Travel Touchstones: Crosses

Crosses are popular touchstone collections. Here are two examples within the Wonder Voyage community. The first comes from Sammy Chesser who was the Exposure Director and served as a Board member for years. He and his wife, Debbie, have collected crosses from around the globe.

The second collection of crosses comes from Bill Wallace. Bill has served as Wonder Voyage Guide for decades and first started collecting crosses as a youth pastor.

Travel Touchstone: Chesser Crosses

Having a wall of crosses has become a midwestern Christian thing to have in your house, but that is not why we have them. For years Debbie and I have collected crosses from many different places we have traveled to. From Jamaica to Alaska and many points in between. A cross takes on many different meanings to the individual beyond, of course, being the symbol, of our Christian faith. For us, the physical cross itself is also a crossroads. Two lines intersecting to create a different symbol. We see it as a constant reminder of mine and Debbie’s intersecting lives and paths. It’s a single example of how the Grace of God can heal, can encourage, can guide, can love, and can inspire through that cross. We love to see how that cross symbol is used and displayed through different cultures. We feel that if we embrace the cross through Grace, we find ourselves depending on God more and more each day. So each cross behind us has a story, it reminds us of a special place that God prepared just for us.

Travel Touchstone: Wallace Crosses

I started collecting crosses when I was a youth leader at a church. I tried to find one for every pilgrimage on which I guided the youth group. When I started guiding groups for Wonder Voyage, I tried to find a cross for each trip as a way of remembering the trips and groups that I guided. Just as each group is different, so are the crosses. They remind me of the way God has worked in the pilgrims’ lives. When I look at a specific cross, I remember the young people and their adult leaders who invited me into that short part of their journey to find God and where and how God is working in their lives and the lives of those who we served on the trip.