15. Jul 2025

Paberžė - Kedainai

Video: Walking over a hanging bridge...

Photo 1: Before... the rain came.
Vytas got to the hostel yesterday in Paberžė in early evening. We talked a bit while we ate our evening food. I would not call it a meal. We just ate from our food supplies that we had in an attempt to refuel the burnt off calories from the walk that day. I felt in my spirit that I need to talk with Vytas more about connecting with God. But yesterday evening was not the time.

This morning we both got up early and wanted to get an early start. Vytas left about about 5 -7 minutes before me. That is a good half of a kilometer. I could see him in the distance, but could not catch him. He is 27 years younger than me, athletic and a professional soccer coach. I said: God, if you want me to talk to Vytas, you will bring our paths together at some point. That happened at my banane break about two hours later. Vytas had stopped to charge the batteries of his phone. Now he was coming up the path towards me. We walked and talked the rest of the day. Vytas grew up in the Catholic traditions, but was looking for a deeper spiritual reality. He had been reading about Buddhism and reincarnation. At lunchtime I explained what Jesus did for us on the cross and compared reincarnation to Sisyphus endless struggle to push the rock up the hill. That cycle of death and rebirth in reincarnation never ends. The religions of the world tell us that we must push the rock. Jesus invites us to come to him and find rest for our souls. Vytas understood the message. He was pushing the rock, but now wanted to stand on the Rock of Salvation, Jesus. He will carry us through life and is the only one who can bring us through the contraints of death. We prayed together for that one new birth that is necessary, being born of God's Spirit through the faith connection with Jesus.

Vytas said 90,000 people were following his Camino on Instagram. If he posted anything about about his connection to Jesus, that is more people in Lithuania who heard something about Jesus than I could have ever reached in a lifetime of living and walking and preaching there.

Photo 2: After...
The rain came for about two hours. We really got wet!

Photo 3: The day started off nice.

Photo 4: In the early morning I saw this police woman with her dog. They were looking for a seventy year old woman who was missing. I thought, the poor old lady... and then realized that I am just one and a half years away from being seventy myself. I prayed with the police woman for her and her team that God would help them find the missing person.

Photo 5: The bridge to Kedainai. In the evening the sun came out again. What a day!