August 27, 2009 7:23 AM
On her fourth mile of the day, the Rev. Carol Cruise walked through a foggy Summerland Wednesday morning doing what she does every mile -- planting a one-foot-tall wooden cross, with a note and contact information attached, in the ground to mark her prayer trail.
The Rev. Cruise, an Ohio resident and minister in Faith Walk Ministries, has walked 7,471 miles across the country while praying for the people of America. What sets her apart from others with a cause that spurs them to walk is that she has just one leg.
The Rev. Cruise said she lost a portion of her right leg as the result of an unnecessary surgery followed by 15 more surgeries to try to save the leg.
"For nine years I woke up with an obsession to do a prayer walk for the nation," she told the News-Press during the Summerland stretch of her perimeter-of-the-U.S. walk.
"The night before my amputation, after a three-year battle, I was determined to be a better person, not a bitter person," she said. "I asked God to use me as an amputee in a way that I couldn't be used with two legs."
The Rev. Cruise started her walk in 2002 in Miami, Fla., where she planted a three-foot cross as the beginning of her endeavor. During her walk, she prays "we get past the idea of going to church and start being the church -- joy, love, kindness, generosity."
She explained, "If Christians would be the church, the world would be a better place. I still go to church and have fellowship (with those at church), but then I go out and share it with the rest of the world."
Encouraging people embrace their abilities and not focus on what others see as disabilities is also part of her mission.
Instead of referring to people as disabled, the Rev. Cruise prefers the term differently-abled.
The West Coast leg of the Rev. Cruise's walk should be done in October and she plans to be finished by the end of next year.
"I have never missed one step," she said. "I have always gone back to the exact spot I left off from."
Her trek, she added, has not been continuous. There have been breaks, especially because of weather, where she spent her time attending conferences and sharing her testimony, but got right back to walking as soon as she was able.
Inspiring and touching people across the nation, the Rev. Cruise has received numerous calls and letters from people who find her crosses. One letter was from a woman with two "disabled" children. Moved by her story, said the mom, the kids decided they could do anything and they weren't going to let their disabilities get in the way.
The story she finds most inspiring involves a police officer in Maryland who had a harrowing near-death experience one night on a bridge while on patrol.
"While coming down off the bridge, a car pulled in front of her (and) she was forced to slam on her brakes. She went airborne and while airborne, she said her life flashed before her and she knew she was going to die or at least be seriously injured," said the Rev. Cruise.
The car, with the officer inside, bounced and landed between a steel pole and a telephone pole. She backed up and saw one of the crosses.
"She said, 'I knew it was divine intervention and that my life would never be the same,''' recalled the reverend.
"It was the most touching because I thought (that route) was a detour because it was shortly after 9/11 and the high security no longer allowed foot traffic on bridges at that time, and she (the police officer) found it."
Coinciding with the walk, the Rev. Cruise is also writing two books: one about her life and the problems with her leg and how she started this journey, and the other a compilation of the letters and other responses she has had from the crosses.
Without love and support from people across the land, she said, the prayer walk wouldn't be possible. The crosses as well as her shoes, clothing, food, shelter -- even her prosthetic legs -- are donated.
"This is my seventh leg on this walk, and my eighth pair of shoes," she said with a chuckle.
With a daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter at home in Ohio, the Rev. Cruise has made difficult decisions to accomplish her mission. She plans to go home for six days next month and then continue her journey .
"I walked away from everything to do this walk and have made it through from the kindness of people throughout my walk."
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