This giant poplar in the Joyce Kilmer National Forest reminded me of Christ’s command to His small Remnant at Thyatira: HOLD FAST TILL I COME (Revelation 2:25). — *This giant poplar in the Joyce Kilmer National Forest reminded me of Christ’s command to His small Remnant at Thyatira: HOLD FAST TILL I COME* (Revelation 2:25).

Greetings, beloved brethren, in the name of America’s only hope, Jesus the Messiah. We don’t need another President, another election, or Trump 2024. We need the LORD to shake all nations and for the Messiah, the DESIRE of all nations, to come (Haggai 2:7).

I apologize for the lull in communication. We are still out here and remain committed to walking across the United States in the spirit of watchmen upon a wall. In fact, since my last update of more than three weeks ago, we have logged another 193 walking miles and 82 more Gospel encounters, including two interactions with lost sheep from the House of Israel. Moreover, we have literally walked all the way across the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, from its southwest boundary at the old Parson’s Branch all the way to the northeast demarcation at I-40, Exit 451 in Tennessee. Last week, however, we had to pack things up and return home. Eric, Bethany, and I became so very sick and simply couldn’t walk another mile. The torrential rain from Hurricane Ida ultimately did us in. The last time I was this sick was back in 2009 while trying to ride a bicycle to the top of Alaska. I remember a similar cold rain up off the Dalton Highway near the Arctic Circle, and I remember getting to that point where I couldn’t peddle another mile. Back then, a Christian brother opened up his home in Fairbanks for me to recuperate. I eventually did, but it took a while. This time, in the same amount of hours it took me to drive back to Fairbanks from the Arctic Circle, we could get home and recuperate in our own beds.

***I was so very sick here near the Arctic Circle back in 2009. Shortly after this photo was taken, we had to pack up and go back to Fairbanks so I could recuperate. I remember it well.***

Since, it has been a pretty rough bout for all three of us, but praise God, we are finally starting to mend. Lord willing, we can be back out on the road soon. Your prayers for complete healing would be very much appreciated. I hate being stuck at home when the weather is so nice and with so many more miles to go. In the meantime, however, I’d like to catch up a bit on what has transpired since I penned The Old North State back on August 17th.

Consider with me for a moment the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation. Are these familiar to you? Here, the Lord Jesus Christ takes inventory of His Church! And His words of rebuke and exhortation should have a sobering effect upon us living in these last days. For we, particularly the American Church, have been weighed in the balances and found gravely WANTING, just like Belshazzaar and the Babylonians of old (Daniel 5:27). How is it that so many Christians who camp out in the “red letters” of the Sermon on the Mount and act and speak as if the rest of ALL SCRIPTURE “given by inspiration of God” (II Timothy 3:16) is somehow less authoritative for them than the red letters . . . how is it that these are so unfamiliar with the red letters of Revelation 2-3, the resurrected Christ speaking directly to His Church? How is it that THESE RED LETTERS aren’t regularly preached and at the forefront of every believer’s mind living in these Laodicean times? In all my years as a student of God’s Word, I have only ever heard one sermon series preached on Christ’s letters to the seven churches of Revelation 2-3, and that doesn’t include the messages I preached in my Exegetical Studies in Revelation podcast that I started back in 2013. Why is this?

These words of our LORD to His Church are, in fact, so appropriate and so relevant for us living today that I decided to memorize them (i.e. all seven letters: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, AND the Laodiceans) as I walk across the United States for the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus the Messiah. And oh, what time I have had immersed in these red letters, what miles have passed by as I have repeated these words over and over to myself. How humbling, how sobering, how compelling!

Moreover, I am amazed by things I see along the route that remind and point me right back to these Words of our LORD. When I last left you, a little more than three weeks ago, we had walked the entire length of the State of North Carolina; we had slogged up and over the Cherohala Skyway; and we had packed things up in the Joyce Kilmer National Forest to head home for a few days of rest. Needless to say, we resumed after that where we left off, and the route took us right through a grove of giant yellow poplars. My friends, you don’t have to go to California to see big trees. We have some right here in North Carolina, in Joyce Kilmer, the last stand of virgin forest in the Eastern United States! And what an awesome sight they are! It’s strange, the last time I had been to Joyce Kilmer was about 25 years ago, before I had ever seen or walked amongst the mighty redwoods and sequoia of California. These NC trees were impressive then, but I didn’t anticipate the effect to be the same after having just spent time in Northern California’s Stout Grove (my overall favorite coastal redwood grove) back in March of 2020.

