Episode 199 with Kevan Chandler
Full Life Supersedes Comfort
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SHOW TRANSCRIPT:
199 KEVAN CHANDLER
Ginny Yurich Welcome to the 1000 Hours Outside podcast. My name is Ginny Yurich, the founder of 1000 Hours Outside. And I have a new friend with me today. A friend of a friend, Kevan Chandler. Welcome.
Kevan Chandler Thanks, Ginny.
Ginny Yurich This is so cool. We are connected through Sam Smith, who is the author of the Green Ember series, and also he just wrote a new book with his son. That was so cool, wasn't it?
Kevan Chandler Yeah, awesome.
Ginny Yurich Yeah. He wrote a book with his son Josiah, called Jack Zulu. Yeah. So he's this author and such a personable one. I don't know if I've ever met someone quite so personable as Sam. And we actually just saw him a month or two ago. We went down to West Virginia last minute and it was so last minute. Kevin I think it was maybe the night before or two nights before, and he invited our whole family over for dinner and there were seven of us.
Kevan Chandler And small potatoes for them.
Ginny Yurich That's yeah, they're a fantastic family. So he connected us.
Kevan Chandler Yeah.
Ginny Yurich Which I'm so thrilled that he did. And I just finished reading your book. We Carry Kevan six friends, three countries in a wheelchair. And you have a new book for kids coming out called Week Carry Kevan of the picture Book in November. And you're just doing such incredible work with getting families that maybe might not be able to out on trails and to different spots in the world that maybe they wouldn't be able to see otherwise. So thank you so much for taking the time to be here.
Kevan Chandler Yeah, of course. Thanks.
Ginny Yurich This is a treat. And also the foreword to your book is by Andrew Peterson. Yeah, so that's cool too. Yeah. Yeah. You got cool friends. I was like, Man, I like Kevin's got all these cool friends. We I just saw Andrew Peterson live for the first time earlier this year and my mouth dropped. It was phenomenal.
Kevan Chandler Yeah. How many did you cry, be honest?
Ginny Yurich Yeah, I know. Yeah, I totally cried. Yes. Yeah. His music. He's just got such a depth to him. So I would love for people to hear. I knew I knew of you. I had heard of you before Sam had introduced us. But you have this story, this incredible story where you went to Europe, the three countries with your six friends and you left your wheelchair behind. It was the first time ever that you had left your wheelchair behind. So can you start us at the dream? Like the dream you talked about how you'd always wanted to go to Europe. Where did that dream come from?
Kevan Chandler Yeah. Yeah, well, I'm now I'm 36 now. 37. Wow. Time flies. And we went on the trip when I was I had just turned 30. And for my whole life building up to that point, I had dreamed of going to Europe and primarily going to England because my dad's side of the family was from England not so long ago, recently, and active in generations that we still do, you know, tea times and stuff like that. And so and they left England and Ireland to be missionaries in South America and then ended up in the U.S. eventually. And so I just have always dreamed of our circle to go back to where our family is from. And I grew up my before I can read, my sister is reading books to me now, C.S. Lewis and talking and a mailman wrote Winnie the Pooh and later Pan Jamboree and all these guys that turns out are British and actually alive, like, you know, early 1900s. And I did, which would have been around when our family was there. And so I was like, Oh, this is a place I need to go. And as I got older, there were other influences in my life from musicians and other writers and different things in church history that also called me to go to France and Ireland. And so yeah, this was kind of the the impetus, if you're all the draw to originally go. But I've been in a wheelchair my whole life. I have spinal muscular atrophy, which basically means the message from my brain to my muscles doesn't work that great. So my muscles are weak. And so I'm in a wheelchair and needed a lot of caregiving. And so I just kind of figured, well, maybe someday I can go to London and see some of it, because that's about all that would be accessible. But in 2015, a friend and I decided we wanted to explore the sewers in our hometown in North Carolina, which is also not wheelchair accessible. And so we made a makeshift backpack and got some buddies together and had an adventure one night in the sewers, which is a whole nother story. But from that, I remember the next. Going outside and just looking up at the sky and being like, I wonder what else we can do if we survive that. What's the next thing? Yeah. And so eventually one thing led to another and I wrote to that guy and I said, Hey, what if we do the same thing? But for three weeks above ground in Europe? And he was all for it, and he got a few other friends together and yeah, that's kind of where it came from.
