a long leg
A long leg of more than 1,000 miles put us all the way out to the Wyoming state line.
Greetings, beloved brethren, in the name of Jesus Christ the Messiah. He is the only hope for an AmericAN in an AmericA that cannot escape the justly-deserved judgment and wrath of Almighty God. It’s been many weeks since my May 5th newsletter entitled STUCK. At the time, we had logged about 90 walking miles on this past leg and had just come into Kansas when a line of storms and heavy rain delayed our progress for several days. Soon thereafter, we became UNSTUCK and kept on walking. It’s funny, we had pressed late into the night ahead of those storms, as I felt compelled to get across a particular bridge on the Neosho River. We packed up the cross and the flag on the gravel road right after that bridge. When the storms finally moved out days later, we returned to that spot and found the route we had walked right up to the bridge underwater, as far as the eye could see. The LORD had truly directed our steps, and we were able to continue unabated from the very spot we had stopped walking.
“A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). Praise God we had gotten over that bridge ahead of those storms.
Thereafter, I would have much enjoyed posting updates at a few spots along the way, for much transpired for the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ. After long days of walking and preaching in the hot sun, however, I found it difficult to do anything but crash in the evenings and hibernate on our weekly rest day.
Notwithstanding, I do rejoice that another long leg of #TheLongWalkUSA was completed back on June 24th, after more than a thousand walking miles! On April 28th, we resumed, following a little sabbatical, from the tri-state marker where the Oklahoma, Missouri, and Arkansas state lines come together. On June 24th, just after dark and under an incredible blanket of stars, undimmed by artificial light pollution, we walked up to another state line … WYOMING. After 1,087 miles of walking and more than 300 Gospel encounters (some very meaningful with both Jew and Gentile) between these state demarcations, the Lord then gave us liberty to return home to North Carolina for a few weeks to be with our families and to recuperate, re-outfit, and resupply for the long road that lies ahead.
Approaching Crawford, Nebraska along Bethel Road (about 35 miles from the Wyoming state line)
On June 30th, we arrived home safely, our Bible and Gospel tract supply nearly exhausted and our bodies very weary. Since, it has been a blessing to spend time with family, to celebrate my godly grandmother’s 90th birthday, to preach and teach in our local church, and to again serve as the camp missionary for the summer boys camp down at Camp Caraway. It was an honor to give testimony and preach the clear Gospel to more than 140 boys, aged 9-17. Several young men gave their hearts to the LORD, and more than a few told me personally how much they appreciated the straight talk and plain speech. It’s strange . . . we walked across the Camp Caraway property last May, had logged about 700 total miles when I served as camp missionary last summer, and this time, I was able to return with testimony of 4,413 total walking miles and more than 2,000 Gospel encounters along the highways and byways all the way out to the Wyoming line. God’s Hand of Providence never ceases to amaze me. Hallelujah!
Preaching CHRIST to young boys at Camp Caraway near Asheboro, North Carolina
While my son Josiah was enjoying camp for the week and listening to his daddy talk about missions, a couple of things happened. Bethany officially graduated from high school. She completed most of her junior year and all of her senior year studies while walking across America with her dad. Many times, her desk was her lap, and her classroom was an open field, the backseat of the SAG vehicle, or a patch of shade under some trees. I am so blessed by Bethany’s faithfulness, determination, love for the Lord, bold witness, and her GOOD GRADES. Her only definite plans moving forward are to finish this walk and remain faithful to the LORD in these dark times. We look forward to her graduation service and celebration on August 6th. Praise God, there will be no more difficult math or history assignments to be completed on the side of a road.
Bethany Boyd completed her junior and senior years of high school with good grades WHILE walking 2,360 miles for the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ.
