Elkhart man hopes to unite country through prayer

ELKHART, Ind. -- A man from Elkhart is trying to start a national movement that he says will improve America. 

Sonny Cruz's mission thinks two things, an American flag and the power of prayer, can unite our country. 

Cruz prays a lot inside the Life Tabernacle Church on Middlebury St. in Elkhart. He prays he never struggles with addiction again.  

“I started as a 12 year old kid just trying to fun," said Cruz.

That fun turned into a 12-year alcohol, meth, and marijuana addiction, that resulted in five overdoses. At 24-years-old, Cruz became suicidal.

“I had a choice to live a life without drugs or try to change, and my choice was ehh it’s easier just to end my life," said Cruz.

At the time he wrote a poem to say goodbye, but now he says it was a prayer. 

"When I came to the point of suicide that was a prayer maybe, god if you’re real, alright I’ll walk with you," said Cruz.

Cruz also credits his parents' prayers.

"They would take these prayer cloths to church, many times this church right here," said Cruz. "They would pray for it, and they would put some oil on it, and my mom would bring it home and put it into my pillow. There was something that went into those prayers because I began thinking man somethings got to change."

For the past 16 years he’s prayed inside this church three to five times a week drug and alcohol free. But this May, Cruz prayed in Washington D.C. during the National Day of Prayer. That day sparked an idea.

"This flag is basically a prayer cloth for our country, and I would like to take it to as many people that would like to pray for it around the country," said Cruz.

Starting January 1, 2019, Cruz and his family plan to travel to all 50 states and pray for three things with people from all backgrounds.

"The military and first responders, I want them to come home," said Cruz. "And our school children, I want them to come home as well, and last year we lost more people than the vietnam war to drug overdoses. That’s a problem”

He knows it’s ambitious, but with D.C. and Indiana already checked off his list, he thinks it's possible.

“I know the impossibilities that it took for me to get sober and remain sober," said Cruz. "So the impossibility of our nation coming together and praying, I don’t see as an impossibility.”

Cruz and his family plan to be on the road until all 50 states are completed. They want to present the flag to President Trump's administration during the National Day of Prayer in 2020. He hopes they'll fly it in front of the White House. 

To learn more about the Pray the Flag movement, you can go to praytheflag.org, or contact Cruz at [email protected].