Ginny Yurich Wow, what a cool dream. It was a combination of things. Like you had that dream, but also the fact that you did that trip down into the sewer is what made you realize. And that was a pretty wild trip that you were talking about, how because you're facing out that your face is like, right at the top.
Kevan Chandler Yeah. Because he was on his hands and knees. And so my face was like, right there at the ceiling.
Ginny Yurich And did someone say afterward that there was maybe like, spiders or something down there? Oh, yeah. But you didn't know till after?
Kevan Chandler Yeah, there were spiders everywhere. It was. Yeah, not great.
Ginny Yurich But by going on that adventure, it gave you the knowledge that you could take that concept and go somewhere else. So that's really cool. I liked how at the end of each chapter of your book, you would have the perspective of someone else. And so in that sure part, Phillip said he was talking about the feeling of camaraderie that comes with doing something out of the ordinary. And I thought that was such a cool thing that you went on this sewer adventure. Yeah, just out of the ordinary. And then it really builds your relationships. In fact, you have such a good community, like the community that people wish they have. And you talked about how you would do the Monday nights potluck and jam sessions. Well, like what? Like college in your early twenties?
Kevan Chandler Yeah, I was college and post-college kind of in a college town where if you were graduated, you hadn't really moved on yet. You had a job in town. But we were all starving artists and figured out, I can bring some potatoes and you bring some carrots and we can make a stew together. So it's kind of that it was going on and a friend invited me into that. So I got to meet a lot of these guys that were already in there, some of them from the music scene, but each week was at someone else's house and a different person, and some of those were up two flights of stairs through my realtor downstairs and carried me up and sat me on the couch or on the floor. And I think, you know, just like the third trip went to what else can we do? I think this third trip came out of that experience and saying, Well, I can carry it upstairs. What else can we do? And so we went downstairs to the sewers. And I think that's something about life, whether you have a extreme disability or not. We all have these comfort zones that we feel safe within. And I think two things. One is not just taking a running leap out of it, but just take one step out and see how that goes and then try another step. And if you can go down the street to a coffee shop and you're in a wheelchair, you actually might be able to cross the oceans or another country because it comes from the same party or part of overcoming fear and limitations and other desires. But then also stepping out of your comfort zone with other people. Like Philip said, it not only is easier because you're not alone and you have help, but it also builds a bond and a deeper fellowship for advisors that both parties need, everybody needs. So it's a real beautiful thing.
Ginny Yurich Mm. Yeah. So you have this dream, you had a little bit of experience because you'd gone down into the sewer to think through what this might be like, and then you had a bit of a journey to actually make it happen. I think if someone comes in after the fact and they see that you have this nonprofit and you have this wonderful book with the pictures are so cool, like in the middle and the cover is so fantastic, and you got this book and you have a kids book coming out. But the process was not an easy one. In fact, there were parts that were pretty discouraging. So could you talk about a couple of those parts I know you had talked about, like when you were trying to raise funds, it didn't go as quickly as you thought it would do.
Kevan Chandler Yeah, I remember sitting across the Super Bowl, which is weird because I don't really care that much about the Super Bowl, but I was at a Super Bowl party with some of these cat like friends, and my friend later ended up coming on the trip to film it so that we would have those photographs and have proof. He and I were talking probably during the game because we weren't paying attention and he just kept saying. We are about to launch the fundraiser, the Go Fund me for it. And he kept saying, this is going to be a huge assistance. Like, how can people not give to this? This is a really awesome dream and an awesome project that you're inviting people into. And then like a week later, we launched it and the money just kind of trickled in and and to take. I think there were actually eight of us on the trip and that was going to be eight people in three countries for three weeks. It was going to be just over over $30,000. And trickling in doesn't really ROI credits that much. And so for the first month and a half, we weren't sure it was going to happen. And then a friend got a hold of a news station and they interviewed me and it was very early the next morning at National News Group, they kept the same interview and and it took off from there. But even then, you know, it's like, great, now we have the funding. But one of the places we wanted to go was Skellig Michael, which is an island off the coast of Ireland. And we felt comfortable ourselves doing it. But then we contacted the company that handles the tours and everything and said, Hey, we'd like to buy tickets on the boat and here's our situation. And they said, No, we can't do that. They had a policy that if you basically everyone that came on the island had to be able to walk themselves. So no kids or babies weren't allowed. Other people that really weren't allowed. And the rich completely make sense for where we ended up sending them a long report and photos and videos and saying, no, we really know what we're doing. But there were a few hours, if not days, where I was pacing the living room going, Oh man, this is the pinnacle of the trip. If this can't happen, what's it going to look like? And it all worked out. And there are other things in there that became hiccups. But there is even a moment in the trip when we had a bit of a car accident and I ended up breaking my nose and I remember thinking, God, I did this to prove that I could. And now this happens and the world's going to be like, See, we told you, you now this is why fragile people don't go out and do crazy things. And that's when I realized I didn't do it to prove that nothing would happen. I did it to prove that it could be done and it was worth the risk. And so long story short, I felt like George said also, look around you. You're not alone. And I had all these these amazing guys with me who made it happen, working together, made it happen and made it work.
