Awaken oh sleepers
Teenagers who scale mountains, wake up at 5 a.m. on their own accord, cook and clean their own meals, research the mysterious of God, can it really be real? Well our superstar Seekers showed that given the tools and the opportunities, they truly can excel. Come read how in our 2016 Awakening Trip Recap.
The Art of Giving
By Grant Boatwright, ED Veritas Life Adventures
Part II: The Immeasurable Reward
Last week we looked at how the art of giving is a practice, sometimes a difficult one, but one that has some immeasurable rewards at the end. These rewards come in various forms. This could be better health as the Berkeley study found, or seeing the results of your gift manifest in a life transformed. However, the best way for you to see just how Veritas Life Adventures is a part of this giving practice, and it’s immeasurable rewards, is to hear from a continual giver to Veritas Life Adventures, Jeff, and the life he helped change in Conner Jansen, a 4 year Seeker and graduate of Veritas Life Adventures.
The practitioner: Jeff Montgomery
Giving is choice. It is not always easy, and it comes at a cost, but the reward is immeasurable. Giving inexorably links you to the plight of another and that practice dislodges self-centered thinking that can become toxic. The Bible teaches not only to tithe and give to church; but also to be cheerful givers, even outside the church. I believe that the reason for this is to take your focus off of yourself and to participate in the world that surrounds you. These beliefs are what motivate me to give to Veritas Life Adventures, which is involved in raising leaders who have the tools to go and change the world.
If you want to find a charitable cause to give to, start with one that I support, and that can make the world that you live in a better place. That is the end result in empowering young men and women to grow in physical, nutritional, and spiritual health; so that they can embark on a journey to make a positive impact on the world they live in.
The Immeasurable reward: Conner Jansen
Conner in his first year with Veritas 2012.
Conner and Grant on the Forging trip his Veritas graduating year: 3 years later and 20 lbs. lighter...due to his improvements in all three aspects!
Four years ago, my main goal in life was to get Prestige on Call of Duty and eat an entire large Pizza on my own. I was involved in my church, but there were key things in my faith that were missing. I had a foundation, but I wasn’t building on top of that. All of that was about to change when I joined Veritas Life Adventures.
The first I heard of Veritas was from my youth pastor, Gary Malone. I was skeptical at first, but then I decided to take a risk. Since then, Veritas has continued to mold and change my life for the better through the three main aspects that Veritas focuses on: the physical, nutritional, and emotional/spiritual. One of the great things Veritas has taught me is that to be truly healthy, you need all three in balance.
First, I want to talk about the physical aspect. This is, I think, is the most obvious of changes in my life. When I started, I had no desire to do any physical activity, but through Veritas, that all changed. Through a lot of hard work and determination, Veritas has given me the knowledge and habits needed to maintain an active lifestyle. Today, I actually enjoy being active and have improved so much since then.
I remember going on my first backpacking trip and struggling through everything. Now, I can get through, still with some struggle, but I don’t need to take a break every five steps.
Nutrition is another aspect. When I started, I never thought about the nutrition facts on the back of the things that tasted delicious, and I hated anything that has color in it (ie: vegetables). I never even considered cooking. Then, when I joined Veritas, I started to see everything that I was doing to my body by eating bad things. I started to love cooking for my family and involving vegetables in my everyday life. Then, I started to see my body react in better ways. I was able to do workouts more easily when I didn’t eat Whataburger right before and instead ate an apple. My acne, although not completely clear, lightened up. My life took another turn with the gift of food Veritas presented to me.
The last aspect I changed in was my spiritual/emotional. When I started with Veritas, I had a foundation of a very basic love for Christ, but not anything much past that. I hated reading, I didn’t like deep conversations, and my world ended at my TV screen. Veritas showed me that there is so much more to life than just what I was seeing. I was able to build my faith in Christ and my intellectual thought was given food and strength. Now my faith in Christ is as strong as ever, but another thing Veritas has showed me is that you can never stop improving on yourself. So I continue to build in my faith in Christ. I have been asked to lead Bible studies in high school and now in college, I look for Bible Studies around campus. Ever since I was given the gift of Veritas I have never stopped growing.
