Wednesday, a man was seen carrying a big wooden cross around our little town of Italy. He sported a rhinestone studded cowboy hat and looked to be quite a character. His name is Chuck Johnson and he carries a big cross around America to remind folks about Jesus.

Johnson explained that he had an under water baptism in 1987 and after that he really got into God’s word. He said, “One day laying in weeds up in the hills of California God just lit me up and I knew what I wanted to do.”

He started his mission of carrying a cross on March 1, 2000, “It will be eleven years without stop this year. I have been across America twelve times through all the states. It has been a long, long journey, I am forty nine years old now and I feel it a lot more than I used to.” He added, “It is not that I have walked it all, I have had thousands and thousands of rides. I have even been on the back of a Harley Davidson.”

Johnson has had nine crosses over the years and made each one by hand. He said, “This is my ninth cross on this journey alone. I make all the crosses, I have donated them to Indian Reservations and other churches. This one is cracked so I have been fixing it by putting in screws to hold it together.”

When asked where he lives he replied, "I am the homeless guy that carries the cross. All I have is what I have on me. I sleep wherever I can lay my sleeping bag down, where the police won’t bother me. Trying to get through winter time is always the toughest. "

As he walked away I asked him where he was going next and he said, “Wherever the Spirit leads me.”

Just another day in Italy, Texas.