Ginny Yurich Yeah, but you weren't alone. They're there with you, you know? Looks great, by the way.
Kevan Chandler Right?
Ginny Yurich I was wondering, I read the part of the book and I was like, Will it look cricket? No, it looks great. I actually that part of the book, I thought there was a little bit of humor there because when you have the people that were writing at the end of each chapter, that person wrote, I lost my driving privileges.
Kevan Chandler Ha ha ha ha. Yes.
Ginny Yurich I've been driving. I think I fired.
Kevan Chandler Yeah, for sure. I had them rolling along, but there wasn't much of a fight.
Ginny Yurich Yeah. Okay. So one of the other obstacles, too, is that was.
Kevan Chandler Half of.
Ginny Yurich Your backpack, right? So you work with a company and then you sent in for some different modifications. And when they sent it back to you and it seemed like the timeline was like, this is coming pretty soon, they send it back to you. And they had done some of their own things and not done what you had asked them to. So you tell us about Harv.
Kevan Chandler Yeah. So Harv was the nickname of the backpack that we used. Basically, we went to RTI and tried out a bunch of different child carriers and ended up on this one main made by a daughter. And it was kind of the best base for us to work off of. We knew that we were going to have to do adaptations for my needs and my size and everything. So we actually reached out to them and said, Hey, this is what we want to do. Basically, we want to break all the rules that you've made about the backpack and can, you know, can you give us some advice, can you talk us through it? And they were awesome to work with, but they are way out in Colorado and we were in North Carolina at the time, so we found a local kind of fabrication company to help us with some of the alterations. And it was really a trial and error, you know, because this had never been done before. And so. We would put together some ideas, read some Styrofoam and and go out for a walk and come back and make notes of what worked and what didn't. And that was, I mean, several months in the works. And we felt like we finally got it. We in the notes, we had it where we wanted it, and we sent it to the local company and with all the notes. And when I picked it up, it was not like you said, it was not what we had asked for, and they had done other things. And so Tom, the guy that kind of the instigator and the team, he and I went out for a walk with it just to see, just like maybe they are on to something. So we tried it and it was really miserable. We felt very defeated because it was like a week maybe before the trip. It was coming out really soon and we got back to the house and I was visiting my parents, so we got back to their house and my dad was sitting on the floor with a stack of Styrofoam and an insect or a knife. He's an airplane mechanic, by the way, so he is qualified. And and my mom was pouring tea and they said, All right, what do we need to do? Like you just say the word. And over the next 24 hours or so, my dad and I and and Tom, we just kind of workshopped it until it was right. And just in time for the trip.
Ginny Yurich That's incredible.
Kevan Chandler Yeah. So then we took that design after that trip and sent it to DOI during said, Can you make a factory version of this for us to distribute to other families who are asking about it? And they've again, they've been asking the request and that's what we're doing. Yeah.
Ginny Yurich That's so cool. People can partner with you. Well, so you had two backpacks, right? You had a backup one to halve the half back. Half backup backpack?
Kevan Chandler Yeah.
