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 

Part of Something Larger

Rain: loud enough to force our voices to shout in order to be heard above the noise.

Wind: strong enough I fear my body will become airborne and swept away with the clouds.

I, a human, am out of my element in the midst of these elements.

Life stories. Questions asked. “In a hypothetical cage fight who are you fighting and who do you want to impress?”

I think this mountain overheard our private McKinley Fly conversation and said, “challenge accepted.”

To the mountain nothing is private. To the mountain nothing is left as personal. My feet are no longer my own. My toes are so cold that I almost feel the mountain might’ve taken them, and will keep them for good.

Then why am I here? Is it to feel small? Perhaps, but not quite.

Not to feel small, but to realize that I am not my own. I am not personal or private, but a part of something much larger. Something that I’m not at the center of. Something more powerful than myself.

And in that realization, once I embrace it, there is peace and rest. An end to striving and the beginning of watching (in awe) as the power moves, and joining with the power in its movement. Allowing myself to be moved. Realizing that I’m not the primary mover. That there is a primary mover greater than the mountains themselves, who even controls their movement. 

-Skye Cornell, Mountain Guide 

From Daredevil to Courage-Taker

To illustrate the difference between my twin sister, Kaitlin, and me, I love to tell a simple story that encapsulates my adventurous spirit and her cautious desire to protect me. One day, Kaitlin, my dad and I were hiking in a neighborhood park, and as I climbed onto a fallen tree to cross the creek, my sister, Kaitlin, anxiously yelled after me to stop. I boldly turned and replied, “I’m a daredevil. You’ll just have to get used to it.” Whether she has liked it or not, that’s exactly what has happened as she’s watched me adventure from one opportunity to the next since our adventures in the park. The most recent “daredevil” move- coming to Beyond Malibu to guide mountain trips- has taken me far from home, but has brought me close to kindred spirits who have willingly embarked on this latest adventure too.

Despite her apprehension at times, to my delight, my sister has grown to accept and support me as I travel. However, if Kaitlin were to reach out to stop me now, I think the insight I’ve gained during my time here would elicit a much different response than that of my childhood self. You see, over the past several weeks, I’ve come to view what it means to be a daredevil in a very different way.

To my eight-year-old self, being a daredevil meant doing things that might be scary to others but weren’t scary to me. After seven weeks of trips with participants and two training trips with guides across two summers, I’ve witnessed plenty of people doing things that scared them; things like crossing glaciers, climbing over ridges, scaling up root ladders, and walking for hours with a heavy pack on. My question about these participants, guides, and at times, myself, is this:  are all of us excluded from the title of daredevil while doing these epic things on trail just because we’ve experienced fear? If we are excluded, is the loss of such a title really something to stress over?

My last year and a half at Beyond has taught me many things, but one lesson that has most recently taken root is centered around the topic of fear. When I was younger, I viewed fear as this negative feeling to be avoided at all costs. Even in scripture we are commanded not to fear. However, there’s a difference I was missing. Scripture doesn’t tell us not to fear because we should never experience fear. Rather, scripture assures us that we do not need to let fear rule over us, because our God is near and will lift us up despite our fears. During two of my trips this summer, some participants encountered new terrain that scared them- lots of snow, icy slopes, root ladders, etc., but upon each encounter a unique opportunity was presented: remain immobilized by fear or press on with God’s peace in view. Fear would have us believe that moving forward is not an option, whereas truth beckons us forward. The choice is this: allow the hand of fear to be your master or force fear to submit to the hand of God by reaching out to Him for the strength and willingness to press on. In choosing the latter, we create a space to allow God to care for us and to protect us. In my old way of thinking, fear was limiting and weak. In my new way of thought, fear is just another place for the Lord to step in and pull me forward by the strength of his hand.

“I was pushed back and about to fall, but the Lord helped 

me.” Psalm 118:13

The reality of these words, and the sincere comfort they bring, takes on a deep importance when it can be translated literally to the mountains. But the truth is, we were not made for the mountains. We were made for the valleys where the truths learned in the mountains may take root.