Something else happened while I was down at Camp Caraway … My wife was hit by a drunk driver who was fleeing the scene of one wreck only to cause another much worse. He plowed into Jamie’s car as she was traveling about 50mph down NC Highway 10 only a few miles from our home. She had simply gone out to get some gasoline for the mower. Amazingly and by God’s abundant mercy and grace, she escaped any serious injury and had the wherewithal to get the airbags off her face and note the tag number as the man barreled off down the highway, leaving pieces of his car behind and driving blind with the hood up. A few hours later, and with the help of that tag number, he was caught and is still sitting in the county jail. We are so thankful to the LORD that, aside from some bruising and soreness, Jamie wasn’t hurt. Her car, however, was badly damaged. That’s a bit sad because of its backstory:
When I was married almost 25 years ago, my wife brought a new car into our marriage, one she had worked hard to purchase as a single young lady. Instantly, my stock went up because all I had to drive at the time was an old Dodge Shadow, a piece of junk with paint pealing off its trunk. Taped to the inside back window and visible from the outside was a printed-off piece of paper that read in classic inkjet font: I’m a FOOL for Jesus Christ. Whose fool are you?
The old Dodge with the Homemade Gospel Sign in the Window (1999)
Anyway, I decided way back then that I wanted to repay her kindness someday and buy Jamie a brand-new car, if the Lord would allow it. I saved up for 23 long years, here a little and there are little, and was finally able to do that about 18 months ago. She really loved her 2021 Subaru Outback and had only put about 18,000 miles on it. That car has great safety ratings, and it really did it’s job when a drunkard plowed into her. I praise God for that. But alas, due to this crazy car market where the price of used vehicles is hyper-inflated, the insurance company is refusing to declare this wrecked vehicle a total loss, despite more than $14,000 worth of damage; and the they say it will be another two months before it can even go up on the rack at the body shop for repairs. The drunk driver had insurance, but it’s not enough to cover our losses, so our insurance has to step in to make up the difference. The whole thing is a mess. Your prayers are much appreciated.
Jamie had since been using Bethany’s car (both insurance companies involved are refusing to provide a rental car for her), but IT broke down the other night, and that is going to be a major repair. Alas, “the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21). We really do covet your prayers in this matter. Bethany and I cannot leave town to resume the walk if my wife has no means of transportation. All we have right now is the trusty S.A.G. vehicle. Our family is trusting the LORD and waiting upon Him to resolve these things. It really was a miracle that Jamie was not hurt, and we continue to praise and thank God for this great demonstration of His lovingkindness.
Back on Christmas Day in 2020, it was such an honor to repay my wife’s kindness to me, as I had prayed to one day be able to do when we wed 23 years earlier. She loved her Outback. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away—blessed be the name or the LORD. Sadly, the old red one in the backdrop that now belongs to Bethany is also broken down and in the shop.
At this point, our main concern is that we can get back to walking by mid-August. Yellowstone National Park closes all its roads on November 7th, so we need to get through there and into the Snake River Plain of Southern Idaho before that time, or else the walking route will have to drop south and many miles around. A few miles shy of the Wyoming line, we saw some foothills of the Rocky Mountains off in the distance. Winter will be here soon enough, and winter walking in the West won’t be like last year’s winter walking in Kentucky. Please pray that we can get back out there in a timely fashion and that all this mess with the hit-and-run won’t delay things further. Please pray also that Eric, Bethany, and I can find true rest with our families and get solidly recharged for another long leg that will take us to the end of the year. My knees are bothering me again; may this rest bring healing.
I’m so thankful to the LORD for allowing me to come home to be with my wife on our upcoming 25-year anniversary. Am I really that old? I told those boys at Camp Caraway that I knew for a fact it had been 25 years since I was a summer camp counselor there. A week after I packed up and left my cabin that year, I got married … and on August 9th, that will be 25 years to the day. On August 14th, I have a preaching commitment, and Lord willing, we can head back out right after that. It takes 24 hours of driving to get back to where we stopped walking. This time last year, we could get home from the route in less than 3 hours. Below is a look at the entire route thus far (the cursor is situated over my home). We are more than halfway across the country, but there is still a long road ahead.