Ginny Yurich That was the first one that you gave away because you didn't end up needing to use it. And so you came back, right? Gave that one away. And now you pair people up with the backpacks in such a really cool way. I was stop me in my tracks to come to your website. It's so creative and just really special to come to your websites. We carry Kevin Dawg but then it says we carry and then there's like a line and then the names are just scrolling through like we carry and it's all these other kids and adults and families that are able to use the backpack design that you've made and to go more places and to have more experiences. So this innovative backpack designed specifically for carrying individuals with disabilities. So Cameron, if people want to partner up with you, there's a couple ways, right? Like they can help to fund a backpack, but they can also sign up to carry. Tell us what you have going on.
Kevan Chandler Yeah. So when we got back from that trip, we were inundated with families writing to us from all over the world. And there were two main questions that were being asked. One was, Where did you get this backpack? And the other was it to these friends? And so we started the nonprofit to answer those two questions. The backpack was, I'm not going to say was easy. It would be easier for you to answer by working with the rider. And so we got that figured out. And we're actually on the verge and 4.0 now, based on feedback from families and we are coming up on backpack number 1000 covering 40 countries and it's all been word of mouth and families write to us and they go to the website and they can purchase it. But also over the years we've had families write and say, hey, we can't afford this or we can't afford the shipping or whatever the case may be. And so for the past few years, we've just kind of hoped that we had donations that were coming in to fulfill those. But last November we launched a new program and like you were, you were sharing about on the website, there's something that we call the causes page. And so for family and once a backpack that can't afford it or some aspect of it, we set up a crowdfunding profile for them on our website that does a lot of things from what we can tell. And what we hope is that it gives that family and that individual voice to express their need to their community as well as our community. It also gives their community and our community, the nonprofits community that is an opportunity to participate by giving towards this specific person. And that, in a sense, builds community more around them. It introduces them to friends. And if you give to a specific cause once they get the back. How can they send us updates? We forward those to those who gave towards it. And so you kind of create these little pockets of friendship and it may be work or people it may be people across the world, but you get to be connected. And and I think it's cool because families then get to see again how these ten people, five of which I don't even know, five of which I do, gave towards me having this experience or these two people gave a lot more. Yeah, I hope whatever the case may be. And that also can spark conversation. You know, I was able to give towards this and when you want to go on a hike, let me know. I'd love to come and help. Or how else can I be part of your life and your need? And I think there's really something powerful and special about inviting people into your need. That's a concept that is easy to talk about, that kind of hard to do practice. And so inviting people to help you raise money for a backpack so you can go out and have adventures is a much more fun need to invite people into you then needing a ride to the grocery store or in need of help with the restroom or whatever the case. So it's hopefully kind of an entry point for people to try inviting people into their needs and can hopefully springboard them into a different way of thinking. And also it's it's a great way to get them the backpack faster instead of just waiting for friends to come in. And so, yeah, it's been a really fun to do and so people can go on and check those out and give towards that or just share them with your own circles of, of people. And then we haven't fully developed the idea of connecting people in like an automated right, I guess you're saying on the website. But if you are interested, you can email us and say, Hey, I in this area, are there any families around that I could connect with that have their backpacking? I love to go hiking with them and we are happy to connect to people that we just haven't figured out a way to do it on the website. So, so we're doing a lot of that. And then we, we have a membership as well. If people want to give towards the nonprofit as a whole on a regular basis, they can do that too and be privy to some behind the scenes conversations and stuff like that. So it's the the member of the pack.
Ginny Yurich So it's really incredible to think this really was birthed out of the sewer and out of your original dreams to go to Europe. And here you are now giving these different opportunities. I watched on YouTube a couple videos where you and your wife were interviewing some different families. I had gotten a backpack and one of the moms said, You know, my my daughter really loves the beach, but it's so hard you can't to get the wheelchair through the sand. And so this backpack is helping us to just go to places that we wouldn't have been able to go to otherwise. What are some stories that have really stuck out to you over the past few years?
