Lindsay Hamon - The Man Who Travels the World with a Giant Cross on His Shoulder

A Huge Cross to Bear – Man Spends 26 Years Traveling the World with a Giant Crucifix on His Shoulder

By Sumitra on March 21st, 2013 Category: News

I think it’s amazing how dedicated some people can be towards a cause they believe in. Like 60-year-old Lindsay Hamon, who has spent the past 26 years of his life hauling a giant crucifix all around the world, talking about Jesus to anyone who will listen. He literally carried his faith on his shoulders, trekking across 19 countries including New Zealand, Romania, India and Sri Lanka. During the course of his amazing journey he has had some truly spectacular moments as well as some pretty rough ones. In spite of being attacked and shot at in Bangladesh and thrown out of St Peter’s Square in Rome, Hamon has no plans to stop his work any time soon.

Hamon took up the mission of carrying the huge cross around the world in 1987, and he has rarely put it down ever since . The cross itself is made of cedar wood and measures 12 ft. by 6ft tall. It has a wheel at its base to make it easier to drag around, and he actually carries it over his shoulder for up to 12 hours a day, without having the faintest idea of where he will spend the night. The father-of-two and part-time care worker receives donations from supporters that help him stay committed to his role as a Christian Evangelist. But he does need to stop at his home town in Cornwall every once in a while to work and pay his family’s bills. “I tried giving up my work and doing this full time instead, but I didn’t get enough money to make ends meet,” he says. At times, Hamon has even put his life at risk. “There is fear there sometimes because I have a wife and kids and you don’t want to put yourself in danger. It is really trusting in God, knowing he will protect you.”

Photo: Lindsay Hamon

Despite the few troubles he’s had during his long pilgrimage, 60-year-old Hamon loves what he does and has no regrets. Different people react in different ways when they see him, and he seems to be perfectly okay with that. “I find people often want to talk, but if people don’t want to know I walk on. The love you get from it all is amazing, people will just stop and ask you questions, offer you food and sometimes a place to stay.” Thousands of curious people have come up to him to ask about the cross, and he has shaken hands and prayed with them. He has even been invited to brothels to minister to prostitutes more than once, and spent several nights in bus shelters or basic accommodation with just a sleeping bag and a hole in the ground for a toilet.

Photo: Lindsay Hamon

Hamon has been mobbed by locals in foreign countries wanting to hear him speak, even if they didn’t understand English, but language has never been a barrier. “Often I will pray in English” he says. “Sometimes you get people who translate for you, I had one young boy who came out of nowhere when I was talking to around 20 or 30 people and he just translated everything. When it was done he just disappeared, I never knew who he was or where he came from, it’s amazing.”

Photo: Lindsay Hamon

Currently, Hamon is traveling with his cross in his home country England, and will soon be going home to see his wife and dog, before moving on to his next destination – Latvia. The countries that Hamon has been to so far are: Belarus, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Belgium, Germany, France, Holland, Ireland, India, Hungary, Nepal, New Zealand, Italy, Russia, Romania, Poland, Sri Lanka, Slovakia, and the UK.