So What Is It We Do Here?

In my last post, I talked about how Sanctified Expeditions came about. I shared a teaser of my testimony in order to start explaining how this whole thing came about. That last post may have touched your heart for a little while but when that moment passed, you may have wondered about what’s next. You may have asked yourself, what is Sanctified Expeditions and what will it become? The answer, in my opinion, is absolutely beautiful, but you’re going to have to read a little deeper into this post to find that beautiful answer.

So, what exactly is Sanctified Expeditions? To begin addressing this question, I want to start with sharing the meaning behind the name, sort of pulling back the curtains. As I was relinquishing control of my life to God, I felt the Holy Spirit begin to lovingly impress a feeling of conviction upon various areas in my life. One by one, the Spirit brought forth areas where I had pride, fear, and desperately sought to maintain control over. Looking back, I tend to think of these areas, these parts of myself, as “bricks” that in prisoned my soul (not to be confused with “bricks” used to build a fortress of protection around my heart, which I will get to in a later post). God asked me to repent. He asked me to begin removing the bricks so that my soul could be freed. This may sound like a completed task, but I assure you, I have only scratched the surface and there are a whole lot more bricks to tear down. Through this process, Jesus has come alongside me to help me learn to pull down the bricks, and lay them at the foot of the cross while He sanctifies my soul. This sanctification doesn’t happen all at once, rather it is a process, or a journey of sorts, that we embark on with the Spirit that leads us towards Christlikeness.

In addition to the Spirit’s conviction, He also began to draw out interests placed in my heart that the Father wants to use. I have had some interest in writing, cars and off-road trucks, camping, etc., and I felt the Father saying that He wants to use some of these interests to reach lost sheep and to help bolster the faith of other believers, being a Christian man, dad and husband. Through my interests of off-roading, expeditions and camping specifically, He wants me to fulfill my part in the Great Commission of Matthew 28:16-20. By embarking on expeditions and journeys with groups of families and groups of men, out exploring the wonders of His creation, we will find opportunities to reach those who are lost and hurting like I, and my brothers and sisters in Christ, have been and we will be able to strengthen our relationships with each other and our Father in our own lives.

The Bible, being the living word of God, is the ultimate manual by which my family lives our lives. In all we do, we will always refer back to the word and do the absolute best job we can to be in step with our Father’s words. Because the Bible is such a core component, the cornerstone on which our lives are built, we wanted to honor its illustrative teachings with our name, where the language used draws a far more beautiful picture upon closer examination than at first glance. As the vision of this venture has come into sharper focus, which is saying something if you’ve seen the prescription for my glasses…, we chose to develop our name using this sort of illustrative language. We are on a journey of sanctification for the rest of our worldly lives and we want to journey out into the creation that God has blessed us with. That said, a journey is more about the experience of the travel and often doesn’t have a specific purpose or goal. On the other hand, an expedition is defined by the specific purpose or goal and can often involve a team of people working together to realize the goal. That is what we saw; groups of people coming together and helping each other grow in relationship with each other but more importantly, with God Almighty who uniquely sanctifies each of us. A place where we can carry the Gospel out into the world so that the Heavens can celebrate the return of the lost and the weary can find rest. This is what our name is about, that is the message contained in Sanctified Expeditions.

Now, I made a promise at the start of this and I am here to make good on it! What will this venture become? What does a fully realized Sanctified Expeditions look like? The beautiful answer that I promised is this, only God truly knows. See, that is where this differs from what I set out to do previously. Back then, I did it for me, to push my agenda, my desires, and my will. This time, this is all for Him and His kingdom, and His glory. He holds the plan and the vision, some of which He has graciously shared with me and some of that we have already begun to execute. He has called us to create community and to explore the world around us. In response, at the start of last month, we began hosting families on Sunday evenings to have dinner with us. We open our home, encourage others to share their cooking talents, and we share life together and it has already impacted us and our children in profound ways. We have been blessed to host some truly beautiful souls and we thank God for the blessings he has provided us with to share, but more so for the way our souls have been touched by others. Additionally, we are beginning to draw up plans for our first men’s expedition! I have felt like the Lord has said that we need to find a time and place where a small group of men can leave the reach of cell phones and light pollution in favor of solitude and a campfire, so that is what we are working on. That is what God has shared with us so far and we simply want to obey His call and will wait with hopeful anticipation for where He will lead us.