Kevan Chandler MM Yeah, I, I love talking about this part because it's, I feel like in I went to Europe and went there to explore this old monastery on an island. And I later the guys and I went to China and I saw great role and stuff like that. And so we have our own in many ways and epic stories. But then I get these photos and videos and emails from families that are like hiking up the volcano on Active Volcano and how there was a mom up in Ontario. She sent us the photo and just looked like they were walking across a white like a snowy field. And she said, No, that's a frozen lake. And like she's carrying her daughter on a frozen lake and a family in Russia that was in Russia. And they took pictures and they're at the top of the mountain. And it was just this crazy tourism. And so just seeing like what these families are doing that are way, way more epic than I have ever dreamed. And the idea that my friends and I just did that first trip for fun, it was just kind of guys being guys, you know, we weren't really thinking ahead. We're just whatever I find and this is what came out of it about on the other side of that too, just as epic in many ways. I think, you know, we've seen families who there's really no higher. They live on the farm and every morning they carry their son out in the backyard to feed the chickens and wander the goats. And so they get this like quality time together with this experience that any other parent would do with their child next to them. They they have to carry their son. And I think that picture is on the the home page of the website. And there is a family in the Philippines that wrote and said Rio likes the backpack because we can't afford a taxi and we don't have the car and the bus is handicapped accessible. So if we get a backpack, we can take our child to do physical therapy and doctor's appointments. So there's there's this great practical need as well where we're actually getting ready in the next week or so to launch a new car. This profile that I'm proud from Profile for a nonprofit ministry that sends wheelchairs to Ethiopia and they want to take backpacks also as an option for the family. So getting the sense there was and this ministry, they're their big focus. And I want this because I feel like it lines up perfectly with what our focus is, which is getting people up off the floor and giving them dignity. And so carrying something on your back there that I work for with other people, they're off the ground. They're participating in what you are doing by putting something in your backpack and putting them on your back. You're saying, I want you to go with me wherever I'm going. I want you to see and experience what I'm doing because you matter that much to me. And not only does the person in the backpack feel that, but the people around you see it and it clicks without a word, without an explanation. I've seen it firsthand. The light bulb come on from across a train station, from from across the street. People, you just see their faces kind of looking at you, kind of weird. And then they're going, Oh, that's cool. Yeah. Know. And and so I think just that that level of dignity and joy can come from that. This is a fun thing that people can do and and invite others to do. So, yeah.
Ginny Yurich Well, one of your friends had said they had written at one of the end of the chapter is that by being together in that way, they said that it helped them to be more grateful for things they didn't even realize they needed to be grateful for. And I thought that was such a cool thing. This is always my problem. Kevin. Listen, I got like seven pages of notes here from your book because I loved it so much. And then I'm like, Wait, I can't find that one spot, but here.
Kevan Chandler Is that right?
Ginny Yurich Yeah. Well, what was it? But you were talking about how you were ahead above pretty much everyone who carried you. So you got to be like seven feet tall for this.
Kevan Chandler Trip, right?
Ginny Yurich And be able to see faces. And the faces could see you. And it was probably a wild experience because like you said, it was totally different spatially.
Kevan Chandler Yeah. Yeah. I had no concept of time or space, and I had the first first several times of being carried in the backpack. I would think, Oh, we're going to bump into this light post or Oh, it's only been 10 minutes now. It's been an hour. Like I just it was, I was towering and my my wife likes to point out that somehow all of my guy friends are super tall. So now so not only am I above them, but I'm above every right.
Ginny Yurich So. Yeah. So you had a cool vantage point. And so that's just an interesting thing to think about too, to give someone a different vantage point than maybe what they're used to having. And then I did. I thought that was a really touching thing to say. Look, Ben, you're you know, well, you're above eye level because if you've got your tall friends and your above them back with the other people and their responses were phenomenal. People were cheering, they're clapping. And it's really encouraging them, I think, in their lives, too. There was a little bit of struggle as of and this is an interesting thought as you know, you're as close as you can be to another human and for extended period of time that there were occasionally times where you wanted to be alone and then you ended up doing that.
Kevan Chandler Yeah. Yeah. There was an aspect that I had not I had no forethought of going into the trip because I always lived my life in a wheelchair and a power wheelchair so I could take myself wherever I wanted to go every day at. That time I was going from my house about two miles into the city to.
Ginny Yurich The coffee shop after work.
