But make sure that in your hearts you honor Christ as Lord. Always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you about the hope you have. Be ready to give the reason for it. But do it gently and with respect. – 1 Peter 3:15

Thursday was another good day. Rebekah and I did some hiking around town in the morning, ending up with lunch on the square, I rendezvoused with an old friend in the afternoon, then I picked up some fresh ingredients at the grocery store without making too many mistakes and cooked dinner for Andrew and family in the evening.

My Krakow friend:

John Hess and I first became friends in 1975 when he was on my loading crew during the life-changing three-month 20-nation bus tour we took as part of a Bible school (I will try to explain in a couple of blogs one day, or you just may have to read my memoir!).

I went out to Montana that winter to work with his mission team, then we traveled the east coast extensively in early 1976 preparing for the epic ten-week Appalachian Trail hike. Since then we have seen each other maybe three times during the ensuing 48-years, also exchanging emails etc once in a while.

John and his wife Helen have lived in the Krakow area since 1989 and as soon as we realized Andrew and Alicia were heading to Poland we stepped up our communication.

So we arranged to meet early afternoon so he could give me a walking tour of his favorite parts of Old Town Krakow while Rebekah opted for Christmas wrapping back at the apartment.

It was one of those times when you pick up a level of conversational intimacy as if almost 50 years had not passed since the last deep chat. John has always been an intellectual (just a few years ago he completed his doctorate in Philosophy at Cambridge University), he is a devout Christian whose commitment to sharing faith is the reason he moved to Poland, he is a serious student of both history and political science, and he is constantly curious and open to learning.

So John shared his Krakow story along with a sampling of some of his favorite parts of the city. I learned a lot, and we confirmed the fact that even though we are poles apart (pun accidental, but noted) when it comes to much of how we experience and practice our faith, the bottom line is that we both love Jesus and we live the good news story with passion, and we do our best to share it with those around us.

Please pray for John and the work he and Helen do here in their home. I moved to America in 1975 not knowing I was going to fall in love – both with Rebekah and this country. At the same time John was falling in love with the Europe I was leaving and a young Swiss woman too.

What a world! – DEREK

some views from the afternoon with John: