28. Aug 2023

Gornje Polje - Ribljak

Recently as I walked and prayed I thought: "On the Snail-Trail so far I have met, talked and prayed with a Buddhist from Nepal, a Hindu from India, Muslims from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Orthodox and Catholic Christians from Serbia and Croatia, but I have yet to meet a Jewish person. Lord, I would really like to meet a Jew, talk and pray with them." That happened yesterday evening at the campground. I set up my tent next to the river and just below a small hill with two other tents and a car with Austrian license plates. I saw an elderly lady with two young children and greeted her in German. She answered in English and said the children would understand German. She and her husband were from Israel, speak Hebrew and English and were visiting their daugjter and grandchildren from Austria. I told her the few Hebrew words that I know which are the Hebrew names for God, the Holy Spirit and Jesus the Messiah. She responded that those are all spiritual words. I answered that I am a pastor and lerned these words from my study of the Bible. Later her husband shared with me how a complete stranger had helped them that day with repairing two flat tires that they had gotten. I replied that "Jahwe-Rah", the Lord my Shepherd, had been watching over them. The man then quoted Psalm 23:1 in Hebrew. This morning as I was taking down my tent, we saw and spoke with each other again. I told them that I am a pilgrim and offer to pray a prayer of blessing for the people I meet along the way, and whether I could pray that the blessing of Abraham would come upon them and their family. This is the promise that God gave Abraham that the peace/shalom of God would come to all nations through the Messiah, the desendent of Abraham. They said yes and I prayed. The woman then responded that she could not say things so nicely as I just did, but wished all the best for my continued journey. I responded: "Please say these things to me in Hebrew and let that be a Hebrew blessing for me." She did. It was another one of those special moments.

Unfortunately Jonathan could hardly walk this morning when got up after yesterday's 31 kilometer hike. There was no way he could continue. He called Brittany to pick him. Never before had he walked so far with a full backpack. We celebrated his personal milestone and the people he was able to speak with and pray for in their language. After I left the campground and while he was waiting for his wife to come, he a God-talk with one of the two brothers that ran the campground. When he got back home, he had a notice from the visa office to come and clear up some issues concerning their children's visas. It was good that he could be home and take care of these things. God allows all things to work for good, even muscle pains.

Photo 1: River scene

Photo 2: Famous Emporer's Bridge on the edge of the city of Nikšić

Photo 3: I met these two Russian bike riders at the bridge, Natalie and Maria, who now live in Nikšić. They take care of two stray dogs there, had them neutered, chipped and feed them. The fate of these two dogs is much better than the four I had seen in the city that had been poisioned and their corpse just waiting to be disposed of. Natalie is an English teacher and Maria understood more English than I did Russian. We talked a bit and I was able to pray for them before I left. They asked if they could put my picture and story on their blog... always a good sign that the moment was meaningful.

Photo 4: Further down the river I saw this coal hut that was actually producing coal from wood. I had only seen such huts before in outdoor museums in Germany.

Photo 5: At the end of the hike I had to go over this mountain... and sang my pilgrim song on the way down as a prayer for the people living in the valley all the way to Podgorica.