4413 miles, 14 states, 193 counties, 2131 Gospel encounters, 118 Bibles
I really would like to share more details from our last leg. There certainly were a lot of great moments and great encounters. Eric will be sharing some of that from his perspective via a subsequent newsletter. I trust you will find that edifying and uplifting in these dark times. For now, suffice it to say that this past leg was truly one of milestones. We crossed into Kansas (VIDEO FOOTAGE). We walked past the geographical center of the Continental United States (VIDEO FOOTAGE). We crossed into Nebraska (VIDEO FOOTAGE). And, we hit the 4,000-mile mark (VIDEO FOOTAGE). That was in Central Nebraska. When I hit the 4,000-mile mark on my first bicycle ride across America, I was in Fortuna, California on the Pacific Coast. I guess we really have taken an extreme backroads route. And that’s exactly what we purposed to do the moment we got our feet wet in the Atlantic off Cape Hatteras: warn of impending judgment in the spirit of watchmen upon a wall and preach Jesus Christ on America’s BACKROADS, her highways and hedges.
“Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in” (Luke 14:23).
The 4,000-mile mark of my first cross-country bicycle journey was way out on the California Coast (2004). These days, I sometimes walk with that same flag.
Along this last long leg, we also broke our single-day mileage record. We were in the middle of nowhere, we were stuck in machine mode, and the place we had planned to camp was dank, wet, and bug-infested. So, we just kept walking. Before we knew it, the sun was coming up over Nebraska’s Sandhills. It was a 72-mile day. Bethany, Eric, and I each walked 35.4 miles (a new single-day individual hiking record for each us). Thankfully, Carter Phillips drove up on us that evening, after working half a day and driving 8 hours. His presence lifted our spirits and got us through that long night. He joined us for about a week twice on this last leg and has now logged more than 600 miles himself. All I wanted to do at the end of that 72 miles was exactly what you see me doing in this photo snapped at sunup on Nebraska Highway 11.
The end of a record-breaking day’s walk was the next morning when the sun came up over Nebraska’s Sandhills.
We also met a lot of solid believers, some who showed very kind and generous hospitality to strangers in accordance with Hebrews 13:2. We certainly weren’t angels, but these brethren treated us as if we were. Our spirits were greatly uplifted many times via the Lord’s Provision and the fellowship of the saints in both Kansas and Nebraska. In a subsequent post, as mentioned, Eric Trent is going to share some encouraging details from the 360 witnessing encounters and 21 Bibles that went out on this long leg. Notwithstanding, I would like to quickly recap something that was especially memorable:
We pray every morning before we start walking that the LORD will put a lost sheep from the House of Israel into our path, somewhere amongst the Gentiles we expect to find. One particular morning, we prayed extra fervently for this standing beside the Elk River just outside a dot on a Kansas road map, the very spot we had stopped the night before. I started us off for the day and walked into the little community of Elk Falls. Immediately, I took a wrong road and had to end up going out of the way to circumnavigate the perimeter of the town and get back to the main road. I stopped to talk to a man planting cucumbers and asked for directions. He was kind and took a Gospel tract. Following Dale’s directions, I passed by another man raking grass in his yard. He inquired about the Hebrew word on the front of my t-shirt. As it turned out, he and his wife were FOUND SHEEP from the House of Israel. They really loved the LORD and had served Him in Israel themselves. Though growing up Jewish in America, he admitted that his Hebrew wasn’t that good, so we gave him a really nice complete Hebrew-English Bible to help. He was so very grateful, and we enjoyed some good fellowship in Messiah on the side of the street in that tiny little Kansas town. I walked away glorifying God but still in prayer for a LOST SHEEP of the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Later that afternoon, I was trudging a rural road in Elk County under a blazing hot sun. I was almost out of water, the cross was feeling very heavy, and I was just trying to get to the SAG vehicle parked somewhere up ahead. Suddenly, a sheriffs deputy drove up to ask what I was doing and if I needed help. I spoke with him about our country’s great big SPIRITUAL PROBLEM and our need for a Messiah. He, too, noticed the Hebrew on my shirt and asked about it. He then remarked, “When I was a small child, my great grandfather used to show us these numbers tattooed on his arm. He wouldn’t talk much about why they were there, but when I got older I learned.” As it turned out, this deputy was the great grandson of a Jewish Holocaust survivor. Pause and consider the irony here, the amazing Divine Hand of God’s Providence. A Jewish man survived, against all odds, a Nazi death camp so that his great grandson could one day stop and receive a copy of God’s Word (that Word given to the world by way of the Jewish people) from a walking Gentile preacher. There is one word that proves the Bible to be true and 100% trustworthy, only one word needed: ISRAEL. I did give that great grandson a Bible and encouraged Him to keep it with him in his vehicle, to seek the Messiah of Israel who could be found therein. As for his great grandfather who survived the Nazis, his greatest revenge against them for their crimes against his people was exactly what I found that day—GREAT GRANDCHILDREN. We prayed earnestly that morning, a little more fervent than had been our custom, and the LORD answered at the most unexpected of times and in the most unexpected of places. “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment” (Deuteronomy 32:4).