Veritas has changed my life in unimaginable ways, and I am forever thankful for that. Our group trips have given me memories and experiences that will live with me forever. Veritas has given me the leadership qualities and self-confidence I needed to stand out from the crowd and follow my dream of helping deaf people. Veritas has given me everything I needed to be the person I am today.
Now is your chance to keep Seeker transformations like Conner's continuing on Thursday, September 17th from 6 am to midnight online with North Texas Giving day. Every dollar will be matched up to $10,000 and every $25 dollar gift, or more, will have a percentage match as well! Challenge your practice of the art of giving, and find your immeasurable reward here.
You Don't Need Anything More
By David Valentine, co-founder of Rethink and partner/board member/practitioner of the Veritas Lifestyle and Veritas Life Adventures
If you were just thinner…if you had a girlfriend, got a raise, made a 4.0, won state, got the newest iPhone, had more sex—you’d be happier. These are the messages we’re sold everyday, usually with some innovative dish soap (how innovative can dish soap be anyway?). The reality is you don’t need anything more than what you have right now to be fulfilled.
You may be thinking, “Come on. Do you know my life? A little extra cash would go a very long way.”The reality is…none of those things would actually fill the void. None of them would bring about the promised fruit, because they bring happiness for a while until that happiness runs out.
The secret to a fulfilling life is contentment. And contentment starts with an evaluation of what you already have in plenty.
Are you healthy? Can you walk, run, jump? Do you have people in your life who genuinely care about your well being? Have you eaten today? How many meals have you had? Do you have a home to go to? Is there air conditioning in that house? How many cars sit on your driveway or in your garage? Is the water you drink clean?
If you’re reading this you have a body—and it’s capable of doing amazing things. More than likely there is someone, somewhere who deeply cares about your well being. It’s reasonable to assume you’ve eaten at least once today (since you’re reading this on the internet). You probably are reading this on your iPhone while sipping a latte at Starbucks in fact.
So…you’re healthy. You are loved, you are fed, clothed, and have a place to call home. Not to mention you never wonder if your water is safe to drink.
You’ve got everything you need right here, right now. The key is to recognize how much you already have.
You don’t need anything more. We already have more than enough.
Revelation Trip 2015 Conclusion: A bitter sweet symphony
By Grant Boatwright, ED Veritas Life Adventures
I know, a really cliche throwback reference to a great song; both dating myself and hopefully giving you a bit of a chuckle at the same time. However, I cannot think of any better way to sum up the 2015 Revelation Trip with our graduating (well graduated now) Seeker men. And much like a symphony's crescendo, the trip delivered a beautifully harmonized and emphatic climax to all our time, trials, growth, perseverance, setbacks, and triumphs that brought our Seekers 'there and back again'. No great journey is accomplished without pain, both good and bad, and only the truly great ones continue on past their destinations.
I believe I can honestly say that for these 3 men, they were able to accomplish their journey with Veritas Life Adventures through the pains of growth, physical and spiritual hardships, and nutritional barriers better than anyone could have hoped or anticipated at their acceptance into the program. In addition, I know that is not the end for these men as they returned home graduated Seekers of the program, but their true beginning into the lifestyle and application of all that they have learned over their terms in the program.
May the Lord bless you and keep you, triumphant men of God, and you always hold fast to those people, lessons, and your relationship with Christ that have brought you thus far!
Now, off the box, and onto how the rest of the trip went:
Let's see where did we leave off...oh yeah 31 miles of hikes including
Workouts in the morning to get the blood and muscles prepared for the beat down to come.
Thin air, 15 min AMRAPS, not easy.
A 13 mile hike to Latir Mesa with breathtaking views stretching all the way to Colorado.
