored it to in order to keep it afloat in the busyness of life. The magnifying glass I once spent too much time under, the self I built up and hid behind to show my worth, has been kicked aside and traded out for a better view of others and of God. I’ve been able to dive deeper into what it means to be a follower of Jesus, what it really means for his redemptive love to wash over me, and what it really means to realize His sufficiency is more than enough for my inadequacies. I’m raw and flawed and human here because I’m allowed to be. Learning to set aside self-centered thoughts gives me the freedom to look more closely at others, flawed and human themselves, and love them better for it. I see the blistered feet of guides who walk kids along the mountainous horizons, the sore backs from raking trails, and the stress tears from food that never got shipped in. I’ve also seen the smiles that stretch around campers faces while guides sing and dance in goofy costumes at opening club. I’ve watched their eyes widen while “holy cow, another meal!” gets added to their already humongous backpack, and their nervous looks while gazing up at the mountain they’re told they can climb. It seems I’ve seen them expand and shrink in a paradox of growth here. Eyes grow, smiles widen, and faith expands while standing on the summit or in a small room called the “Pack Shack,” feeling smaller than ever before. In it all, God remains the same size, just a little clearer here, to them and to me.

-Madi Krueger

Brooke, Becca, and Blogs

Hey! I’m Brooke Silcox, working on base camp staff at Beyond Malibu this summer season. I am from Napa, California, recently graduated from Sacramento State. This is not only my first time to Beyond but also my first time to Malibu… and my first time to Canada. You could say it’s a bit of a culture and a weather shift. I am working with the guest services team to promote Beyond this year. This blog has quickly become my adopted child. This is my first time blogging, so bear with me. In order to help this growing blog prosper, I thought, “A great idea would be interviewing someone who has been around Beyond for awhile. Becca Williams.”

      Becca just returned to base camp from her ninth 10-Day Training trip up Sun Peak. I wanted to know what kept Becca coming back each year. To answer this she felt it was necessary to explain her 10-Day experiences starting from her first year as a guide and leading up to the most recent trip as a Beyond trainer.

       When Becca first arrived at basecamp in 2006 she was in a mindset of “proving herself.” Each season the first trip in the mountains that guides participate in is called “The 10-Day”, an adventure with training, scenarios and team building exercises. All the guides are spilt into groups before they head into the mountains. The first group consisted of a mesh of the charismatic and funny people and the second

                           was filled with the cool confident studs She described her 10-Day group
                           as a hodge-podge of folks. A cluster of guides with little in common, not
                           sure where she fit in – comparing this group to the other two groups. In
                           turn, creating an emotion of feeling out of place throughout 10-Day.

Back in the day
Becca and camper - Kirsten
(now a first year guide)

       After this experience, Becca was sent out on her first trip as a guide with two 2^nd year guides on a route she thought had fewer challenges. She took this as an expression that the Guide Team Leaders (GTLs) didn’t have confidence in her mountain skills. Becca wanted to prove to everyone she knew what she was doing and could do it well. Unfortunately she didn’t feel like she was being given the opportunities to show it.  During her first trip guiding she was pushed to all her limits. Trying to prove herself. Trying to be the best. This was when she learned her first big Beyond lesson.  “Beyond requires everything from you. Emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically. It is in the space that you are at your limits of yourself, doing the best you can and it’s still not enough, this is where the presence of God is as real as touching the surface of water.” Becca realized exactly what God was saying to her. - Service isn’t about what you want. - God wanted her to be fully extended so that she would rely on Him rather than on her own wits and confidence.     

       Now after her ninth 10-Day experience, Becca explains why she keeps coming back to Beyond. It isn’t just the great friends who proved to be more than a hodge-podge group of people. As Becca explains, no matter how many times up here, as leading trips in these Canadian mountains becomes second nature, she continues to be brought back to the same place: a front row seat to everything God is doing. She is challenged to a level that reaches human limits and must put full reliance and trust into God.

This being my first time at Beyond, I am still sitting in awe of the mountains around me, attempting to be productive in the midst of captivation. When I arrived here thinking I was fully prepared to do my job, God has reminded me that I can’t do this on my own. I am beginning to feel the pull as Beyond stretches me in many ways. After hearing from Becca’s experience, I know I am in for a whirlwind of experiences - in need of putting full reliance and trust into God. 

We Need More Staff!

We have hired a stellar guide staff and base camp staff for Beyond Summer 2012. To give a snap shot, the first year women guides will blow your mind with awesomeness and Jeff the jukebox will be back rockin’ the guitar. Our maintenance staff is ready to maintain, and our guy Nate from Wisconsin is taking up the reigns as the assistant cook in the kitchen this year. But here’s the thing. We still have some serious vacancies and we need all the help we can get filling them.

For starters we are still looking for a Head Cook– you’d get to work with Nate– and a Boat Driver. The Boat Driving position requires a special certification so we’re looking for someone who’s willing to hold that spot down for this summer and next summer.

Next up are our coordinator positions: Guest Services and Base Camp (formerly Female and Male Base Camp coordinators). These are base camp leadership positions so if you know how to get things done and know how to get other people to get things done (or know someone who does), you should definitely look into one of these positions. We like to have a balance men and women on our leadership team so we usually hire a lady for the Guest Services Coordinator and a guy for the Base Camp Coordinator, just so you know. Whoever takes these spots will be joining our Food Service Coordinator Amanda, from Virginia, on the leadership team.

Last but definitely not least, we are still on the hunt for two (a lady and a guy) Guide Team Leaders to join Amanda and Co. on leadership. These positions require a hefty amount of previous Beyond experience– like two years as a Beyond guide– and some pretty exceptional leadership skills. We’ve perused all of the usual subjects but feel like we’re forgetting some people. If you are or know some people who fit the bill, we’d love it if you or they were brought to our attention.

Check out our website for more detailed job descriptions and an application. Don't hesitate to call us (206-525-0791) with any questions or suggestions. Our first training weekend begins in exactly one week. We are so pumped for the start of this new season and we’d love it if our leadership team could join us as soon as possible. Be praying for us please.

Community

Shane Besmer began serving at Beyond when he was just 19. He has worked as the boat driver, male base camp coordinator, a guide, maintenance man, and eventually just as The Shane. He is in grad school now studying third world community development. Here are some of his thoughts on community in the Beyond context.

Living with forty other staff members in an isolated wilderness camp has given me a rare view of what close community can be like. Sharing the most mundane and extreme of life’s experiences, we were given a glimpse of the tremendous possibilities of community.

Beyond Malibu is an adventure camp with the purpose of removing kids from their everyday lives in hopes that they might see themselves, and Christ, more clearly. The staff at Beyond is almost entirely volunteer, and many staffers are required to make a two year commitment. Operations are run out of a small base camp that is accessible only by boat or seaplane. Running water and electricity are very limited. Absent constant contact with the outside world and electronic entertainment, the staff naturally develops a very close community. Each member plays a very important role, serving one another along with our campers, and inadvertently painting a beautiful picture of the body of Christ.

The jobs of the staff range from mountain or sea-kayaking guide, to food packing and maintenance. Each member is completely dependent on the others to continue with his or her job. If one person becomes ill, the impact spreads throughout the community. If two members are not communicating well, the rest of the body is aware of it and often affected. In the evenings when the work is finished, co-workers and bosses become friends and family, and look to each other for the love and support they need. Nearly all aspects of the life of one person are tied in one way or another to the lives of others, creating a micro-example of the definition of community.

I loved the years I spent at Beyond and I cherish them even more now that I am more removed from the experience. I have come to realize that this kind of community is nearly impossible to duplicate in the chaotic obligations of the city, and to attempt to do so can become incredibly frustrating. Despite the rarity of the Beyond base camp experience, it has been a challenging, yet joyful experience to see my community grow and change and settle into the ebbs and flows of community life in the city. We cannot live as in tune with one another, or with God, here as we did so far away from the distractions of the world. Instead, we struggle, and mostly succeed, to intentionally seek out relationship amid the business of everyday life. More significantly, we are challenged to learn and grow through the process of integrating our family of friendships with the various communities we intersect as we go throughout our lives. The result is beautiful and messy. We fail often, and just as often we accept grace, get up, and try again. This is community. I praise God daily for my time at Beyond, and for beginning this life long adventure.

