Teen Walks Across Alabama for Speed the Light

“You want to do what?”

That’s the reaction 17-year-old Grason Wallace received when he told his parents, Jason and DeAnn, that he wanted to walk across the state of Alabama in an effort to raise money for Speed the Light, the missionary-support program for Assemblies of God youth.

Wallace, who attended the Alabama Youth Convention in March, says he was inspired to attempt the feat after hearing Brad Sasser, AG U.S. Missions trail missionary serving with Chaplaincy Ministries, share his story about how he walked across the state 13 years ago for the same purpose.

“I was sitting there, praying about it, asking God for a sign for whether or not this was something I should do, then PT (pastor Tyler) — and I don’t even think he remembers doing this — came up to me and said, ‘You should walk across Alabama,'” Grason says. “I took that as my sign!”

And after explaining to his parents the purpose and his reasoning behind the effort, they agreed to allow him to do it — though not by himself.

Just three months later, on June 19, with a goal of raising $2,500, Grason, accompanied by Tyler Sawyer and Sasser, set out on a 218-mile, seven-day journey across southern Alabama on Highway 84.

PASTOR’S PROMISE

Grason was right; Sawyer, the student pastor at Enterprise First Assembly (EFA), doesn’t remember encouraging him to walk across the state. In fact, when Grason told Sawyer that he felt God wanted him to do the walk, perhaps the prevalent thought/prayer in Sawyer’s mind was more on the order of, What did I get myself into here?

“We have always told our students that when it comes to their Speed the Light efforts, we will be there to support and help them achieve their goals,” Sawyer says. “We promote the ‘One in 1,000’ challenge to our students — do one thing you enjoy 1,000 times to raise money for Speed the Light.”

Sawyer says things like shooting 1,000 free throws or hitting 1,000 baseballs was more what he had in mind — though in retrospect, he’s very thankful Alabama isn’t 1,000 miles wide! He told his wife, Hannah, about Grason’s plan, and the couple agreed to fully support the effort — Tyler doing the walk with Grason and Hannah driving the support vehicle.

NOT SO SIMPLE

Walking long distances may not sound all that difficult, but even though Grason runs cross country and track at his high school in New Brockton, as he learned, walking uses a different group of muscles and his feet strike the ground differently.

And it wasn’t just about the actual event mileage — there were plenty of logistics involved, including time frame, financial support, support vehicle supplies, sleeping arrangements, food, clothing, communication, safety, training, and the list goes on.

“I think we probably walked 200 miles the weeks leading up to the walk, visiting businesses and seeking their support for Grason’s walk,” DeAnn says with a laugh. “I think we visited every one of the businesses in the downtown area.”

And Sasser’s experience and insight proved invaluable. Since Grason wanted to retrace Sasser’s original route, they ended up using Sasser’s old contact list to arrange sleeping arrangements, basically going from AG church to AG church along the route.

“When I first did the walk 13 years ago, I didn’t have a lot of knowledge about footcare,” says Sasser who was able to spend the first four days walking with Grason and Tyler. “This time, we did get blisters, but we had the right kind of socks and shoes and took care of our feet after each walk and were able to get through it.”

RETHINKING

On June 19, already with more than $2,000 of his $2,500 goal pledged, Grason, Tyler, and Sasser drove to the western edge of Alabama to Silas to begin their quest.

“That first day was perfect,” Tyler recalls. “It was cloudy — it did rain a little bit on us — but the temperature was only like 86 to 88 degrees and the humidity wasn’t bad.”

That first day for the intrepid trio was the last “good” day they had.

From that point on, the highs for the next six days ranged from 93 to 97 degrees, the humidity soared, the breeze along with the clouds vanished — with little to no shade offered over the roadside. Heat indexes were well over 100 degrees and the asphalt shimmered with absorbed heat, roasting the walkers. Grason says despite the walkers going through two bottles of SPF-100 sunscreen, any skin visible still got tanned.

“That second night, I was just lying there on the mattress — it had been so hot out there — and I thought to myself, What am I doing?” Grason admits. “But I knew I was doing it for missions and there was no way I was going to quit.”

“The first couple of days, there were a lot of logging trucks passing us on the highway,” Tyler says. “The breeze from the trucks felt so good, but then one logging truck tried to pass another while they were going by us on that narrow two-lane highway — that was kind of scary as there really wasn’t much shoulder to move over on.”

“Along some parts of the highway, there just wasn’t any shoulder,” notes DeAnn, who walked some miles with the group. “A lot of the time they were walking along the roadside in grass up to their knees.”

