across carrying a large wooden cross and spreading the word of God.

It is also one of the safest.

In his more than two decades of travelling, through no less than 39 warring nations, he has survived a car bomb explosion in Ireland; being thrown into jail as a political prisoner; put in front of a firing squad in Nicaragua in 1979 and the anger of war-torn Haiti's street-walking gunmen -- his last stop.

But the joy of meeting people and reaching out to the poor and desperate made up for it all, said the American yesterday while walking across Bermuda.

The Mississippi-raised 53-year-old father of six has seen some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, having walked on all seven continents.

Antarctica's snowy and pure terrain impressed him the most, he said.

And he has met and brought a number of world leaders, including PLO leader Yasser Arafat, to their knees in prayer.

This Christmas will mark the 24th year of Mr. Blessitt's 28,000-mile pilgrimage to spread Christianity.

Mr. Blessitt believed that having Christ on his side helped him survive all the dangers his travels presented him with.

He hopes to have carried Christ's cross across every nation in the world by the year 2000.

"I'm doing it for God and the people,'' he said. "I love people. I love the very individualistic way they stop and talk to me. They need to know the presence of Christ in their lives.'' Mr. Blessitt has been the focus of widespread media attention, appearing on CBS News most recently when he was in war-torn Haiti fighting to prove his visit was not a one-off political demonstration.

He has been the subject of Time, Newsweek and CNN articles and has been written about many times by the British Press including the London Times, when he was in jail.

Mr. Blessitt met his English wife three years ago and she has been on the road with him ever since, sometimes walking and sometimes following in a Land Rover.

The couple spent their honeymoon in Yugoslavia in 1990 the year before war broke out.

"We knew war was coming,'' he said. Mr. Blessitt claimed to have been "spoken'' to by Jesus in the 1960s when he was running an all-night coffee shop on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, where he would preach to people "strung-out'' on drugs and other destitute folk.

There was a Sunset Strip that stretched around the world, Jesus told him, he said. And his job was to promote peace and fill the void in people's lives caused by spiritual emptiness.

"I would not be alive if it wasn't for God watching over me. I have seen so many dangers and so many roads filled with disease. I've lived with the poorest people in the world.'' Of his walk across Haiti, he said: "It was so sad to see the people so poor and desperate. I do not like dealing in politics, but I do not believe in economic boycotts by other countries,'' he said. "There was just no gas to bring the food in from the countryside. The state of the people was horrible.

And I felt particularly terrible as an American.'' Mr. Blessitt felt his visit helped by letting the Haitian people he met know that someone cared and loved them.

The "attache'' gunmen, however, had behaved vehemently towards him, stamping on his cross and kicking at it, he said.

He was never actually shot at, he said, probably because there were so many members of the media following him.

The anger finally died down once their leaders saw his photo album and realised his motives were not political and that he was on a real pilgrimage.

As for Bermuda, he said, "It's like two extremes, coming from Haiti to here.

I love the nature -- It's like walking through a big flower garden.'' Mr. Blessitt, who is staying at Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort as a guest of a Christian group of "friends'', does not travel with money.

The group pays for his travel expenses, but he often lives with people he meets on his voyages, he said.

He and his wife do not accept monetary gifts, but they gladly accept food and lodging.

They take breaks to visit family in Florida and England, but at times have been on the road for a year at a time. This year they spent six months in Asia walking from major city to major city.

Mr. Blessitt will be giving a talk on Sunday night for anyone interested, at 6.30 p.m. at the non-denominational Radnor Road Christian Fellowship Church in Shelly Bay.

In January, he heads for South America and then the Pacific islands.

A-CROSS THE WORLD -- Christian Mr. Arthur Blessit and his wife Denise pass the Botanical Gardens on their way across Bermuda, the 188th stop on their 24-year pilgrimage to spread Christianity throughout the world.