My Spiritual Journey By Andrew Urbanowicz TABLE OF CONTENTS Volume 1 INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 - My Early Childhood CHAPTER 2 - The Second World War CHAPTER 3 - Warsaw Uprising CHAPTER 4 - Prisoner of War Camps / End of the Second World War CHAPTER 5 - Switzerland / Escape to Italy / Joining Polish Armed Forces after the War in Italy / England Volume 2 CHAPTER 6 - My Civilian Life in England Before I Got Married CHAPTER 7 - My Married Life in England CHAPTER 8 - Coming to Canada Part 1 1957 – 1993 My Married Life in Canada Part 2 1993 – present My Life On My Own CHAPTER 9 - Reflections / Flashback Thoughts CHAPTER 10 - Visiting My Childhood Homeland Information tidbits Introduction All text in italics was imported from other sources All Bible quotations are from the New International Version (NIV) Only 12 copies of “My Spiritual Journey” Volume 1 were printed in 2015 INTRODUCTION “My Spiritual Journey” is a follow-up book to “God’s Leading in My Life,” which I published earlier. The two books need to be read side by side. My first book “God’s Leading in My Life” is an overview of my life, without too much detail or too many personal stories. It concentrated on high points only. The book’s purpose was to be my testimony as a witnessing tool to unbelievers, and an encouragement to believers. “My Spiritual Journey” is meant to fill those gaps, giving far more of my own personal reflections and details to the events that took place in my life. As such, I am going to follow similar chapters and high points in that story. I will try to avoid repetition, reiterating only that much, so as not to make the reader loose their orientation in where exactly they are in the story. This book is meant for my close family only. The former was written with a much larger audience in mind, as a testimony of my walk with the Lord. As my story unfolds, in these two books, it is my hope that my family will get to know me a little better and understand the passions that are part of my life. I hope that they get to know the rich historical background of my heritage, and the influences that shaped me into the person, I am today. I hope there are lessons to be learned and thoughts to ponder. I hope they will see God’s hands in the making of the tapestry of my life. I hope they will start seeing God’s hand in their own lives, learn from my experience, find courage and determination to stay on the right path. “My Spiritual Journey” tells a personal story of my life, its struggles and the consequences of my decisions. Through it, I will share lessons I have learned, and bits of wisdom I acquired along the way. In this book I will use four new types of inserts to share my thoughts with you 1. Family Background - to provide more information 2. Historical Background - to explain the origin of events 3. By the way - to share my personal thoughts with you 4. Spiritual Lesson - to reflect Let me illustrate this for you. 1. Family Background In my first book “God’s Leading in My Life” in Chapter 1 on page 8, I wrote “My grandfather did not exercise any authority in the house.” This statement begged for an answer. In the two years that my book has been in circulation, to my surprise, no one has asked for an explanation. Now I offer it. My grandfather had three vices, smoking, drinking and gambling. They caused him to loose the respect of his family. 2. Historical Background From ages past, the weakest communities were attacked by stronger communities, to plunder, loot, demand tribute and to take slaves for forced labor. As a defense strategy, the weakest communities made alliances with each other, amalgamated to become a larger nation, and built walls around their communities. Travelling throughout Europe you will be amazed how many castles there are, which only testifies to the level of unrest that the region experienced in the past. There really were no good or bad nations, as there are no good and bad people. Rather, people become who they are as a result of the choices they make. Nations are as their leaders are. 3. By the way Poland was no exception. On its western borders it had a stronger opponent in Germany - it was losing here. On the east border there were unorganized communities, and Poland made territorial gains. When Russia began its push westward, Poland suffered losses there too. The concept of a European Union at least offers a solution to this cycle of conquests. Now, the question is how far do we go with this concept. Continental unions make sense. We need a balance between powers, not just one power. One global union would lead to dictatorship like we have never heard of before, and there would be no way to get rid of it. Human nature as it is, will eventually come to such an end. The Bible has a lot to say about the end times. As you read my book you may come to believe that I am condemning Germany, Russia, Ukraine and other nations. Not so. Poland is not any better. What I am trying to say is that humanity in its totality is troubled. It is not my purpose to demonize any group of people. If anything it is a condemnation of us all. No nation, if you dig deeply enough, can claim total purity. All have committed hideous crimes in their past. The Allies dropped burning phosphorous on the German population in Dresden and bombed civilian targets. The U.S.A. dropped atomic bombs on two cities in Japan. Poland used terror in years past, and the list goes on and on. I am sure you could name many more examples yourself. To illustrate this truth, at the height of its power, Poland practiced its own form of crucifixion. Victims would be laid on the ground with their legs spread apart. A team of horses would be attached to each leg and would pull the victim onto a sharply pointed pole. The pole would than be stood upright with the victim raised on its top. In other chapters I will relate acts of cruelty, committed by both sides, which I have heard from my colleagues or witnessed myself. 4. Spiritual lesson From the Historical Background section one can see how much injustice and destruction exists among us. The question arises: why? The scriptures offer some insight. Galatians 5:19-21 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Envy, jealousy, greed, lust, selfishness and pride fit into this category. They cause all that damage. It all starts within the heart. So let us resume the story. To follow the pattern of my first book - let us start with the historical background to my ancestry and upbringing. A word of caution Because of my poor memory I never was strong when it came to remembering facts. In all my studies I always tried to understand trends, principles and general implications. Facts I soon forgot, but the lessons of these events stay with me. The same goes for history. I went through World War II, I witnessed the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and took part in the Warsaw Uprising. I shared my memories with others and discussed at length the implications of these events. However I did not read books about them or know too many details about these events. Others are much more informed on the actual facts. There are books written to which you should be looking for facts (I listed some books in my possession). What you can find in my story is an eye-witness account and my personal understanding of what took place. All I know is that these courses of action are bad, morally bankrupt are to be avoided at all cost. They leave consequences that take years, sometimes centuries to correct. Study the history of any nation and you will find many examples to prove this point. Polish history is no different. It is a history of failures and missed opportunities. Failure to practice justice, righteousness, and love. In other words, to practice goodness, internally and externally, in the fear of God. The same goes for every nation I am aware of. As a result there are disastrous consequences, and Poland had its share of those. Throughout the history of civilization, so many countries have had the opportunity to establish a just society, where minorities feel acceptance and willingly remain in submission to greater authority. There was Egypt, Israel, Babylon, Assyria, Greece, Rome, England, Germany, U.S.A., Russia, they all had a go at it and they all failed. Smart, innovative people - instead of creating justice, peace, and stability, they ended up oppressing and exploiting others. As I mentioned in my first book, Poland was being squeezed from two sides. From the west and from the east. To the west, these territories (red), over centuries, were lost to Germany’s relentless drive eastward. Germany had a determined policy to drive out all Poles, and replace the total Polish population with Germans. Indeed some Germans lived there for centuries. None-theless you will still find many Polish names among Germans from these territories.