Later, after Blessitt started a ministry for hippies, runaways, hookers and addicts on Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip, he heard the voice tell him to make a cross.
“I built it in 1968 and did short walks along Sunset Strip in West Hollywood — 100 yards [91m], 200 yards,” Blessitt said.
A BBC reporter who interviewed him there tossed out this comment: “You ought to try this in Northern Ireland.”
So he did, ignoring threats on his life as he passed through the sectarian violence there.
“It wasn’t until 1988 I felt ... I should give my life to carry the cross to every nation,” Blessitt said. “I did not choose to carry the cross. I felt that Jesus called me.”
His wife, Denise, has been to 290 countries with him and spent an anniversary in Siberia without complaint. His children by an earlier marriage have walked alongside him, at times in grave danger, carrying their own smaller crosses.
“I just accepted it,” said his son Joel, now a minister at Denver’s Heritage Christian Center. “I thought everybody’s dad carried a cross.”
If his six children, now aged 29 to 45, ever felt abused, they don’t say so. All but one, who is in Norway, have moved to the Denver area to be near their father, who came here in 2005. He and Denise also have adopted a daughter, Sophia, who is 5.
Blessitt said he accepted food and lodging in foreign countries, but not donations. He didn’t hold special fundraisers, but supporters have helped finance his travels.
He has formed a nonprofit organization from which he takes an annual salary of about US$48,000, and he accepts an occasional speaking engagement. His book, The Cross, came out last year.
And while Blessitt set foot last year on his last island group, Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean, the mission is not over.
An attempt to launch a piece of his cross into space with a satellite failed when the rocket blew up.
He will try again, attaching it to another satellite with a polar orbit, so the whole world can spin under a piece of his cross.
He’s not yet through “wandering around the world with wood. People in Darfur, people in Beverly Hills or on Wall Street, they need hope.”
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