LatirMesa
A 4.6 mile plunge and return in the opposite direction down the Rio Grande Box Canyon, complete with a 'legal' swim across the Rio Gande with a current that took us about 100 feet down river from where we started!
The top of the box
Contemplating the swim
Erik having a thought half way across on our 'wow that was harder and faster current than I expected thinking rock'.
Conner's swim underway
Jathan's survival pose after swim.
The 13 mile culmination, climatic, revelation single day hike to Wheeler's summit that....of course ended in us racing down the hill being chased by storms; including, but not limited to hail! However, it did also have some the best weather, skies, sweeping panoramas, and greatest challenge with greatest reward!
Ummm...gorgeous Wiliam's lake...nothing more.
One of those sweeping views I mentioned. This one at Williams Lake below Wheeler.
The panorama from Wheeler's summit.
Last one, I promise.
Yep, we made it!
Now for excitement on the way down: skiing (in the summer), hail, you know...the typical stuff.
Who says you need skis, or winter.
Umm, the little white things, yeah that's hail.
And so ended our day mountaineering section of the trip, having survived the elements of mountain storms and swift currents in spectacular fashion. We also gained and lost over 8,000 feet in elevation. Also, if you are keeping up with the millage, you'll notice it is not quite 31 on the Garmin tackers; however, we started them late on a couple of the hikes so we added what is not recorded on to make it accurate (no, we are not cheating). Naturally we ended with a most amazing meal of meat and mashed potatoes; only we did it Veritas style and sear/baked 24 hour marinated lamb chops instead of steaks, and mashed cauliflower and parsnips instead of mashed potatoes. Extremely hearty and delicious after such a treacherous and tumultuous hike, so I will be sure to share the recipe on our blog page shortly!
Now we took a well deserved day off from our intense activities to recuperate and rest....NOT!!!!! With all the rain the Midwest and Mountain regions have gotten this year the Rio Grande was finally up enough in volume to allow us to brave class 3 & 4 rapids down a 13 mile white water rafting run near Taos, NM called "The Box Run". While paradoxically serene and peaceful at times, allowing you to enjoy the sounds of the river, gazing up at circling birds of prey returning home to their nests in the canyon walls, and watching playful river otters and leaping big horn sheep; this run could turn instantly into a gauntlet of adrenaline pumping, wave crashing, paddling for survival torrent of adventure that clears the mind, focuses the senses, and leaves you rung out and giddy with fearful joy all the way to the end! Thank you Cottam's for another amazing water adventure down the river.
The deep breath before the plunge.
Pure elation having survived all in the boat (Rule #1).
Driving back to the cabin content, sore, and basking in the revelations of all we had accomplished, thoughts and memories of the past four years swam through my head. I am truly a blessed man to have been able to guide these 3 young men along the path they have journeyed with us and God.
I was quite depressed that I missed their high school graduations a few weeks back and had been told that it was impossible to get video of them walking across the stage. However, being the cheeky little devils that they are, they were but toying with my delicate emotions as they sat me down after all our extreme adventures were over and told me to watch something they took it upon themselves to put together. What brought me to tears in the next few minutes was as follows...
I understand it may not move you as much as it did me, but to have these men do this for me, show us all they have experienced and learned, and do this of their own volition speaks volumes. It speaks to the men they are now: men of action, men of principle, men of faith, hope, and love, and men ready to step into the world prepared to be the leaders of tomorrow. Cheers brothers!
As we sat down together reflecting on all the nights journals we wrestled through and reading together what it was all for in His book of Revelations; we ended with the promise of a new name on a white stone, known only to him that He gives it, and only revealed to him that believes, accepts, and follows. And so concluded our time together on the Revelation 2015 Trip, and so concludes our time together in the 2015 Veritas year with only our woman's Seeker graduate trip to go. So be on the lookout for her trip blog detailing her adventures soon.
And thank you on behalf of the 2015 Veritas Seeker men for sharing in our adventure!
The men after completing their first hike on the tip at Cabresto Lake.