Man Attempts To Walk Across Texas Carrying A 70-Pound Wooden Cross

Steven Hope calls himself a cross-walker, but he isn’t walking across the street.

He’s walking across Texas with a massive wooden cross over his his shoulder.

Hope said he’s dragging his 70-pound, home-made cross 900 miles from West to East Texas because Jesus told him to.

“When I asked Jesus what I could do for him, he was giving me an answer, and that was taking the cross to the highways, byways and hedges to lift up his name,” said Hope.

Hope’s burdensome journey may seem like a super-human attempt to spread the word, but after four years on the cross-walking circuit, Hope said he’s developed a system to help lighten the load.

Hope sticks to walking between four and seven miles per day and spending the night in his car, but insisted he still walks the entire way.

“The next morning I start (walking) where I stopped and start again, so, I’m physically doing the walk I’m saying I’m doing,” he said.

While Hope’s trans-Texas trek is turning heads and inciting stares, he doesn’t seem to mind. He said he welcomes the opportunity to break people out of their shells.

Hope said he wants the sight of a man lugging a cross to people to slow down, if only for a moment, encouraging them to connect with one another.

“i think people are little bit more open to talking because of their curiosity,” said Hope.

Hope dubbed his mission, Walking Hope Across Texas, or W.H.A.T.

http://www.walkingthecross.com/