The once cherished daredevil title, held dearly by my childhood self for its sense of adventure and excitement, has now been rewritten to a much stronger, worthwhile title: courage-taker. During the next step into post-graduate life, I may now proceed with confidence. Though I feel fear, I may turn my eyes to the Lord,

“In God, I trust and am not afraid… for you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the light of life.” Psalm 56:11,13

With the same confidence, participants may walk forward in courage and truth as they encounter new terrain and as they transition home following their mountain-top experiences. Now the question is, what about you? Are you striving for the daredevil title too, clinging to the idea that you have something to prove as you force away fear on your own accord, or are you embracing a new identity, courage-taker, by the grace of God’s hand outstretched to you?

-Lauren Bonney 

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 

A Purpose-Filled Life

Xavier Salazar is a student at Grand Canyon University 

in Arizona, where he is earning a degree in Biblical Studies.

 He is on the maintenance team at base camp this summer.

 In his free time, Xavier loves slack-lining, playing

 Frisbee, and hanging out with friends.

I will never forget watching the movie “Kung Fu Panda” for the first time. My cousin and I laughed in unison as my mouth began to hurt from smiling for so long. There are a few memorable moments from the movie, but one specific quote constantly flows through my mind: “there are no accidents”.

For three years I have been hearing about this Young Life camp called Beyond Malibu. From 2013 to 2015 many of my friends have been involved with Beyond, either as participants or as staff. I missed out each year because I either heard about the opportunity too late or other summer plans interfered. However, the more I heard of my friends’ experiences, the more I desired to have some part in this place. This summer though, everything came together, and here I find myself on maintenance at base camp.

Now that I’m here, I’ve begun to ask why? Why now? Why didn’t I go on a trip with my high school friends? Why didn’t I go in college with my friend’s school trip? Why didn’t I apply for maintenance any other year? There have been so many other opportunities and options. In the midst of asking these questions, I remember that quote from Kung Fu Panda, “There are no accidents.” If I took any of those past opportunities, I might not be here right now. I would never have met Skylar, Chase, John Wayne, T.J., or Isaiah, my base camp co-workers who have become like family. I would never have met Cody, my direct boss, who has been like an older brother to me. I would have missed out on growing in relationship with my long-time friend Rick Wilson. I never would have sat next to unique, lovely, and beautiful people while worshiping Jesus around a roaring fire. I would not have learned valuable lessons that will shape me for the rest of my life. Old passions that God placed in my heart would not have been reawakened, and this summer full of life and adventure wouldn’t have existed. God’s perfect planning led to me coming here and experiencing everything that I have. It is clear that I am supposed to be here right here and right now. If you take time to look at specific moments of your life you can see the Lord using them in his plan.

Xavier (left) and part of the maintenance team at base camp

God brings purpose to every moment and decision in our lives. There is purpose in the mere fact that you were created. There is purpose in your community. There is purpose in your job. There is purpose in this very moment as you read these very words.

What exactly is that purpose? Ask God and trust. God has a purpose and a plan for your life.

-Xavier Salazar. 

Freedom from Struggle

Peyton (middle) works in the kitchen at base camp. In her free time, she enjoys swimming in the inlet and playing monopoly deal. She is currently attending SDSU in California for biology. Peyton is passionate about Jesus, In-N-Out Burger, and the ocean. 

Sometimes it is important to be in a place not shaped by the hands of humans, somewhere where it doesn’t matter if you’re barefoot because your shoes hurt too much, and a place that doesn’t respond to the command of a light switch. It is important to be humbled and to realize how human we are. I am grateful for Beyond because it makes me celebrate simple things like hot coffee in the morning, loud singing during dish duty, community, worship, and pure silliness. Base camp has become home, but my week in the mountains climbing JJ taught me a whole new meaning of trusting God and truly relying on His strength. 

During the majority of our time ascending, we were in a whiteout. We were cold, wet, and anxious. As difficult as the weather was, I felt that it was very fitting for our group. Although we could not see the beauty beyond the clouds, we all knew that it was there. The same concept works in regards to our walks with Jesus; we may not be able to see him, but we know he is always there. All we have to do is invite Him in.

On our summit day, the clouds opened up and the sun came out for the first time. I have never witnessed anything so beautiful. That moment of sun on the summit made me realize that God had a plan for our group. His plan was for us to realize that it is okay to struggle, it is okay for things not to be perfect, and it is okay not to have any idea where you are at or where you are going.