Kevan Chandler For the day, to the coffee shop and some other restaurants around their park. And that was just my life. And so I was very used to that sense of independence, and I freely gave that up to be in the backpack for three weeks, not realizing how much I enjoyed just having a few minutes to myself every day to process and just have that that breathing room, if you will. And so it wasn't until about a week into the trip that I realized that, and I realized that I had given up one freedom for another. It wasn't one was better than the other, because now I can I can literally go anywhere. But I wasn't going by myself. And whereas in my real strategy, there were a lot of places, but I can go by myself. But it's limited. And so at that point, I kind of worked it out with the guys that I would once a day or once every other day. I have a little bit of time to myself. But I think the moment you're talking about is when we were in the English countryside and we were out for what we thought was supposed to be a short walk and turned out to be a six mile walk. But it was awesome. We went through the woods and through fields, and at one point and Tom stopped and we were on a hill overlooking the whole area and he said this whole dare. And I thought that he just meant, you know, this is a nice area. And so I agreed. And then I realized this whole dude to leave Kevin by himself. And and that came from a conversation we had had months and months before. And I said I said, if I can walk, I can go somewhere on my own. I would drop to the middle of the field where it would be the sky above the ground all around me and just me and God in the middle. And so he remembered that and he gave me that. And I got to sit on the hillside of the English country and just take in the moment. I thought it was unbelievable.
Ginny Yurich This world, you know, I love.
Kevan Chandler This world there.
Ginny Yurich And they left you when you went to that festival. They called it the swimming hole day.
Kevan Chandler Right.
Ginny Yurich And you were with all those musicians?
Kevan Chandler Yeah. So my friend Ben, who was on the trip with us, that was the day that I kind of realized what was going on inside me, that I. I needed some time to myself. And Ben was one that I didn't know if I'd known him the longest, but I knew him the most because we lived really close to each other. He got me up multiple times a week for a couple of years, and we just we had grown really close in such a way that, you know, some of your best friends, you can be in the same room together and and not have to be doing anything. I think that's a famous quote by someone. Our friend is a person you can do nothing less and be happy. And so I, I turned to Ben at this festival and I said, I need some time to myself, but I can't be by myself. So this is not an insult. But I feel like being with you is the closest I can get to being in your life. And so to really put you on his back and I got to go for a walk and just walk around the festival kind of take it. And I was really, really special. And just the ways that these guys sacrificed intentionally every day in the small ways and the big brains to make this happen, this really, really made the whole experience something unique.
Ginny Yurich What's interesting is they said about you, they say, Luke said, we were sharing moments that for countless medical and logistical reasons, should not be possible. And they wouldn't have been without Kevin's dream. His courage to prove the power of friendship brought us all to this place, making these memories a reality for each of us. My gratitude for the invitation exceeds my vocabulary that makes me teary eyed.
Kevan Chandler Wow. Yeah. Well, you know, I think that's. Yeah, that's what I could bring was an invitation into my meet and my dream. And. And then we can see what would happen from there. Yeah, I guess I'm just going back to earlier. I think there's something powerful about inviting people in. Sometimes we serve others not in spite of our needs, but through them.
Ginny Yurich I found a sentence where it said Tom lost his driving privileges.
Kevan Chandler Now.
Ginny Yurich If we could happen to one other concept, and I think it's an important one just for this. An age that we are surrounded by comforts. And there's a book that came out recently called The Comfort Crisis that being comfortable feels like the end all, be all, but maybe it's not the best thing. And you talked about this with your hiking and you had a sentence that said for life supersedes comfort. Well, life supersedes comfort. So what advice would you give to people who are I mean, this was a huge step that you took who are afraid. How do you find that balance?
Kevan Chandler So, yeah, I, I would actually in relation to that quote, I would hearken back to an earlier quote in the book, I think, or it was a conversation I had and I don't remember. But when we were reworking and designing the backpack, one of the guys we were working with on it, he is an avid hiker. And I said, Well, is this going to be comfortable for me? And he said, Well, that's that's not the measure that you need to have. We are going to make it practically safe and you're going to be supported and you're going to you know, it's going to it's going to hold you and take care of you. But it's it's not going to be like sitting on your couch. He said, When I go hiking, I look for shoes that are going to give me good support. But they're not my my slippers or my, you know, my converse here. There's a different way to measure things. And so I think that we need to look at that in life, whether it's setting out on adventures outside of our comfort zone, on our own, or inviting people into our need and comfort is is not the measure that should be part of the conversation. You should definitely consider how is this secure? Is this is there a level of safety here? There's always risk. But yeah, I think the the beauty of of what we could potentially experience, not just Rick or myself, but if far outweighs the idea of comfort, because this comfort is temporary or maybe temporary, but so is comfort. You know, it's it's such a fluid thing. And you can go through a day, you can go through 24 hours and experience both ends of the spectrum and everything in between 100 times. So why do we strive for one end so hard when there is actually much more important things to pursue?