Meanwhile, Hannah was sticking with the group in her car.

“We thought it would be safer for me to drive ahead a half mile or so and wait for them rather than follow them as the road was pretty narrow,” Hannah explains. “I would watch them coming and I was definitely praying for them . . . praying for clouds, for safety, for even a breeze.”

In the car were gallons of water and sports drink along with a variety of energy snacks, and the three started to refer to Hannah and the car as their “Beacon of Hope” — thinking just make it to the car for a water break, just make it to the car . . . over and over again.

IMPACTING OTHERS

Decked out in fluorescent shirts to catch the attention of drivers who might not otherwise see them, the trio also caught the attention of the communities they walked through or stopped to eat in along the way — giving them the opportunity to explain the purpose behind their effort.

And as God often does, He also had some “divine appointments” in the works.

“We went to eat at a restaurant in Monroeville, and there was a lady there, a manager, and she was telling us all about her struggles from COVID — she had a stroke, was on a ventilator for months, had memory loss, all kinds of stuff,” Tyler says. “But she let us pray with her and speak life over her before we left.”

In another instance, a man saw a local news story on the walkers, jumped in his car, and drove Highway 84 until he found them — just to offer them some water and make a donation.

“Another man had come into a little extra money and wanted to give some away, but didn’t know what to give to, and then he saw our story on WTVY,” Tyler says. “He came by the church, gave the secretary an envelope of money to go toward the walk, said he didn’t need a receipt, and didn’t leave his name — it was $1,000!”

And along the way, Grason and Tyler were joined for a while by walkers from their church to encourage them in their efforts, including students, lead pastor Shawn Crosby, DeAnn, Jason (who walked with them a full day, despite having had knee/meniscus surgery less than a month earlier), and others.

And although there were many serious and prayerful moments during the walk, there was still some humor. For example, Hannah has some sage advice for anyone who may want to replicate the walk: “Make sure the support vehicle is a four-wheel drive!”

“On those smaller highways, the side roads don’t often have good places to turn around,” she explains, struggling to control her laughter — and failing. “I almost got stuck in a cornfield with my two-wheel drive . . . and wouldn’t that have been something, the guys having to go off their route to come push me out of a muddy cornfield!”

ADDITIONAL MOTIVATION

Another motivating factor for Grason to do the walk is tied to God’s protection and healing touch from when he was a child.

“When I was around 2 years old, I was at my grandma’s house, and she had a high porch that I fell from — 14 feet. My face hit the cement below. I fractured my skull, broke my nose, broke both arms, tore the dura around my brain, began leaking spinal fluid, and then contracted meningitis.”

DeAnn says that Grason went through multiple surgeries to repair his broken body.

“And then, about six months later, when Grason was 3, a driver ran a stop sign and T-boned us,” DeAnn recalls. “We flipped over three times from the impact — all the surgeries done before had to be redone.”

Following the second set of surgeries, Grason couldn’t walk.

“He was dragging his leg,” DeAnn says. “We went back to the pediatrician and Grason had to go through months of therapy to learn to walk again . . . it was the grace of God that he survived the fall and the car accident.”

“When I was out there walking, you have a lot of time to think,” Grason says. “And I really came to appreciate even more what God has done in my life . . . it really warms my heart to think of how God had His hand of protection over me even at such a young age.”

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

On Tuesday, June 25, Grason and Tyler, accompanied by family and friends, completed their 218-mile journey — arriving in Columbia, Alabama, blistered, tanned, and tired, but safe and celebrating in God’s provision.

Tyler says that in March at the youth convention, his pledge was that the whole EFA youth group’s STL goal for 2024 would be $2,500, which then became Grason’s personal goal. During their trek across the state, the $2,500 goal was met — and then some.

“I got word that a person donated $800 and that put us over the $5,000 mark,” Grason says. “And I believe there’s still more coming in!”

“I was impressed by Grason’s ability to go for his goal — he sets it and he’s going to get it,” Sasser says. “I think the Lord gives people outside-the-box ideas. I challenge people not to be afraid of outside-the-box ideas when they’re for Kingdom purposes.”

Tyler and Hannah as well as Jason and DeAnn also expressed their admiration and appreciation for Grason’s effort, with Tyler noting that with Grason already doubling the youth group’s original goal of $2,500, it would be “awesome” to add another zero to that goal.

When asked about how he felt about accomplishing the seven-day walk for Speed the Light, Grason summed it up well: “I walked so missionaries wouldn’t have to.”