I was born in Alliance and currently attend Holy Rosary Church. I grew up on a farm 21 miles northeast of Alliance where my dad farmed a sizable operation with his dad and his brother-in-law. I went to school at District 40, 15 miles north of Alliance. There were eight kids in my class, and four were Catholic girls. I was a Presbyterian, and I was jealous of the girls because they always talked about going to Sunday Mass or Ash Wednesday, getting ashes. I was fascinated with their Catholic faith. We never did anything neat, and I did not go to church every week.
My faith took a back seat for quite a few years. I was married, living on a ranch with three children when things went wrong. We ended up divorced and my ex-wife left with the children. I was single for four and a half years before I met my wife, Barbara. It was through her family and her that I started my journey towards the Cross, where I am today. Her father was one of the most religious and holy men that I ever knew. He was more like Jesus than anybody else. People treated him badly, and it's not that he couldn't stand up for himself, he just didn’t do it, out of humility.
I could not resist feeling I should be a Catholic, but I never had enough time. I was always too busy. In the year 2000, we left the ranch and moved to town, and I became a cattle buyer. I was always too busy trading cattle to go to church. Finally, in 2006, I went to church regularly with Barbara. She is very devout. Even if the roads were full of snow, she would find a way to make it to Mass on Sunday. She always went to Mass; that was part of her, and I really admired that. I wished I could be that way.
One Sunday at Mass when Father Don Buhrman was presiding, he sang. He has a beautiful voice. I swear there was a halo over his head, a glow. I thought to myself, boy, that's got to be a sign. A month later I was walking home from church, and I just started singing: "Lead Me, Lord." I've always liked that song. Shortly after that I decided I would become Catholic. I attended the RCIA program, and in 2007 I was accepted into the church.
The Story of the Crosses …
Two years ago, I was thinking about what to give my kids and grandkids for Christmas. Everybody has what they need. I have trouble sleeping now and then, and on one of those sleepless nights I said, "I'm going to give them a cross." I was looking for crosses, and I found one that said, "Be strong," I thought to myself, “That sounds great. I'm going to order some crosses and be strong.” A few nights later — it had to be the Holy Spirit coming; it was just pounding on me — I got up in the middle of the night and went to the computer and started typing a message or a prayer. That was the start of it. I gave it to them for Christmas, and they didn't quite know what to do with it, but it was good.
Right after Christmas, I had another session with the Holy Spirit. He said, "You need to do this, give it to people." For some reason, the number 17 was in my head. I needed to hand out 17 crosses? 170? Maybe 1,700? I can't do that I thought. I showed the prayer to my friend Steve who asked, "Where did this come from? Where did you get this? That's a neat prayer." I answered, “I wrote it, the Holy Spirit inspired it.” He was going to do an RCIA lesson and said, "I want you to help me." At class I gave everybody a copy of the prayer. I talked for about 15 minutes, and I couldn't imagine what was going to happen. When I was walking back to my seat, a man grabbed me and hugged me, and the ladies were crying. I thought: "God, why? What did I say?" The Holy Spirit has always come through me wherever I talk. Most of the time, I don’t even remember what I say. It's amazing what happens.
The Holy Spirit is always there. I look back through my life and see all the times when God was there. I was in a head-on car accident when I was 12. We were hit head-on by a drunk driver. My dad almost lost both of his eyes. My mom fractured her pelvis. I lost my eye and broke my jaw. My sister and cousins that were in the back were fine, except for my cousin Linda who had a head injury. It's a miracle that we didn't all die.
There were just so many times that the Lord has entered my life, and I had to give Him thanks. So, I decided on the number 1,700 with my crosses. I'm going to get there. We've given away close to 1,200. The people are so wonderful. I give them away standing in the back of the church or wherever I am. Some come and hug me. I've even had people pull them out of their pockets at restaurants. It's just wonderful what happens.
People just need to know that Jesus loves them. He is there. He died for us. He knew what was going to happen. He knew everybody was going to desert him. He knew how tough it was going to be. Yet, he died for me. He died for you. He died for everyone. And He's still there today.
All I ever ask of anybody that I give a cross to is to pray for everyone. Pray for our world.
Right now, you want to give away 1,700 crosses. Then after that, what do you think will happen?
Well, there's a dream that says 17,000. I can practically afford 17, 170, or 1,700 crosses. But can I afford 17,000? It's going to take a little bit of praying to come up with that number. But the Lord has always provided every time I needed anything.
Prayer that Mike hands out with every cross:
THE CROSS OF JESUS
THIS CROSS WILL ALWAYS BE WITH YOU
IT MAY BE IN YOUR POCKET
IT MAY BE IN YOUR BACKPACK
IT MAY BE IN YOUR TOOL BOX
IT MAY BE IN YOUR VEHICLE
IT MAY BE IN YOUR NIGHTSTAND
IT MAY EVEN GET LOST
THIS CROSS WILL ALWAYS BE WITH YOU
This CROSS, a symbol of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, will always be with you.
He is always there waiting.
All you have to do is ASK
FOR THE UNFATHOMABLE LOVE AND DIVINE MERCY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
Don't be afraid if it gets dirty, sweaty or bloody. Jesus was tortured, crucified and descended into Hell to experience the worst this world had to offer, he was STRONG in Faith of his FATHER, he overcame to ascend into heaven. Just as Jesus overcame Death, you can be STRONG in Faith of JESUS to overcome daily trials of relationships at home, school or work, problems that can't be fixed and never time to fix them. PRAY FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT to grant you the Faith, Wisdom and Endurance to overcome.
BE STRONG.
The stains on this page were made from the tears and sweat that we have shed through the years to hopefully give you the strength to find and lead your children through life, to work for success in those small victories in day to day living. The Cross represents the BLOOD OF CHRIST given for us, to lead us to a life of Wisdom and Integrity, to lead us on the path of Truth, to Seek and Find the Narrow Way.
BE STRONG
AWAKEN TO THE REALIZATION OF THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST WITHIN YOU,
LIVE WITH TRUST RATHER THAN FEAR
JUST KEEP PUSHING ON