Life as a Beyonder

It's hiring season here at Beyond. We have a huge summer coming up so we need a large staff for 2011. I've found it difficult to put into words why people should be on staff. Being on Beyond staff was an epic experience for me and it's been hard to convey that epic-ness in small get-the-word-out posts. So I thought I'd get a little more in depth. I learned so much about God, myself, community, and service at Beyond. Here is a snapshot of what Beyond staff was like for me. Maybe it will encourage you to serve with us this summer

I was a mountain guide for three years (that's right, I liked it so much I came back for an extra year), and I have to tell you, there's nothing like it. I loved guiding because it demanded everything of me and more. I loved planning our weeks, setting up our route and then poring over God's word with my guide partner. I loved reading about the group we would spend the next week with, throwing ideas back and forth, thinking outside of the box, and inevitably being drawn back to the outrageous mystery of God contained in the simplicity of Jesus' words. I loved jumping up and down on the dock on Saturdays as the Papoose came in and having to be on my gregarious A-game as we greeted the campers with skits and ice-breakers. I loved sitting around the campfire that first night, our stomachs over full from the delicious juicy hamburgers we just inhaled, listening to each other as we talked honestly about our fears and expectations for the upcoming week. Beyond taught me a lot about listening, about putting my own fears and expectations aside in order to serve and connect with each kid in each group. It was such a privilege to be brought into the story of each of my campers' lives, to be able to ask difficult questions and have them respond with honesty and vulnerability. I learned the real meaning of authenticity when I saw it on the tired faces of fifty-year old men and sixteen-year old girls who trusted me to take them up a mountain.

Beyond was physically challenging in a way that was also mentally challenging. I never knew how many miles I hiked in a week or just how heavy my pack was when I had to carry water up to our first night campsite. But I grew to appreciate the sometimes inexhaustible strength in my legs and the immediate presence of life that greeted me with every heaving breath I took. I loved the puzzle of high school girls and finding the right words to convince them that they will make it, and it will be worth it, even though it's only the first day and they already want to sit down and never move again. I also loved the puzzle of figuring out a route in the thick fog of a white-out. I felt like I was the best I could possibly be when I guided Beyond trips and I was never more aware of how much I was dependent on God. I was my most confident and simultaneously utterly filled with humility.

Every other week I had to come down out of the mountains and work in base camp. My second and third summers, once I got the hang of guiding, I preferred the mountains to base camp. But my first summer base camp was the best. Even on the summit I would look down at base camp and long to see the smiling faces of my friends and community. Six of my closest friends are the women in my guide class. I have countless more from the base camp and guide staff of the years I served at Beyond. At base camp, we rose early on Saturday mornings to share coffee, laughter, and tears on the dock before we headed up to celebration breakfast. We dragged ourselves out of bed "before" the 7:15 breakfast bell and staggered down to set the table, satisfied despite the sleepiness because we were beautiful and we were together. Every morning we took an hour just to sit with God. I have felt God's presence more distinctly in those hours than in any other time of my life. God dripped from every branch and saturated the air as tangibly as the rain. And we worked. Hard! But that was good too, because at 4:30 everyday I could relax and swim knowing that I had spent my time well, I had served people, and I had worked hard.

Life in the community of base camp was not always easy. We, forty of us each summer, for all intents and purposes lived on an island. We ate together, slept together, and worked together and we did not always get along. The thing about an island though is that you have to figure it out. It would not suffice to let conflicts go unresolved. More often than not those conflicts ended up being the fertilizer to deeply rooted life-long friendships, and in some cases even marriages (wink, wink). Oh, and then there was the singing. Crazy, raucous and hilarious, or quiet, beautiful, and reflective but always a capella at celebration breakfast. Evening dishes usually included an ad hoc band which usually included a dance party. Either way, I learned a lot of Pearl Jam and Canadian folk music and we all pretty well figured out how to harmonize with each other.