The whole JJ group before leaving for the trail

Before going on this trip, I had a lot of fear. I am a “lupie”, meaning I have lupus along with my autoimmune disease; mixed connective tissue disorder, and arthritis. I am told I can’t do things pretty often, and I let a lot of those negative comments pull me down. Even in the midst of these physical struggles, I felt God tugging at my heart telling me this was something I needed to do.

The strength God gave me throughout this trip made me reevaluate how I place my identity in Him. The feeling of conquering that mountain with the Lord was far more empowering than nursing my wounds and clinging to my pain all the time. There is something about the outdoors that fuels my soul, my spirit, and my overall well-being. I was forced to lean on the Lord when I was uncomfortable in the whiteout, and the way He met me was with this beautiful mountain experience I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

-Peyton Cook 

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

Letter to Self

A lot of people keep journals. They're a nice way to capture emotional and intellectual experiences, to freeze-frame the process of growth. Every now and then I find myself returning to certain journals and reliving certain times of my life. It's great to be reminded of what is important to me and why it has become important, especially after the excitement and emotion of an experience has faded.

At Beyond, we try to one-up the habit of journaling. It has been our experience that Beyond trips can be a tremendous time of spiritual and emotional maturing. It's pretty easy, though, to return from a Beyond trip and have all of those character fortifying moments turn into nothing but sentimental memories. So some guides like to take a freeze-frame of the emotional and spiritual experience of Beyond and have it pop back up in campers lives when they least expect it. We call it "Letter to Self," because that's what it is. Guides have participants sit down at the summit or the end of the trip and write a letter to themselves about what they experienced that week. Then we send the letters out later in the year, usually around New Years. It's kind of a double whammy of awesomeness. First, you get a letter in the mail; who doesn't like that? Then you get this random trip back to a time when the distractions of life had been stripped away and it was easier to see what was important. It's better than just keeping a journal because you are guaranteed to read it. The whole thing is pretty neat.

The picture above is from Joey Leppien. He went on a Sea Kayaking trip this past summer. When he received his letter in the mail this week, he liked it so much that he posted it to Facebook. I like it because it's proof that we really do send out those letters. If you want to receive a letter from an awesome version of yourself next New Years, you should sign up for a Beyond trip now.

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.

Summertime at Last

The summer has finally arrived! The last month has been full of first aid trainings, base camp set up, and tons of travel. By June 13th all but a few stragglers had arrived in base camp and we were ready to kick off our last round of training. This year the sea kayaking guides were available to join the mountain guides on their training trip up Sun Peak. With everyone, including the sea kayakers, in base camp at once, we were stuffed like sardines in the back of the barn those first few rainy meals. That didn’t last long though. The guides only had three days of training in base camp before hitting the trail.

With the guides, the sea kayakers, and the trainers there were thirty-three people who headed up the mountain last Thursday. To make things a little more manageable, everyone split into three different groups, Safety Third lead by Abbie and Yonkers, the Bleating Fawns lead by Jeff and Becca, and Doyacopy lead by Joe and Alissa. These names may sound a little weird but they’re an indication that there was a lot of laughter ringing through the mountains this last week.

Day one up Chatterbox was obligingly sunny for the intense 4400 ft hike up to Sun City. Unfortunately that was the last we would see of the sun for several days. We woke up the morning of day two in a cloud that stayed with us until we climbed down off the summit four days later. But we weren’t too bothered by the mist, or the snow we hit at just 2800 ft. Days 2 and 3 were a pleasant mix of snow rotations, life stories, sneak leaps, Bible studies, epic snow ball battles, and a quick hike up to Contact Lakes.

We woke up early on day four, packed up camp, and headed to the top of the moraine (the west lateral moraine of the JJ glacier). Three of the trainers headed out early and trekked across the glacier to find a spot to practice crevasse rescue. Their recon was successful; they located a crevasse large enough to send four people in at once. It was a cold and rainy day but the weather is hardly noticeable when you get to spend the whole day jumping in and rescuing people from a sweet crevasse. By the time we got back in our rope teams and slogged back across the glacier to our campsite we were all totally exhausted, but it was a good day.