Ginny Yurich Yeah, it's like we're so focused on it. But your hiking was not comfortable when you were talking about hiking up there. This is. It's pronounced Skellig.
Kevan Chandler Mm hmm.
Ginny Yurich At the end of the book, I mean, your foot was hurting so bad. Yeah, but you still did it.
Kevan Chandler Yeah. Yeah. From the car accident. I mean, I broke my nose and sprained my foot really bad, which was positioned just right on that hike that every time the guys lifted their leg to go up another step. There was turning it, and that was that was rough. But there was a moment at the top of that hike where one of the tour guides I overheard them said because it was a monastery for a long, long time ago, and someone said, Well, this place is kind of rough, the weather's bad, there's no way to grow things. But the houses are made of stone. They're not even houses. They're like one person height. And that so said, how did they live here? And the tour guide said all these monks felt they had a conviction that every hardship was a prayer. And I really took that to heart and realized that every time, especially on that hike, because it was a revisit every time my foot hurt, every time there was a severe pain, a surge of pain, that was a prayer because it was a very real reminder of how much I needed the Lord and how much I couldn't do it on my own. Because if I was physically this broken from a brief and not bad accident, like how how fragile does that make me? And so I need someone greater than myself. And so that becomes a prayer of Lord, save me. And you're in charge here. So, yeah, I think that's something we can present to you.
Ginny Yurich Yeah. One experience, three weeks. And you could have never thought what would have happened after. And I love that you talked about in the book that you really fight to stay present and not think what comes next. During this trip. I think that's a great reminder for everyone that sometimes we are so in the mindset of, well, what will happen after this, but that you are really able to be there and to stay in real time with what you were doing, not thinking about forward things, even though that tends to be your tendency, right, is to think forward and think ahead. But you did it and you stayed present for that journey. And then when you came back and gave that backpack to the Parker family and to Carson, then this has just taken off to do so much for other people. I love this one sentence that says there are keyholes in life through which technology just won't fit, no matter how hard it tries.
Kevan Chandler Well, that's.
Ginny Yurich Beautiful. Just beautiful writing. I loved it, Kevan.
Kevan Chandler Thanks.
Ginny Yurich You always wanted to be a writer. Are you always like stories? Did you. Did you think you'd be a writer?
Kevan Chandler I've always written stories. I didn't know if they were too brilliant. Me So. But I've been making up stories since I was a little kid. And I love stories. And so some time after college I started actually writing them down. And then we had this. This adventure, this experience. And I, I had a very dear friend who was kind of a mentor in writing. He said he said, Tell you what, if you write a book about it, I'll edit it. And I said, Don, I'm definitely doing that.
Ginny Yurich So who is that? One of the Petersons?
Kevan Chandler Right. Yeah, I did.
Ginny Yurich The one who calls Who called your backpack? The man saddle.
Kevan Chandler Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Judge Andrew's brother. And yeah, he was. I was considering writing a book, but he was the one that kind of took that over the edge and worked with me on writing things. Right to really get the idea crossed. I'm really thankful for that.
Ginny Yurich Wow, that's so cool. So this is the first. And then the next one that's coming is the book for kids. What's the premise of that one?
Kevan Chandler Yeah, so it's really just a picture book version of the grown up books that you read. So it covers the Europe trip, but in picture book fashion, and we initially wrote it specifically for including in every backpack that we give away so that when your family gets a backpack, they can read the book to their child and say, Oh, when Kevin was going on this trip, here were things that he was afraid of. Or what if what if they take me somewhere I don't want to go? What if they trip and fall? What if we get blown off a cliff by the wind and just kind of that stuff riding in silly race and then saying, But Kevin trusted his friends and cared what happened. And so we initially wrote it for those kids who were going to use the backpack. But as we were writing it. And so we decided we'll self-publish it because it's going to be a hard sell to a publisher to say, Yeah, we want to give away every copy to, you know, people at the backpack. So we self-published it. And as as we're bringing it together, we realized this is a story not just for people using the backpack, but this is a story of their friendship, which we already knew. But, you know, just because of our experience. But we realized the picture conveyed that well, clearly as well. So, yeah, we're we're making it available to the public. It'll be through our website. And so, yeah, and my wife and I are going to do some read aloud tours next year to share with schools and churches and stuff. We just really a afraid to say to kids and adults, you know, hey, life is scary, but here's what happens when you trust people. Sure, here is what can happen when you trust people, but also turning it the other way around and saying, hey, you can be that trustworthy friend, too. You can carry people as well as be sharing. So we're excited to share.
