Cross Carriers
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” – Luke 9:23 NKJV.
Lindsay Hamon, 61-year-old man from England, for almost half of his life; has been carrying a literal cross 12 ft long with a crossbeam of 6 ft. Lindsay has carried his cross across 19 countries and uses his cross as an evangelistic tool providing him opportunities to tell people about Jesus. He began his effort of cross-bearing in 1987 carrying the cross for as much as 12 hours a day never knowing where he would stay during the night. Lindsay says, “I find people often want to talk, but if people don’t want to know I walk on. The love you get from it all is amazing, people will just stop and ask you questions, offer you food and sometimes a place to stay.” There have been some difficult times like when he was in Bangladesh and was attacked and the attackers tried to shoot him. Lindsay says about the possibility of danger, “There is fear there sometimes because I have a wife and kids and you don’t want to put yourself in danger. It is really trusting in God, knowing He will protect you.”
According to Hamon he has had the opportunity to visit with thousands of curious people and he has prayed with many of them. Somehow God overcomes the language barrier that is there at times as Lindsay shares, “Sometimes you get people who translate for you, I had one young boy who came out of nowhere when I was talking to around 20 or 30 people and he just translated everything. When it was done he just disappeared, I never knew who he was or where he came from, it’s amazing.” When people ask why he is carrying a cross he tells them, “The cross is the greatest symbol of how much God loves them.” He has so far traveled across these countries: Belarus, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Belgium, Germany, France, Holland, Ireland, India, Hungary, Nepal, New Zealand, Italy, Russia, Romania, Poland, Sri Lanka, Slovakia, Latvia, Denmark and the UK. (MailOnline.com 03.21.13; LindsayHamon.com; Lindsay‘s book, “When God Takes Over” is available on Amazon.)
Did Jesus mean for us to literally take a cross and carry it on our shoulders on a daily basis? No, He is making it very clear that living the Christian life is not a piece of cake. Instead, living the Christian life is more like carrying a cross to the place of your execution. The cross is something that the hearers of Jesus were very familiar with, but this is the first mention of the cross in the written record in the Gospel of Luke (9:23). Those listening to Jesus knew that when the Roman government condemned someone to die on the cross the condemned person was made to carry the crossbeam to the place where he was to be executed. Luke adds one word to the statement made in Luke 9:23 that Matthew and Mark did not have, and that word is “daily.”
When Jesus says in Luke 9:23, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me,” it is a cautionary statement for those who would be followers of Him. Jesus is making it clear there are costs involved in being His disciple. If you would be a disciple, a follower, a believer in Jesus, you must be prepared even to die for your faith in Him. “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels (Luke 9:24-26).” May we daily be cross carriers for Jesus!
(Take up your cross and follow Jesus!)