Earning the name "Forging" by Erik Lavespere After hours of hiking and soul searching, this trip has definitely earned its name " The Forging Trip".

Seekers have an amazing mindset of being optimistic and perseverant. We've pushed ourselves on all our hiking trips, but on this trip, we had to dig deep. On our first day, we climbed 80+ switchbacks to reach our campsite. On the following day, we hiked 11 miles and crossed multiple ridges. After an exhausting day of hiking, we jumped into the freezing water of Echo Lake to revive ourselves. The hikes were tough, but the picturesque scenery provided the ultimate distraction. We were looking at everything around us. Instead of focusing on our aching feet, we enjoyed the redwood trees, the pristine mountainous landscapes and the remote lakes. It was rewarding to see these sights firsthand.

The physical isn't the only thing we "forged" on this trip. We discussed spiritual matters like God's role in personal relationships, the significance and existence of heaven/hell and the importance of allowing God into our lives so that He may help us understand His word more fully. This trip overall has led me to realize that God is "forging" me in the right direction through the gifts he has provided me--from the Ultimate Frisbee Club to Veritas, Boy Scouts, making new friends, and choosing a career path.

I loved this trip to The Redwoods of Northern California and I hope to do it again one day.

The little things by Jathan Gupton

This last Veritas adventure to California was definitely out of this world. I never thought a state had so many settings, from a cold dark blue Pacific ocean and giant green redwood forests, the rocky Trinity Alps, to the amazing city of San Francisco. In a mystical way I feel as if these changing settings reflect me. School is like the cold sea with changing tides from smooth to rough, depending on if a test is coming up. Church is a gigantic redwood keeping my soul rooted to what I believe in. The mountains represent all the problems that come my way; I have to keep moving and overcome those things. Our leisure time in San Francisco mirrors my social life combined with work. Having these major things in life, like school, church, and work are great, but sometimes I feel that we should break life down and remember what it felt like to be five years old. I’m not talking about temper tantrums; I'm talking about getting excited over the little things that I should enjoy everyday in life.

I strongly believe in taking time to enjoy the little things in life, such as warm blankets fresh from the dryer, waking up before your alarm rings and realizing you can go back to sleep, smelling a fresh batch of Grandma’s chocolate chip cookies, or drinking coffee (the wonderful nectar that could only have been created by God) with a close friend. Enjoying the little things may seem insignificant to some, but they make me realize I must cherish everything before my life inevitably changes. Whether it be my last year of high school, my first year of college, my family, my friends, or my friends who are practically family, I plan to cherish all the people and experiences of my life for as long as possible.

We are in the third week of school and already I find myself in a frenzied schedule between school, work, church and family duties. However, I still take time to sit down and share a meal with my mom, or play a game with my little brother. My neighbors are some of my closest friends, so I make time to share a workout with them or just hang out together. I keep a positive outlook on life and don’t want to miss any opportunities that come my way.

Losing my grandfather when I was nine and my eighteen-year-old cousin when I was ten made me realize just how short our time is here on earth. The impacts of that experience influenced my views and lead me to value seeking joy in every experience, however small; and more especially, seeking out the little things that satisfies and rejuvenates my soul. The little things among this California trip helped me pause from life, enjoy a spiritual hike, and soak up beautiful nature with close friends.

Forging Trip : August 5-13, 2014

There are two quotes we share with our Seekers each year that explain succinctly the purpose, drive, and goal of our forging trips. I'd like to share them with you so you can understand the mindset our Seekers held during this trip.

“No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training…what a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”-Socrates

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day...we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” -God: 2 Timoth y 4:7, Romans 5:5

This trip, more than others, pushed us beyond our physical limits, brought us to God-created and inspired places only our imaginations could conjure, and plunged us deep into the vast waters of God's love for us. We experienced what it means to be men and women of God in an ever emerging spiritual, physical, and nutritional world. Those were the goals of our trip in a nutshell, but I don't believe any words, pictures, or anecdotes can truly convey the magnitude of importance, or change, resulting from this 2014 Forging Trip. But I'll do my best to share our journey with you.

Texans like to say that Texas offers every kind of landscape: prairie, ocean, desert, mountain. Now, I am Texan-born and bred, but California has us beat on diversity of scenery in a single US state. In a distance of less than 200 miles, we experienced rugged mountains speckled with vibrant wildflowers and crystalline lakes, aqua waves crashing into craggy cliffs along the Pacific coast, and enchanting forests lush with ferns and magnificent, towering redwoods. Now, Texas is wonderful, don't get me wrong. But California? Sigh... California is lovely. We spent our last two days driving down the scenic Highway 1 and exploring San Francisco's wharfs, food and sunshine, all while Texas was experiencing 110-degree heat. Sorry to rub that in. :-) But we had our challenges too.

Did you know there are 26 bones in the human foot? When you hike 11 miles in the heat of the day you become very aware of each of the tiny 26.. wait.. did I say 26 bones? Surely I meant a million bones. That's what it feels like after you spend 8 hours traversing down a valley, up a mountain, over a ridge (or five), around a lake (or four), through a thicket, down a mountain and back up a valley... It feels like you have a million tiny, fragile bones in each foot and that you have broken every single one of them. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit, but really, your feet hurt. A lot.

By day three and mile 30, our five-teen/three-adult group had easily reached a consensus: this was the hardest hike Veritas has ever done. It's not really enough to just tell you how far we walked. It's a matter of how steep these trails dipped and how often they rose up and down. If I tell you we hiked a day without our packs, you'll think we had an easy go of it. When you hike the terrain we hiked, it doesn't matter how much you're not carrying, it is long and hard and tiring.

If something is easy and no one complains, there's no cause for celebration. But when something is as difficult and exhausting as the hike we took our Seekers through, and when those Seekers refuse to give in to the desire to quit or complain, it's time to pop the top and celebrate!! (Or, in this case, drink purified mountain lake water and jump into that lake for a refreshing swim before a celebratory dinner of... lentils. Or something equally exciting! :)) Seriously, though. These Seekers are extraordinary and strong young people in body and spirit. The purpose of this taxing trip to the beautiful state of California, the purpose of hiking miles and miles through mountains and beaches and forests, was to FORGE ahead -on this quest for health and character and finding the One who brings it to all fullness. And that is exactly what we did.

Here are a sampling of images from our trip.