***After sitting here last year, I figured the big trees of Joyce Kilmer in NC would seem blah. I was wrong!***

Ironically, I was even more impressed and more overwhelmed AFTER having seen the giant redwoods than before, and I communicated this to Biker Dave from Maine who passed by me in those woods. I said to him, “Joyce Kilmer, the poet who was killed in the First World War, really did say it best: ‘Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.’ ” Your parents or your grandparents were probably required to memorize Trees by Joyce Kilmer when they were kids in the American public school system. They were probably also required, as I was, to study Jonathan Edwards’ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God as an incredible example of early American literature. My how things have changed, and definitely not for the good!

Perhaps what most impressed me about North Carolina’s big trees this time around was the visual picture they painted of exactly what Jesus Christ told the small remnant that could even be found in one of the most corrupted and compromised of the seven churches, unrepentant Thyatria:

“But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden. But that which ye have already HOLD FAST TILL I COME” (Revelation 2:24-25).

Like the remnant in Thyatira, many of us in America are so surrounded by weakness and compromise in the Body of Christ and so influenced by the wicked spirit of the age that we cannot be entrusted by our LORD with any burden or calling beyond simply holding fast to what we already have until He returns. And what does that look like? Well, peep at the big trees. Some of those yellow poplars in Joyce Kilmer are more than 400 years old, and there they stand, holding fast and enduring. We must hold fast, rooted in God’s Word like those trees are rooted in the soil, and we must endure until the end. Jesus said,

“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matthew 24:11-12).

Truly, iniquity abounds and the love of many has waxed cold in America today. We must endure unto the end. And as Christ said to the Church at Smyrna: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Revelation 2:10).

***“Hold fast till I come” (Revelation 2:25).***

Maybe Jesus has me walking across the United States because I can’t handle a greater calling or burden. Perhaps I am no better than “the rest” at Thyatira. If so, and by His grace, I’ll hold fast what I have and just keep walking. From Joyce Kilmer, we did just that: winding along the north shore of Lake Santeetlah, passing by the mighty Cheoah Dam, and slogging up and over US Hwy 129, what they call the Tail of the Dragon, supposedly 318 curves over 11 miles.

***Our Route along the North Shore of Lake Santeetlah***

***Bethany & Eric walked right across this bridge in front of Cheoah Dam.***

***Crossing back into Tennessee on US 129, the Tail of the Dragon***

At Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort, a popular stop on the Tail of the Dragon, we got to preach to a few folks, including a woman who worked there, a few motorcycle tourists, and a group of kids from Florida who were racing cars. I told those kids, “Have some fun, but please watch out for the walking preacher with the cross. I don’t mind dying and going home to the LORD, but I’d rather finish walking across America first.” I then spoke of how wicked this country of ours is and that it is time to repent and seek God. They all took Gospel tracts and were surprisingly polite.

***Preaching to some Young People from Florida at Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort***

In 1969, Bethany’s great grandparents on her mother’s side bought the little motel and gas station at Deals Gap and ran the place during the 1970s. That was long before the “Dragons Tail” moniker came into use, and back then, people drag-raced cars up and down that road, not motorcycles. It’s funny, there was a 1971 movie called Two-Lane Blacktop that starred James Taylor and Dennis Wilson, the drummer for the Beach Boys. It was about drag racing across America, and there is a scene in that movie where Taylor and Wilson are sitting at a table in the little Deals Gap restaurant, and Bethany’s great grandmother serves them their food.

My wife’s parents lived and worked at Deals Gap early in their marriage. It looked a little different back then, but the skeletons of those old buildings still stand underneath today’s motorcycle tourist garb. I’m sure my mother or father-in-law never once looked out the window up there and thought that one day a crazy wild-eyed preacher would walk in front of that place with a cross and stand in that parking lot for a few moments to preach. Moreover, I’m quite sure it never crossed their minds that this preacher would be married to their daughter and that it would be their granddaughter walking with him all the way across the United States. It’s funny how things work out. I love my in-laws, and we had a lot of fun walking through an area that was a part of their lives long ago. In fact, we had at least 10 Gospel encounters on that stretch and the cross had some good visibility with the motorcycle traffic.

