Eighteen residents of the Big Sandy and Box Elder communities participated in a “Crosswalk” prayer event on Saturday, May 18th. The group carried a large cross and walked the ten mile stretch of highway between the Big Sandy Rest Area to Box Elder, stopping at each mile marker to pray for the Box Elder/Rocky Boy Community.
The prayer meeting was organized by Rich Jesperson, who has felt a calling to organize a prayer meeting for some time. “Several years ago, I was having my daily devotions and just started to get a very strong picture in my mind of praying for the Rocky Boy reservation, particularly about the violence, drug addiction, and alcohol addiction issues that I’m aware of. The picture in my mind was of carrying a cross to Box Elder and praying along the way. Just kind of a pilgrimage with the cross. ” Rich explained, “I didn’t follow up on anything at that time I just tucked it away in the back of my mind and said to God, ‘You know if this is for real, then keep it on my mind.’ He has, but it came back to my mind in a very strong way after the two murders in Box Elder, the shootings at the gas station in Box Elder. I said to myself, ‘I don’t want to fail for lack of doing something.’”
Rich explained that the process of organizing the prayer event began with a conversation with a strong Christian friend of his from the Box Elder/Rocky Boy community. “And he said, ‘Well, this isn’t just a good idea, this is a God idea. Let me do it with you. So he began to talk to some people on the reservation, I publicized it here in Big Sandy, too. And we ended up with about 18 folks.” The participants included a grandmother of one of the murder victims from the gas station shooting. 8 or 9 “prayer-walkers” completed the full 10 mile journey, according to Jesperson. Many either completed the walk in the car designated for following the group or got a ride back to town when they had traveled as far as they were able.
At every mile marker along the way, the pilgrimage stopped to pray for the reservation, as well as various people in the Big Sandy Community. “This was about Big Sandy praying for spiritual renewal, praying for faith, praying for protection against the powers and principalities of evil in the world. We prayed for the protection of our children from the cartels and from the drug dealers.” Rich added that, “There were two women on the walk who helped to carry the cross. One carried the cross from the gas station in Box Elder to the school. We saved that last stretch of the walk for her, because she said she used to deal drugs along that very same stretch of road. And now because the Lord has changed her life, she’s now carrying the cross in that same stretch of road that she used to sell drugs. It was a very moving testimony. Our whole goal was to glorify God, pray, and intercede for our communities.” As one young woman who walked and prayed that Saturday explained: “The first step is fighting this battle in the spiritual realm. It will eventually manifest itself in the physical realm, in our relationships, in our schools, in our jobs, and in where we live. But first of all, it needs to be fought in the spiritual realm, to establish the Lordship of Christ and the dominion of God.”
Rich remarked that he hoped to do the Cross Walk again at some point. He also remarked that he would leave the decision of when to God.