These were my experiences as a guide at Beyond. They changed my life. They showed me more of who God created me to be than I had ever seen before. They showed me how great it is to give that me freely in service to others, both campers and fellow staff. Most significantly, through my experiences I knew God, and because of my experiences I know God more. If you want to see what your experience would be you should start by sending in an application. Click here to get started. It's worth it.

Profiles Profiles Profiles

Hey everyone, we put a few new staff profiles up. Click on the "Meet Our Staff" tab above for first hand accounts of what life is like at the landing and up the inlet. There's a little something from everyone, base camp staff, sea kayakers, mountain guides, and leadership past and present. If you like what you read, click here for your own Beyond staff application. Enjoy!

Celebrate with Cinnamon Rolls

I love sharing meals. It's a unique opportunity to fellowship, to bring people together, to share in life, to experience the gift of community. Meals at Beyond are no exception. They are gifts, times when we all come together, regardless of our jobs, to share a meal. We enjoy being filled, not only with food, but also with fellowship. The dishes spread across the table are as diverse as those eating off of them, but all are united in their purpose: celebrating Christ.

As the cook this summer I had the joy of seeing this gift come together around the meals I made three times a day. It was powerful to witness the community of Acts 2:42-47 come to life in the faces gathered around the long table under the trees.

The Fellowship of the Believers
"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
Around the table at Beyond people brought coffee, blueberries, Tony's, chocolate, fruit, smiles, and stories to share. But most importantly, they brought themselves. Each person from a different place. Some having sat at the table longer than others, some there for the first time, some returning after many years. Yet for that meal we are all reminded that we are united in Christ, even when we are apart.

So, with joy I share with you a recipe from this summer. Each week on Saturday morning, there is a meal that is special because it is a celebration of another week of God's work in our lives and in our ministry, from basecamp to the mountains to the water. For this one meal each week we are all- every guide, every base camp staffer, every guest- together. It is a grander version of what every meal is. Its a feast, we sing, we share stories, and we rejoice together. Each week delicious cinnamon rolls made their way to the table early on Saturday morning, baked with love. I pray that you enjoy them as much as we did. While you devour the sweet cinnamon and lick the frosting from your fingertips, remember God's faithfulness. Celebrate it!
Celebration Breakfast Cinnamon Rolls (from Uprisings: Today's Classic
Baking Book)
1 1/3 cups Warm Water
2TBSP Yeast
1/4 cup Honey
4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup dry milk
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins
Sprinkle yeast on water and stir in 1/4 cup honey. Allow to bubble up. While waiting, measure and stir together dry ingredients. Crack the eggs and beat them well in a separate bowl. Stir in the flour, dry milk and salt into the sponge, until it begins to look evenly balled-up. Add eggs. Mix or knead until it looks even then add oil in a steady trickle. Keep mixing to get oil evenly distributed-doughwill be tacky. (Keep total mixing time around 5 min to prevent dough from getting tough) Turn dough into an oiled bowl. Shape quickly into a compact ball. Cover and allow to rise 30min or so. Meanwhile melt butter and whip with honey. When dough is puffy, don't punch it down. Roll out on a table, shaping it into an even log withyour hands, until close to desired length. Then roll out 20-22'' wide with a rolling pin or other cylinder (like a bottle). Dough should be about 1/3'' thick. Pour a small amount of whipped butter and honey over the length of the dough and spread it until it is a thin film, set the rest aside for thetopping.Sprinkle with cinnamon and raisins. Roll dough up into a log again, trying to wind it upfirmly and evenly. Cut log into 3/4" wide slices and place in oiled pans. Let rise in a warm, moistplace until they begin to fill the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes til they are golden. Take out and pour leftover honey butter over the top. Enjoy with friends and family!