I snapped this selfie a few minutes after my encounter with the great grandson of a Jewish Holocaust Survivor in Elk County, Kansas. It was so hot that day, but the LORD answered our very specific prayer.
One of the reasons we came home from this long leg for a break is because we got to Wyoming with a GOOD PROBLEM. Our supply of Bibles and Gospel tracts was nearly exhausted. It was time to restock. And, since a restock would necessitate a reprint of our walking preacher Gospel tract, I figured we may as well update the design a bit and make it a little bigger and easier to read. Also, for those who don't understand why we carry an American flag upside down (we get a lot of questions about that), why not make a Gospel tract that answers this question as well? I’m excited to get back out there with these new Gospel tracts fresh off the printing press, and I look forward to the day when we have the GOOD PROBLEM of running out of materials again. I got my feet wet with these a few days ago when I gave one of each to the tow truck driver who met me to pick up Bethany’s broken-down Subaru. You can read the back of both of them yourself by scrolling down @ thelongwalkusa.com and clicking on the respective front covers. Everyone who receives one of these along America’s highways and byways is getting a very clear Gospel message. Believe it or not, there are a lot of folks in America today who have never heard the clear biblical Gospel, and some of these are in church almost every Sunday. Oh, how desperately we need revival in our churches and spiritual awakening in our streets. God save the USA!
The new WALKING PREACHER and DISTRESS Gospel Tracts
It’s time to wrap up this long-overdue newsletter. Thank you for your prayers and support as we endeavor to be faithful to the LORD in these very dark times. While home for a rest, I have had the privilege of continuing my Exegetical Studies in Revelation preaching. It’s hard to believe that January will be the 10-year anniversary of the start of this series. If interested, you can listen to the messages preached since we have been home (Apple Podcasts, Episodes 165-167). I’m finally in the last chapter of the Book and will add a couple more episodes before we head back to Wyoming. I encourage you to read and meditate upon Chapters 2 and 3 in Revelation. These words are right out of Christ’s mouth to His churches, especially those living in these Last Days. We must needs take heed to these red letters. For, He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, and who walks amidst the seven golden candlesticks, says to us all: I KNOW THY WORKS.
Consider also these words written down by William Shirer in The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich, first printed in 1950. The emphasis is mine: “Hitler's sickness was contagious; the nation was catching it, as if it were a virus. Individually, as THIS WRITER can testify from PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, many Germans were as horrified by the November 9 inferno [i.e. the Kristallnacht pogrom against German Jews] as were Americans and Englishmen and other foreigners. But neither the LEADERS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCHES nor the generals nor any other representatives of the 'good' Germany SPOKE OUT at once in open protest. They BOWED to what General von Fritsch called 'the inevitable' or 'Germany's destiny.’" As the days grow darker here in America, will the same be said of the American Churches and their leaders? I pray not.
As for us, we are going to keep walking and keep speaking out.
Crossing Over Interstate 70 in Central Kansas
If this long walk across America has edified you in some way, please consider sowing into our ministry. We have needs, and gas is real expensive these days. Anything you can share, if the LORD should lay it upon your heart, is a blessing that will be used faithfully and with account. All contributions are tax-deductible. Thank you in Jesus’ name. Learn more . . .
In the Spirit of a Watchman upon a Wall (Ezekiel 3:17),
Jesse Boyd