CROSS WALK ALASKA Part Four: My Last Day In The Last Frontier
Articles By Tom Alexander August 15th, 2019As shared in Part Three, meeting up with Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU) summer missionaries during July’s Alaska Cross Walk was quite a blessing and inspiration. Much like the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) staff and students I had met during the Hawaii Cross Walk in May, I found these young adults to be on fire for the Lord Jesus Christ.
WALKING THE WALK AND TALKING THE TALK
These CRU summer missionaries took up the 10-foot cross naturally and with a zeal and excitement in Christ that expressed to all around them their love for God. Since the Alaska Cross Walk, I have made Facebook friends with many of these young people, just as I did with the YWAMers in Honolulu. I understand just how important it is for God to raise up a new generation of street evangelists, street preachers and street missionaries who are not afraid to share their faith in Christ with any and all people they meet on the streets—or anywhere else for that matter.
These young missionaries were the real thing! And as much as I would have loved to spend another week in Juneau just to fellowship with these young people and walk the cross with them throughout the capital city’s neighborhoods and streets, this would be my last day in Juneau.
THAT ALL OF ALASKA ACCEPTS JESUS CHRIST AS SAVIOR AND LORD
It was raining…but I love walking the cross in the rain. After a brief cross walk and prayer time on the Seawalk, I headed uphill to South Franklin Street and its town square, by far Juneau’s busiest street, hoisted the 10-foot cross upright and prayed for all of Juneau once more at this very busy corner and intersection.
As is my custom, I turned the cross in each major compass direction—North, East, West, South (NEWS)—and prayed long and hard for all the people living in Alaska, that God’s Good NEWS would burst forth from this very spot and spread mightily like a holy firestorm throughout all the land—and hearts!
After praying this final time at this strategic spot, I headed toward Basin Road, anticipating a pretty steep uphill climb to my final destination. Because, as much as I enjoyed walking the cross on the very crowded and busy Seawalk, I also wanted to walk the 10-foot cross on this Saturday afternoon to a special place I had been told about several times from different individuals.
NORTH TO ALASKA, THE GOLD RUSH IS ON!
Juneau was named after Joe Juneau. In 1880, along with fellow prospector Richard Harris and their Tlingit chief guide, Koweee, Joe discovered pea-sized gold nuggets in a creek located at Last Chance Basin. The rush to Juneau began and eventually the swarm of prospectors who followed these three staked out over three hundred additional claims.
That was then.
Though the gold is gone, the sheer beauty of the terrain along Basin Road has remained. As I walked the cross uphill and entered this initially steep road, I couldn’t help but praise the LORD of all creation for the extraordinary beauty of this area, with its rain forest-like terrain and long and winding, full-flowing streams and creeks.
Coming from a city in California that was experiencing a string of over 100-degree days right now, the gently and steady falling rain, the cool 55 degrees, and the lush green beauty of the surrounding hills and mountains filled my senses with praise and elation to the ONE who said, “Let there be Alaska!” And here I was walking a 10-foot cross in an American state that has been labeled “The Last Frontier.”
THE LONG UPHILL CROSS WALK
Bears. of course, roam this terrain as well. But I wasn’t concerned about that. Every few moments, teams of joggers and hikers would pass by on their way down to where their cars were parked. Of course, every one of them was curious.
It isn’t every day in Alaska that you see a 71-year-old man lugging a 60-pound, 10-foot cross 1,000 feet uphill on his way to the top of the trail road. Everyone stopped to ask what I was doing. When I shared that I was from Bakersfield, California and praying for all of Alaska, the response from each and everyone was very positive, if not overly enthusiastic, at such a thing as this!
I took my time walking Basin Road, taking in the sheer beauty of the environment, as well as having pleasant conversations with many individuals jogging, walking and hiking the area.
At the top of the Basin, I hoisted the cross upright, and for about ten minutes, prayed loud, long and hard for all who live in Alaska, as well as Juneau, that God would, indeed, pour out His Spirit of Grace and Supplication upon all flesh and show them His great love for each of them, as well as the ultimate price Jesus Christ paid to ransom each and every one of us from eternal death and separation from Him.
People stopped and listened, some joined in silent prayer, while others continued the journey to the Last Chance Mining & Historical Museum, just a few yards down the trail.
HOLY SPIRIT, YOU ARE WELCOME HERE!
It was raining fairly heavy now, and the rhythmic sound filled the air. The atmosphere felt clean and alive, reminding me that God’s grace, like rain, pours out new life and new sensations and new beginnings and new faith upon all the inhabitants it comes into contact with. Such is the power of God and the outpouring of His Holy Spirit as He falls upon people in desperate need of a Savior: EVERYTHING COMES ALIVE!
Aaahh…nothing like church on the Basin Road!
And nothing like having the assurance that God hears our prayers, especially when it is on the behalf of those who need a Savior!
Amen.
One of these days I hope to return to Juneau, and then onward to Anchorage and Fairbanks and other cities of Alaska. Until then, I continue to uphold the entire state in prayer, that God blesses the people living here with the full knowledge of what Jesus Christ did for each and every one of them! Great revival. Great awakening. Great Godly sorrow that produces godly repentance. Every state needs this.
And I truly believe that the LORD of the Harvest has begun that divine process, not just when I visited Alaska, but when so many Alaskans before me (and such dynamic groups like these CRU summer missionaries) began to intercede on the behalf of this great state to the one true God. The arrival of revival has already begun! Amen. Even so, Holy Spirit fall afresh upon this state and its people!
A FEW PICTURES OF JUNEAU BEAUTY
Although I can’t show them all, here are a few of the snapshots I took during the cross walks, including the ever-popular Tram ride!
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