Appreciating our Freedom

   The last part of our tour through Scandinavia was from North Cape, Norway to Helsinki, Finland, about 1,100 miles by bus. Andrej, our tour guide, kept us entertained with jokes, classical music and local history when we weren’t preoccupied with spotting herds of reindeer along the road or looking at the amazing scenery.

   North Cape is the northernmost point of Europe accessible by car or bus and is reached by a sea tunnel to the island of Mageroya. Not far from North Cape was a visitor center where tourists learned more about Norway’s fame as the “Land of the Midnight Sun” and also about the Aurora Borealis. A huge metallic globe stood on a platform overlooking the Arctic Ocean to commemorate the time in the summer when the sun never sets.

   This was also the ideal place to view the Aurora Borealis during the dark winter months. Our timing was off though on this tour. We missed the midnight sun and only saw glimpses of the northern lights late one evening.

   From there we crossed into Finland, heading south to Helsinki. The trip took us inland this time, by lakes and through lush forests. Along the way, our bus stopped at the rustic home of Sven Engholm, champion Finnish Dog Musher. People enjoyed interacting with his huskies around the kennel area and learning more about his unique life style.

   Another unforgettable experience was at a reindeer farm, where a man who carried on the tradition of his Sami ancestors met us and told many stories passed along from one generation to the next. While we huddled around a campfire in the center of a tepee, the reindeer herder initiated us into the ‘herd’ by marking hoof-prints of soot on our foreheads! 

   “That was the strangest Ash Wednesday service I’ve ever been to!” said one person from the group as we emerged from the tepee with sooty faces. After feeding the reindeer and trying to lasso a wooden one, dinner was served. Guess what was on the menu?

   One afternoon during the long drive, guide Andrej shared an amazing story of his escape from Communist Russia in 1989. From the age of fifteen, he began thinking about defecting, never mentioning a word of it to his family or anyone. All outside news sources were forbidden at the time; however, Andrej secretly listened to radio broadcasts from Europe. The desire to travel and see other countries grew in his heart.

   When he began questioning what he was learning in school, the Principal and the KGB were informed. Andrej’s father was threatened with losing his job. Shortly after graduation from high school, Andrej enrolled in a vocational school. Before finishing however, he was drafted into the army and sent to an outlying area of Russia as a prison guard where he spent two miserable years.         Upon being discharged, he began studying languages at the University of Leningrad. At the age of twenty, Andrej was finally able to escape across the border to Vienna, with no money or identification papers. His dream to travel was realized after obtaining citizenship in Austria, a passport and finishing his degree in language translations at the University of Vienna. Then he was hired on with a travel company and began a career as a tour guide. Later Andrej married and settled in Nebraska, using that as home base while traveling around the world.

   Our group of twenty-two had a final dinner together in Helsinki before going in different directions—some traveling to Russia with a new guide and the remainder going home or traveling elsewhere. Andrej was taking a few days off before meeting another tour group. It was nearing the end of his season and he was looking forward to reuniting with his wife and children.

   Thank you Andrej for the great trip and for being so transparent about your life. And thank you, Lord, for blessing us with freedom from tyranny, whether it be from government or the tyranny of Satan over us. Thank you for delivering us from the bondage to sin through the death and resurrection of your Son. We are blessed indeed! In Jesus’ name, Amen!

“Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!” John 8:34-36 NIV