Day five was summit day and the tough ascent conditions had been on the minds of the trainers the whole week. The heavy snow threw our original plans of summiting Sun Peak into question. This week the usually steep and rocky ascent route was now steep and heavy with snow. Last year the snow was lower but there was still enough to keep us off Sun Peak and move us over to JJ. We didn’t give up that easily though. First thing that morning Jeff, Joe, and Yonkers headed up Sun Peak to see if they could find a route up and over. The snow was deep and steep but our fearless trainers managed, with the help of five hand-lines, to make the Sun Peak knife ridge passable. It took the thirty of us nine hours to clear the summit- a trip that takes less than two under different conditions. It was late, raining, and windy when we finally rolled into Miners Rock and Maurie’s Mound, but we’d made it and it was worth it!

The next morning, day six, we were rewarded for all of our hard work with a view that would take your breath away. We woke up to partly sunny skies, which after the weather we’d had felt like a blue bird day. We yard-saled all of our gear hoping the sporadic sun might dry things out, then we sprawled out on the rock ourselves and settled in for a morning of hot bevies and life stories. A quick rock climb, rappel, and first aid scenario broke up the afternoon, and we were all full from dinner when we finally packed up and headed back down into the forest for our last night on the trail.

Throughout the week, with rotating Leader of the Day teams facilitating spiritual content and the delegation of daily responsibilities, we focused on Romans 15:1-7. Within our groups we processed how Jesus gives us the kind of hope, endurance and encouragement that allows us to live in harmony as a community. Authentic conversations ensued about how we feel most connected with the people around us and how to truly accept ourselves, and those we are in community with, as God has accepted us . We tried to define what glory actually is, how to give that glory to God, and how to become “little Christs”. Sitting on the side of a mountain, in the freezing rain under the McFly, we realized how much this experience, with these people, feels like home. Our common struggle, our shared moments of weakness, and our ability to be strong only as one united body, brought the scriptural content alive for all of us as we paralleled the mountain with our lives.

Now, we’ve made it back to base camp and have even headed back to the wilderness again. Our first trips are out in the mountains experiencing that same sense of common struggle and drawing the parallel between this mountain experience and their lives at home. We’re thankful for our training, for the ways our lives are changed through struggle, through community, but mostly through Christ. We pray for continued transformation, for ourselves and for our participants, throughout this summer. Thanks for your prayers and support for this adventure.

Paddling Towards Faith

If you missed last weeks quarterly email newsletter,  you also missed this great story.  Justine was a Sea Kayak guide for us the past few years and wrote this for us.

On the first night of most Beyond Malibu Sea Kayaking trips everyone gathers around a campfire and listens while one of the guides shares his or her life story.  Last summer my trip with Emily started the same way.  The first night I shared my story as a way to introduce myself and set a tone of intentionality, vulnerability, and community for the rest of the week.  That first night last August, I looked around the circle and every kid seemed intrigued and present.  Every kid except Emily.  Emily sat with her ipod headphones “secretly” slipped into her ears and annoyed expression resting on her face.  She clearly did not want to be there.  I immediately liked her.  Not surprisingly, Emily had the hardest trip of anyone that week, but she also had the best.

After that first night we loaded up our kayaks and set out along the mighty Jervis.  As we paddled along the coastline I found myself asking God what He had prepared for this week, and for this girl.  I paid close attention to Emily, in my head I wondered what kind of person she was.  By the way she was paddling, determined and quiet, I assumed she was strong-willed, stubborn, but also precariously independent. As I got to know her throughout the week, I realized that she was indeed all of those things… but for good reason.  She had come from a difficult family background. Her father wasn’t around, her mother was decently stable but often left her daughter to fend for herself, which left Emily to be raised largely by her emotionally abusive grandmother. I found out she worked at Dairy Queen for months just to afford this trip. She came hoping to connect to this youth group that invited her.  Emily came pretty much as a loner. She hadn’t yet developed friendships with everyone on the trip. She was guarded against their genuine love because these kids had a faith she did not. As far as Emily was concerned faith was beyond her comprehension.

I was thrilled to spend a week with brave, independent, tenaciously authentic girl.  I admit my excitement didn’t come because I felt she had “things to learn,” or because “this could be her chance to experience God.”  God works in His own time, and I trust that.  I was just so excited to spend a week with a girl that reminded me so much of myself when I was her age.  We noticed our similarities right away, and found ourselves talking every chance we could.  She admitted to me that she has gotten used to doing everything for herself for so long that she rarely accepted anyone’s help.