My Mother and Father-in-law at Deals Gap in the early 1970s.

At one pull-off, Eric and Bethany witnessed to a group of four bikers. One of them was lying down as if to rest, didn’t seem like anything was amiss. They received a Gospel tract. Later, we passed by in the S.A.G. vehicle and an ambulance had that same man who was lying down on a stretcher. I trust the timing of their encounter with these folks was of the LORD.

***Eric & Bethany witnessed to four bikers shortly after this photo was taken. Later, we saw one of those bikers being carried off on a stretcher.***

In the vicinity of the Tail of the Dragon, I had actually been a bit discouraged and unsure about the route. It seemed as if we would have to continue on into Tennessee and somehow find a long, roundabout way back northeast to Madison County, NC, a place the Lord had burdened our hearts to traverse on foot. While wrestling over these things, the LORD gave me Isaiah 45:2 and promised to make our crooked places straight. He kept His promise. We stumbled upon a gated dirt road late one evening, Parsons Branch. I discovered that this road used to be open to the public and that my in-laws used it as a back entrance into the national park back in the 70s. It proved a STRAIGHT 10-mile shot into Cades Cove that saved us many miles of dangerous CROOKED highway and put us exactly where there were hoards of tourists.

***Eric & Bethany climb over the gate and head on into the Smokies via the defunct Parsons Branch, what used to be a shortcut into the national park back in the 1970s.***

But alas, our long walk across the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a story in and of itself. I’ll save that for next time. As it stands, we have walked 1464 miles (How are we still no farther west than East Tennessee?) with 757 Gospel encounters; 37 Bibles have gone out. And sometimes, when you miss an encounter or fail to speak up to a passerby because of fatigue, or fear, or whatever reason, God gives you a second chance with the same stranger. Back in Joyce Kilmer, before I spoke to Biker Dave, I passed by an elderly couple who asked me for some directions. I gave them directions and then totally dropped the ball with the Gospel. It was just one of those moments when I didn’t want to talk to anyone. Later, I was convicted and found myself wishing I could go back to offer those folks a Gospel tract. The next morning, before Eric and Bethany headed off down Parsons Branch Road, we pulled off the side of US 129 to warm our legs up with a short jaunt to a nearby waterfall. When we got back to the car, that same couple was standing there reading the sign about the waterfall. This time I spoke up. As it turned out, the lady kept asking questions and then spoke of how we made her day. She took a Gospel tract and wished us well on our long walk. I suspect her and her husband were Jewish; I’m not sure, but I suspect. Some miles later, on US 441 that cuts through the heart of the Great Smokies, we wouldn’t have to suspect. Bam, in a space of a few minutes, God stuck two orthodox Jewish families right into our path. And, they clearly heard the Gospel! But again, I’ll save that for next time.

God can make your crooked paths straight. At the bottom-left corner of this photo. the old Parsons Branch road cuts into the forest with a straight shot to Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Eric & Bethany finally reached the other gate on Parsons Branch Road, two miles from Cades Cove. This straight path really did save us a lot of miles, and they even had a great encounter with a couple of hikers from New Jersey out there.

As Eric & Bethany were walking Parsons Branch, where that rain is falling in the backdrop, I climbed this tower on Look Rock and got to witness to a family out for a stroll. That’s me in the foreground.

Thank you for your prayers and support. Again, please pray for our complete healing from this terrible bout of sickness. The road is calling, and we must soon go. My brethren in Christ, that which you have already, HOLD FAST TILL HE COMES! Here’s this same message in a good song by MercyMe:

If this walk across America and these testimonies are, or have been a blessing to you, please consider financially sowing into this difficult endeavor. We have some financial needs, gas has gotten real expensive, and anything you can give is a blessing that will be used faithfully and with account. All contributions are tax-deductible, and donating online via PayPal is very easy. Thank you in Jesus’ name. Learn more . . .

Hold Fast,

Jesse Boyd, just a middle-aged preacher who God told to stop what he was doing and walk across the United States