Elisa served for two years as a guide for our Sea Kayaking program, where she also provided excellent meals for the whole crew in Egmont. She had so much fun she came back

for another summer to try her hand at feeding the hungry mob up the inlet. We are so thankful she did. We left every

meal with our stomachs full and our taste buds satisfied. Her

cinnamon rolls are truly legendary.

Staff Profiles!

We have a new feature on our blog, staff profiles! Just click on the tab labeled "Meet our Staff" for bios of Beyonders past and present. Get a glimpse of what brought them to Beyond and gain some insight into a summer in base camp, on the water, and in the mountains. We'll keep a rotating line up of different people from different positions and different years so keep coming back. Enjoy.

 We’re hiring for next summer. If you like what you see and want to join us click here for more information and an application.

BEYOND'S ARTISTS: Featuring Steven Gnam

Steven Gnam started taking photographs as an eight year old. In high school photography grew into a media that allowed him to share God’s Spirit revealed to him through creation while exploring the woods and mountains of his native Western Montana. Steven served as a mountain guide from 2005-2007, where he also met his wife Aly.  Meeting Aly, broadened the scope of Steven’s lens to Seattle and then to Guatemala where he worked with Agros International photographing the day to day life of the families in various Agros sponsored villages. Back in Montana, Steven works with conservation magazines and other organizations. His current focus is working on a book sharing conservation issues in the Northern Rockies, telling the interrelated stories of Grizzly bears, the Whitebark Pine and other species. To see more of his work please visit, http://www.stevengnamphotography.com/.


Here is some of his shots from his years at Beyond:

Mountains above the Jervis.

Mt. Pearkes from Beyond Heaven.

Hiking to Kingdom Come.

 A few of Steven's photographs from his time in Montana. 

Cottonwood leaves and dew drops.

Aly Dimmit-Gnam in the Mission Mountains Wilderness.

Grizzly sow and cub standing up for a better view.

Yellow-Headed Blackbird singing at sunset.

THE SPHERE OF EXALTATION

"Jesus leadeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves." Mark 9:2

We have all had times on the mount, when we have seen things from God's standpoint and have wanted to stay there; but God will never allow us to stay there. The test of our spiritual life is the power to descend; if we have power to rise only, something is wrong. It is a great thing to be on the mount with God, but a man only gets there in order that afterwards he may get down among the devil-possessed and lift them up. We are not built for the mountains and the dawns and aesthetic affinities, those are for moments of inspiration, that is all. We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle. Spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mount. We feel we could talk like angels and live like angels, if only we could stay on the mount. The times of exaltation are exceptional, they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware lest our spiritual selfishness wants to make them the only time.

We are apt to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching, it is to be turned into something better than teaching, viz., into character. The mount is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a great snare in asking - What is the use of it? In spiritual matters we can never calculate on that line. The moments on the mountain tops are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God's purpose.

Taken from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers

Expanding Beyond

Five years ago I had the opportunity to take my 16-year-old son on a week trip with his friends up Mount Albert. It was a powerful time for both of us and a tremendous reminder of how impacted I had been at 16 when I had the privilege to climb Frankenstein Mountain in 1973 with Jim Caldwell as our guide. When we got back to base camp the Lord convicted my heart that He was not done using Beyond as a way to reveal Himself to me. I asked Rob what his vision was for Beyond; what dreams had the Lord placed on his heart in using one of the most beautiful places in the world to reach more folks with the heart of Christ?

Together with other long time committed folks that had walked with Beyond we were able to create a plan that would more than double the use and access to this incredible gift. By upgrading the base camp we could now offer base camp adventures. Groups can now come and stay the week at base camp, doing work projects, day adventures, personal and group retreats, and inviting folks that might not otherwise have the opportunity to access this property. We are now able to extend the window of time we can offer folks the ability to use the property at base camp due to not having to worry about snow in the high country. Also with the addition of the explosive growth of College YL this will now offer a place for groups to come serve, grow and have adventures together that is available for them.

