28. Sep 2025

Final Thoughts

Photo 1: On this past Friday Jacky and Sorin came for for a brunch together. It is always good to be back home again with the family after such a journey. Our 18 year old cat Sally was also happy to have everyone together again. Not pictured is her twin brother Mo who was content to sleep on his favorite pillow.

Photo 2: The first step at the Tallinn airport in Estonia on Friday, June 13th. It was just a 5 kilometer walk to the place where I would stay until the official start of Snail-Trail 3.0 on the following Monday, June 16th. Looking into this mirror and thinking of the unknown path before me, I had many unanswered questions that have since found their peace: Would I make it all the way from the Baltics to Bavaria? How will the weather be? Where will I find food and water sources along the way and a sleeping place at the end of a day? Would I get hurt, sick or lost? Will I be able to communicate with people from the various language and cultural backgrounds? Will there be meaningful encounters and God-appointments along the way? How will it be to walk through countries where I have never been before? Could a war break out in this region while I was walking through it? Would my shoes hold up?

Photo 3: The last steps on the street leading to my home in Buch am Erlbach in Germany. I did make it with God's help all the way from the Baltics to Bavaria. It took me 100 days and 85 hikes to walk 2675 kilometers with enough altimeters equal to five times the height of Mount Everest. The weather was mixed with clouds, cool wind, rain and some sunny warmer days. At the end of the day I always had a place to sleep and never went to bed hungry or thirsty. I did take a fall on the fifth day, hurt my nose and needed three stitches in my right hand. Walking with Jesus does not mean that there will be no pain on the path, but that the power of his resurrection will enable us to get back up and keep going. I had no sick days, for which I was very grateful, but did take a number of wrong turns or kept going and missed some of the correct ones. Often the extra time in path correction was God's way of adjusting my time schedule, resulting in a talk or a prayer with someone whom I otherwise would not have come in contact with. I did manage to get by with my English, German and very broken Russian/Slavic, sometimes with assistance from a translator app. I thought I would meet more pilgrims on the path, but still had very many meaningful encounters with people, some needing encouragement, others in need of the God-connection. Just about everyone accepted my offer to pray for them. Unexpected God-appointments here and there confirmed to me that God knows exactly where I am and has a purpose for the journey. When a person walks through a whole country like this, he will become more aware of its history and cultural ways. I loved this and was often moved by the shadows and pains of the past which helped me to understand how to pray for God's purposes to take place in that country now and in the time to come. No wars occurred in the region while I walked through it. May that peace continue! My shoes made the distance, but breaks in the seams allow water to come through and the rigged profiles have become quite smooth.

Photo 4: Vytas sent me this photo (see blog from July 15th). It shows his entry in a pilgrim book at a church from July 11th written after mine a day after I had been there. He posted the picture on his Instagram account which had 90,000 Lithuanians following his pilgrim walk through the country. Four days later we met a hostel for the first time and the following day we walked and talked together from Paberžė to Kedainai. During our lunch break Vytas said yes to Jesus and we prayed together. A few days later, as he was going through his photos, he saw this picture of his entry in the pilgrim book and noticed that mine was listed right before his. More importantly, he read what I wrote and is now walking on THE WAY. It is instances like this that propel me to keep taking steps on the Snail-Trail.

Photo 5: I think this picture sums it up the best. Jesus calls us to take up our cross and follow him. For me it is a backpack that Jesus has called me to bear. So many people are curious to know why an old man like me would be walking with a backpack like that through their country. Their questions become the start of conversations that often lead to talks about life's journey and the Good Shepherd who is there to lead us through it. Walking the Snail-Trail is not always easy, but it is always good.

MANY THANKS!!!
This is my last blog posting for Snail-Trail 3.0. Thank you for being a part of this journey by reading the blogs, praying for me and hoping with me that I would make it. I really appreciated the encouraging comments I received from time to time. It let me know that you are interested in the Snail-Trail and gave me the feeling that a whole number of people were actually walking with me, even though I could not see their faces, but I felt their hearts. I am forever grateful for my wife Astrid who believed I could do this and allowed me to walk and be away from home for over three months. I greatly appreciated the partnership with VM-I allowing me to use their internet space for the Snail-Trail webpage. Also Martin Körber from VM-I did a tremendous job in developing and managing the Snail-Trail webpage. I express my thanks to the many friends, family members, churches and the Assemblies of God World Missions (AGWM) who have prayed, given and been a part of my pilgrimage and ministry, not just these past years on the Snail-Trail, but since taking my first step fifty years ago in sharing God's message of love and grace in Jesus with people from other countries and cultural and language backgrounds. We have been a team. Without you and God’s grace I would not have gone the distance. Many thanks!

DONATE: I will never forget my encounter with Anja at breakfast in a guest house in Ostroda, Poland. She exclaimed out of the depth of her heart: "Where can I find a church like this?" If you would like to be a part of church planting efforts in this region of Europe, please click on the Snail-Trail DONATE NOW link and choose "Advance Options - (88) 88 Snail Trail". Thanks!!!