Our Wilderness [the preparation]

We’ll try to keep this is as simple as we can keep it: we need a LOT of help with this mission.

This is more than grabbing a backpack, shoving a sleeping bag in it and going for a hike. This is literally a journey across the United States of America, one step at a time. It will be intense. It will be intense and it will be trying and it will be, at times, brutal.

But we think it’s worth it. And we hope and pray you think it’s worth it too. Because without your help (and the help of our Father in Heaven), we won’t get far at all. Beyond positive thoughts and prayers, so many elements of this journey will rely on both our ability to prepare as well as our fellow believers’ willingness to help us along the way.

So here’s the plan: We’re going to share how we’ll prepare for this. We’ll also share the ways you can help us make this something more than a simple cross-country hike. We hope you’re with us.

{personal preparation}

First and foremost, we’re preparing intellectually and spiritually. So much so, in fact, that Lindsie has already spent a year working toward her Master’s degree in Christian Counseling. We’re also focusing on studiously and relentlessly pour our hearts into growing closer to the Lord, taking insight from His Word, and preparing our minds for the challenges we will face.

We also have to develop emotionally. Although our spiritual strength will need to be honed as a weapon of truth on behalf of the Lord, we also have plenty of emotional strengths we will need to exercise and weaknesses we’ll need to improve. Our personalities have been developed as they are for a reason. But that doesn’t mean we’re emotionally prepared for what we will face on this walk. Whether it’s Lindsie’s fear of public speaking or my occasional mistrust of strangers, the Lord will open our hearts and our minds to his will. We MUST be emotionally prepared to handle these things as we encounter them.

Finally, we will need to prepare physically. While walking in itself seems simple, this is more than a walk to the gas station or a few laps around a track. As we said before, our pace will need to average 15-20 miles per day. Imagine your workday. Now imagine spending your ENTIRE workday…walking. Our feet will hurt. Our backs will get sore. Our legs will cramp up. And sometimes we’ll end up sleeping on the ground, which really won’t help. This isn’t something you just jump up off the couch for and start doing. We’ll need to spend weeks and months practicing and walking for hours. And that’s before we actually “start” the walk.

It definitely won’t be easy. We just think it’s worth the work.

{preparation for the journey}

One thing to keep in mind (as we’ll be trying to keep it in mind ourselves) is that this journey isn’t simply a “get across the country” challenge. It’s a mission to meet the people the Lord calls us to meet and help them with the work the Lord calls us to help with. We aren’t doing this for personal satisfaction. We’re doing it to show people there’s a Savior worth walking for.

Honestly, we trust that the Lord will take care of us on the walk. If we didn’t, this would be a very foolish undertaking. But that doesn’t mean we can’t plan for success.

Here’s the bottom line: Even though we’ve been walking for almost a month now, we still don’t have a ton of experience with this sort of thing. There will always be plenty of details to figure out along the way, but Lord willing, it’ll all continue to fall into place like it has so far.

For the walk itself, we’ve figured out some details like equipment, clothing and nutrition, but we could always use info and advice on things like safety in specific areas, best times to travel, and general tips along those lines.

Over the past few weeks and months, we’ve begun preparing some of these things. We’ll be sharing a list of the items we’re bringing/using once we’ve got everything sorted out. But that doesn’t mean we don’t want input. If you know of good gear to purchase, a good plan for food, or good info to know about long-distance walks, please (PLEASE) don’t hesitate to share that info with us. We’d love to know more.

From a different angle, we need to plan out the financial/business aspects of this project. These details include:

  • Raising money effectively for the walk itself
  • Budgeting for a year without a steady income
  • Starting and effectively running a non-profit ministry during (and after) the walk

Finally, some last aspects we are working on nailing down:

  • Website content.  We want our website to be as clear and user-friendly as possible.  We want people to understand our mission and be able to join us in whatever ways possible. If there are things you don’t understand or things you’d rather see from us, let us know so we can adjust and make it as enjoyable as we can.
  • We are looking for people, churches, families, fellow believers or even trustworthy non-believers (because what more enjoyable challenge is out there than sharing the Word with a non-believer?) we might be able to connect with as we begin this adventure.  We’re looking for people who can help us both now in the preparation and later as we travel across the country.  We just can’t do it alone.

Honestly, this will be a difficult journey. And we’re looking forward to it. If you want to help us, we’d be grateful. If you simply want to follow along, that’s great too. Just throw a prayer [or four hundred] our way and we’d be more than overjoyed. Keep in touch with us. We look forward to hearing from you.

Click here to see how you can get involved.

© 2010 Storming Jericho {All Rights Reserved}