The past four summers has brought a new experience with each group that has come to serve, seek adventure, and have uncommon fellowship with each other and the Lord. Not only is the camp being transformed, but every individual that has come has left a different person than before. The unique thing about Beyond is that it is for everyone. We have had groups of fathers and sons, couples, college groups, and folks the Lord just put together, and in each experience the Lord showed up in powerful ways. Ways that we could never plan or imagine.

The first three summers we built campsites. It was unbelievable to see what we could do as a group in just one week. We would arrive to a cleared out campsite and in just 6 days we would gaze at an unbelievable structure, knowing that kids would have life changing experiences there for years to come. This past summer we had a college group from Northern Arizona University that worked on a water purifying system. To watch as they worked side by side, shared their life stories, worshipped with the guides and base staff around the fire, broke bread together around the table at each meal (like Robin Hood and his merry men), had one adventure after another, and fall in love more with each other and their Lord was a dream come true, an answered prayer.

We invite you to come and be a part of what the Lord is doing here. If you feel in any way that the Lord is not done using Beyond in ways that will reveal Himself more to you or your friends, than come join us. There are plenty of projects, adventures and opportunities that await you. We are currently planning trips for next June and would love to have you join us.

Blessings,

Jay Abraham

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Jay Abraham lives in Phoenix, Arizona and is an active supporter of Beyond Malibu.  For more information in about to trips Jay brings to Base Camp or to learn how you can be apart of the changes at Beyond, feel free to contact him at jay_abraham@cox.net or contact the Beyond Malibu office at BeyondMalibu@beyondmalibu.younglife.org.  Also, read more about the changing plans at Base Camp on our website. 

Back to Beyond after 30 years

I hadn’t been back to Beyond in 33 years. Why? Life happened…marriage and moves and Young Life and a child and jobs and, and, and... It had been such a great part of my life story and God had met me there. Ha, maybe I didn’t want to go back because I thought Gordy might ask me to lead a trip and I knew I couldn’t do it anymore (I know even Gordy wouldn’t take that chance!).
 
Then, this summer (June 2010), my husband, Bill, and I were invited to a week in Base Camp to help lead a group of college students from Northern Arizona University.  Bill and I had met at Beyond when he brought up a group of kids from Arizona the summer of 1977. I greeted their trip on the dock covered in balloons which, for some crazy reason, wasn’t initially that impressive to him! Anyway, this summer I was prepared and willing to go be with the college students from NAU; it would be great for them to see life at Beyond and to do a work project, it would be a good experience for them. But, wait a minute…now we’re on the boat and we’re on the Princess Louisa; shafts of sunlight are hitting parts of the ridges and I’m recalling a long ago sense of anticipation that God is up to something. I remember this feeling….looking forward and yet afraid at the same time of the awesomeness of God’s presence.  Stepping off the boat onto the dock at Base Camp was overwhelming for me; I got that “weak in the knees” deal. I was home. I had to walk very slowly back along (much wider and less devil’s club obscured) paths around the place where I was born in so many ways; the place I learned to overcome fears and Go Beyond my own no-risk safety net. It was a place of kindness and quiet and peace. A place of reflection and a reminder of who I was and am at the core.  I returned to this place to lead college students and realized the trip was actually a homecoming for me. A lot has happened in the years between the summers of ‘76-77 and 2010, blessings I never would have imagined, pain I never would have chosen, failures and victories.  But, this was the place where I became convinced that the Creator of this amazing universe loved me, was far beyond all I could ask or imagine and would never leave me, no matter what.

Jim Caldwell has said that Beyond is a thin place; a place where the separation between “I and Thou” is a little more narrow. That is true. For me, I also feel His presence is heavy there…heavy in a palpable weight of the evidence of His presence, beauty and power. His voice is a little clearer. It was a blessing to be back, and a great week with the group we were with. I became reminded of so many truths that sometimes get lost in this crazy world that is not our home. I know we don’t want to get too comfortable here. We need to be ready for that trip someday when we all get to Go Beyond…won’t that be awesome? I think I’ll wear balloons.

-Jan Hamilton
 Mountain Guide 1976-1977