I am always amazed by Beyond trips, how beautiful and intentional and downright unpredictable they always end up being.  This same girl who worked so hard to get on this trip, who was excited to develop some real friendships, who had spent the first couple days opening up to me, suddenly had everything cut short.  We had stopped at a beach for the afternoon and on her way up to a waterfall she slipped and dislocated her shoulder.  This girl, Emily, had worked harder than anyone around her just to be there and suddenly she had to be whisked away to base camp, separated from group.

It took us two days to paddle to base camp, a standard campsite for this route, where we finally got to meet up with Emily. We planned to stay for just a day so we took advantage of our night with Emily and had her tell her life story. So we gathered around the campfire in the stillness of the inlet and let her speak.  When she finished, her need for this group of friends that encircled her was astonishingly clear.  We had to find a way for her to finish the trip with us.  The problem was she couldn’t use her left arm to paddle. My guide partner, her leaders, and I spent the evening and the next morning talking with the doctor going over our options and just praying.  Finally we decided to put her in a double kayak with a guide.  She obviously wouldn’t be paddling but the guide would do the work, with a little help of some towing by the stronger paddlers in the group.  The result: the girl who never relied on anyone for anything had no choice but to let people take care of her for the rest of the week.

It was beautiful, and let me tell you, Emily did not always like it.  For me it was awesome.  The experience allowed her to open up in ways that I had never seen before. I paddled her to our next campsite that first day, and she poured out every question that she’s ever had about God, parents, life, pain, friends, everything!  She couldn’t name it but she slowly began to realize that something bigger than her was going on.  She wanted a part of this Love that was so unexplainable. Still, she was afraid to trust something so unknown to her.  So we kept the dialogue open and just continued to care for her.

Emily, despite obvious difficulties, had one of the best weeks of her life.  She learned that if a loving community is worth trusting, maybe God can be looked at in a similar light.  She went home with that group feeling  love from people and from God, knowing that her life had been changed.  I have kept in touch with Emily a little bit. She still has her questions and doubts (like everyone does), but she has fallen hard into this crazy thing we call faith.  She started a dialogue with God, attends church, and was even baptized with all of her Beyond friends surrounding her.  The story of Emily reminds me how incredible Beyond trips are.  I am so thankful for the way this experience truly creates an environment that lets kids feel comfortable and safe to ask questions, to search, and to feel loved by God.  Everyday I am blown away by the ways in which God works and breathes into our lives. I’m grateful for having seen this through Emily’s story.

Beyond Sea Kayaking: The Depths of Adventure

If you're looking for freedom, flexibility, and depth in your next outdoor adventure, you should check out Beyond's sea kayaking program. Enjoy the freedom of paddling some of Canada's most beautiful inlets and exploring the wilderness that skirts their edges. Sea kayaking trips offer an extreme amount of flexibility in both the length of the trip and the size of the group. Spend the day spotting God in the wildlife around you and in the conversations you share as you paddle. Enjoy streams and waterfalls and water that literally glows at night. End your day cozied around a beach campfire listening to the stories of the lives of your fellow travelers and sharing your own. Sea kayaking is a challenging but low-impact sport, making it an excellent choice for participants of all ages. So get a high school group together and ask a couple of moms or dads (or grandpas) to join you. The best part is, we're still booking trips for this summer. Check out the calendar below and then click here to get your trip planning started.

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.

Oh the Things We Learn

A big THANK YOU to all who participated in Beyond this past summer! Last week, Jenny (Head cook, 2008 and Guide, 2009-2010) went through all of your participant evaluations to see what you had to say about your week long adventure. It is truly amazing the impact that God has made in each one of you. One of the questions that you were asked was, “What did you learn from your trip that you can use in situations back home?”

Here is what you said:

• “I learned about perseverance. And that God rewards those who faithfully persevere. There were so many times I wanted just to go home but I knew I had to keep going and it was so worth it in the end.”
• “God has provided people in my life that will help me even when I won’t help myself.”
• “So much – I can’t write it all down. But I am going to reach out, pray about and follow God in my community of women.”
• “I learned to take initiative while serving others. And I really learned how to love others sacrificially.”
• “God will never leave or forsake me, ever! And because of that, I can take on whatever comes my way with God.”
• “Life can be lived wonderfully and simply.”
• “It’s okay to ask questions and still be a believer.” 
• “I feel better in knowing a group of teenage Christian girls because normally I feel very alone.”
• “I learned to pursue people the way God wants to pursue me. I want to allow people to see more of me, and open up.”
• “I learned what is actually important in life. I learned tolet go of things, including pent up emotions and insecurities. I learned to seek answers, to learn peoples’ stories before judging them, to forgive…and so much more.”
• “The entire climb paralleled life for me and all its challenges. So I will always use the strength I learned here in life.”
• “God is faithful and it takes me deciding that I am just going to keep walking through the crap till I get in the clear and see God.”
• “The trip had me reflect on what I believe, question God’s existence and love, learn why I want to be a Christian, and learn about Christ-centered relationships.” 
• “There is so much beauty in the scars because they are an integral/joyful part of the journey.” 
• “Nothing will be as challenging back home as climbing mountains.”

Thanks for sharing with us, and thank you for everything you taught us this summer!

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

Training Complete - Let the summer begin!

In June, I participated in my 4th Beyond Malibu 10 Day, this time as a trainer. My first go-around with 10 Day was frightening. The hike up Chatterbox was endless. My VW Bug-sized backpack toppled me like a house of cards as we swung under logs, crawled through Caldwell's Corridor, and kicked steps up the... snow!?!? (I'm from Arizona). One reason I think God placed me at Beyond Malibu as a camper, then as a guide, and now as a trainer is that being in His creation allows change, growth, and hope in the face of discomfort and fatigue and fear. Making myself available to RISK makes room for God to do his thing. Climbing up Chatterbox will ALWAYS be a challenge, but the difference this time around is I understand what we're aiming for-- geographically and spiritually.

A few days of mountain life shared with fellow guides is SO fun. This year on 10 Day we shared life stories, led one another in Bible studies, talked about mountain metaphors, practiced self-arresting with ice axes, followed the leads of maps and compasses in white outs, roped up on a glacier, and as the song proclaims: hiked it like your mama's stairmaster.

Here's the rundown of our week on Sun Peak & JJ:

Day 1, teams “Risk-Eh?”, “Boot Axe”, and “[Whistle]” (pronounced, “brackets whistle”) said "packs on!" and began hiking on the boardwalk at Chatterbox Falls; which soon turned to something more closely resembling a staircase. As the day turned to evening we reached Panorama Point, and as the sky began to sprinkle our muddy knees clean we finished the long trek to Sun City for the night. The rest of 10-Day -can you believe this! - it didn't rain or snow!!! Some people were bummed about this "less-extreme-weatherless-experience", but I was elated to sleep in a dry sleeping bag.

On Day 2, we found Rock-'N-Roll rock covered with snow and proceeded down to Contact Lakes where we got to camp on ROCK! The guides then practiced their rope skills of fixed handlines, anchors, and belays.

Day 3, piled with sunscreen and polypro tee's, we focused on map and compass, rappelling, and self-arrest. That night, the guides and mice alike breathed in the delicious aroma of Mexi-Meal.

On Day 4, a nimble rope team tracked down the perfect crevasse for "Hurk" and "Z-Pulley" rescue system practice. Gallons of "Ricky" were guzzled, numerous up-the-nose sunburns were acquired that day and spirits were high as we withdrew from the glacier and headed back to the Moraine to camp.

Day 5, we compass marched across the JJ Glacier amidst huge, rolling clouds with intermittent glorious views of surrounding mountains and valleys. All 3 groups summitted that day... Happy Snickers to all!

Day 6 commenced our commute home. By this time life stories had been traded, mountain treats devoured, and skills polished. Talk began of upcoming trips - kids and adults were on their way to Beyond for week #1 already! Excitement stirred as we all contemplated what was waiting for us in the Valley below.

Day 7: Each team awoke early to retrace their steps back down towards the inlet. Upon our return to base camp, we thankfully pulled off our boots and sock liners, dried out the tents and flies, shared stinky hugs with gracious base camp staff members, and sighed with relief as we donned cotton shirts and bare feet.

10 Day 2010 was a journey of redemption, humility, stillness, and huge leaps outside ourselves. God tugged all 24 of us up and down the mountain to be affected and maybe even changed by what He had made. I am SO thankful to have gotten to join this summer's guide staff at the beginning of their summer pilgrimage with kids and adults into the mountains of Beyond. Let the summer begin!

- Lauren Hamman

  Mountain Guide 2006-2008