Man with cross walks to Olympia with a simple message: “Jesus loves ‘em”

Wind ripped through the air picking up any ungrounded objects in its path as a storm hit Lewis County on Friday, but Durrell Bell stayed anchored to the ground from the weight of the nearly 6-foot-5 wooden cross over his shoulder. 

“I’m walking in peace. I’m walking in love,” the Longview resident told The Chronicle while trekking along Harrison Avenue in Centralia.

Bell started carrying his cross five months ago when, as he puts it, he felt compelled by God to do so in hopes of improving the community. 

At first, he walked 3.5 miles a few times a week. But the calling was still there, a calling to do more. 

Until the answer finally came: A compulsion to walk all the way from Longview to Olympia, a journey totalling more than 70 miles if you skip the freeway.

The first day, he walked 20 miles. On the next day, 17 miles. He walks alone — but with the names of people he’s encountered since first carrying the cross in Longview each etched into its fibers.

Bell said he was thankful for all the interactions he’s had along the way and the copious amounts of food, water and other provisions he’s been offered. He also expressed gratitude for his wife, Teyonna, who has picked him up and dropped him off each day of his journey. 

And while that journey may have been complicated, his message was simple: He just wants people to know that “Jesus loves ‘em.”