25. Jul 2025

Grauzai - Dusznica

Photo 1: It was a peaceful morning. I could hear the sand crunching under my shoes and with each stab of my trekking stick in the dirt road. In the distance a lark was chirping as it flew over a field. Wild flowers were mixed with wheat that was waiting to be harvested. On was on my way to the border to Poland. Not to far away to my right was the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. About the same distance to my left was the border to Belarus. It would not have been a good time for war to break out. There is never a good time for war to break out. Recently an US official tossed up the thought at a NATO meeting how it would be to invade Kaliningrad as a distractraction for Putin. Putin quickly pulled the atom card from his full hand of jokers. Is this one strong man trying to bend the arm of the other?

It made me think if what David said to his son Solomon shortly before he died. He said: "Be a man!" Right! But what does that mean? Does being a man mean to face off lions and bears, to slay giants, to become the songs of women, to build a kingdom, to fight wars, to be rich, famous and successful? What, David, does it mean to be a man? David continued his admonishment to his son: "Fear God and keep his commandments!" What a definition of manhood! Can you imagine how the world would be today if all the men of power and influence feared God and kept his commandments? Jesus did it and he released healing grace in the world.

Photo 2: I always feel a touch of sadness when I am about to leave a country. I think of the people I had met, the conversations I had and the prayers that were prayed. I had learned to adapt, knew how to find my way through the country and cultural challenges. Now I was about to enter a new world called Poland. This photo is my first glance of Poland on the other side of the water. About one third of Snail-Trail 3.0 will take me through this land. The first two weeks will be probably the most challenging of the whole trip... long distances, logistical uncertainties, continued rainy weather expected. I am so glad that Jesus walks with me!

Photo 3: Young boys on motocycles riding on the camino path.

Photo 4: I made it to Poland. The border crossing was out in the middle of no where. I was surprised to see a border control of two women and four men, two with machine guns ready to use. Belarus had been shipping immigrants to the borders of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia and telling them that this is the way for them to get to Europe. Poland has reacted with tight border controls. I greeted the border guards with "Dzień dobry!" and then said that I speak English. Two of the guards spoke English quite well. I then told them the only Polish sentence I know: "Jezus jest moim Panem!" (Jesus is my Lord!) That gave me some smiles and broke the ice. I told them what I was doing. They were interesting in seeing my pilgrim passport with all the stamps from Estonia to the Polish border, but they were also very glad to see my German ID and US passport. I said that I was a pastor and a pilgrim and offered to pray for them. They accepted. Never before had I prayed for someone looking at me with a machine gun in the hand. I knew I could not take their picture, so I said that I would remember their yellow emergency vests and smiling faces. They answered: "We will never forget you!" I guess that was a first for them as well.

Photo 5: Sejny is the official end of the Camino Lituano and the start of Camino Polska. Two days ago at the campground I met Gintas and his wife from Kaunas. They are also believers from a Pentecostal Church. We were surprised to have met each other at such an obscur place on the camino. Today we walked the last kilometer to the church in Sejny together. It was the end of their camino. Mine continues...

Sidenote: The maps distances and destinations are not in sync with how I have actually walked the past three days.