X

Czech Republic

1990

It rained almost all day but my wife, Denise and I carried the cross through the city of Prague. We went to the Charles Bridge, which is without a doubt the most beautiful old bridge in the world. Truly Prague must be one of the most beautiful old cities in Europe. Crosses are everywhere. On the bridge as we carried the cross amidst the statues of the crucifixion of Christ, a Czech lady who is a tour guide rushed up and said, “What are you doing?” I began to explain the gospel and she said, “How can I know Him?” We explained how she could know Jesus personally. She prayed with us to know and follow Jesus. This is the one city that Denise always wanted to visit and now she has come to visit it on foot with the cross, sharing the love of Jesus with people. We carried the cross through the entire old city with people coming around all day.

Tonight we’re camping just at the outskirts of the city. We’re in a beautiful small campground. It has fruit trees of apples and cherries. I took photos of the luscious cherries wet with rain. There is a wheat field that also is along one side of the campground. The sun is shining and it’s pleasantly warm and it is splendor beyond words with my love, Denise. She is now cooking, I can smell food, and it is so great. I tell You, Lord, You have blessed me, us beyond words. I feel absolutely and totally content, just the way life was meant to be, the way God intended it to be, oh, God, I thank You. Thank You for Your grace, I never thought I would live to see this day, how wonderful. I always dreamed that life could be so great, but never thought that my dream would ever come true and now the reality exceeds even my fondest dreams. I have the greatest life of any person on earth. I am sure of that, and I give all the glory to the Lord.

It poured rain today as we pressed on toward the East German border. Walked twenty miles today. The people are not very responsive, they mostly just stared. I have a raincoat on but with hard walking I get wet from sweat. I have one of the raincoats that are supposed to let moisture out but they never work for me.

This is a glorious, wonderful honeymoon cross carrying trip through many eastern European communist and former communist countries. As we conclude this glorious time of walking, it is beautiful to think that by God’s grace we have a life to live together, continuing to go forth with the good news of Jesus to the world. The Lord Jesus told us both the date that we were to be married, He also told us that we were to leave immediately after that weekend to carry the cross into eastern European nations this was our cross carrying honeymoon and truly there was no more wonderful way to celebrate the beginning of our life together than to spend it on the road with Jesus and the cross and people giving their life to Him.

Pilgrim followers of Jesus,

Arthur and Denise Blessitt
Luke 18:1