Ginny Yurich It comes out November 15th. Was it hard to take a book that's 250 pages and figure out how to take that and put it into a kid's book?
Kevan Chandler It was, I don't know. It's a whole different thought process, you know? And so I didn't I guess because it's my real life story, it wasn't so much a matter of what comes through the book and find the moments. It was more like, what set the book aside and think about what if I was just writing this as a picture? Like, it's funny that Pete helped me with the grown up version and his wife helped me with the picture. She writes children's books and stuff. So yeah, just having someone to walk me through that and ask the right questions was really helpful as well. And I learned a lot from that.
Ginny Yurich It's basically like telling your story to a different audience.
Kevan Chandler Right? Exactly. And that was the thing is we really wanted this story to be available to all generations, not just teenagers and adults, but younger kids to.
Ginny Yurich Wow, this has been such a treat to get this time with you. Huge. Thank you to Sam Smith for connecting. People want more information they can go to Carrie Kevin dot org. They can find the book there when it comes out November 15th. I got your book just online. We care, Kevan. So you can get that anywhere. You don't have to get it from the website. But through my Kevan G on their six friends, three countries, no wheelchairs. Jessica Coolest photos. It was actually really cool. Kevin I wasn't expecting to see pictures like from your childhood in here. These are precious. Was it hard to pick? I mean, you had a whole you had a team of people doing video and photo. Mm hmm. Was it hard to narrow down which what to put in?
Kevan Chandler Oh, gosh. I mean, I have a Dropbox folder, right? About 1705 days from that track. And so, yes, it was it was like there is a process of writing the book and then a separate process of figuring out what photos feature.
Ginny Yurich Yeah, right. Because you had to narrow it down to 50 or less or something here, right?
Kevan Chandler Right.
Ginny Yurich And of course, some of the ones from your childhood. So, yeah, this is a fantastic book. We carry, Kevin and people can come on, they can partner with different families, so many different ways to get involved with what you have going on in. Do you have is there a movie coming or a video?
Kevan Chandler We have a we have a documentary which we don't have available online, but we we do screenings of that.
Ginny Yurich So what's that one called? I saw something.
Kevan Chandler It's called The View from Here.
Ginny Yurich Very cool. You do screenings. That's awesome. Well, Kevan, we always end our podcast with the same question. And this is a really fitting question, especially because you're helping kids get outside in different ways maybe that they wouldn't have been able to otherwise. What is a favorite memory from your childhood? That was outside from outside.
Kevan Chandler So the first one that comes to mind is I'm working on another book right now that is about what we've been discussing. Write jokes that are inviting people into your need. And the first chapter of it is all about a childhood memory of my my dad was digging in the what do you call it when you're going to put it in a house? And you.
Ginny Yurich The foundation for.
Kevan Chandler The foundation is digging the foundation for our our family room that he was adding on to our house. And I was maybe six or seven somewhere in there. And I remember at the end of the day, I grew up in North Carolina and sitting on the edge of the new hole in the ground, playing with my matchbox cars, just sitting next to my dad while you talk to the neighbor. And there's something there is something about there. Like my my dad did this, you know, and it's like quality time together. And I have a lot of memories of our backyard. And especially with my dad, it's one that the dust that we carry covered starts with that symbol, or it's getting to throw a rubber band airplane because my dad would have me high up into the air. And so I can be high enough to to throw it. So yeah, a lot of all the good memories in our backyard for my dad.
Ginny Yurich It's beautiful. Well, Kevin, thank you. I know that people listening in are so thrilled to hear your story. And here you have going on and just hope that they partner up with you. We will to you and can't wait to see what comes next. The even though I know you want to live in the present moment, but it is exciting to think about what's coming next. A picture book and this book like you're talking about. So thank you so much for taking this time to be here with us.
Kevan Chandler Yeah. Thank you so much. It's been fun.
