Let there be hope, because for us a Child is born, for us a Son is given and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace...

Let there also be hope for Gregory whose body language betrays that he is exhausted and overly tired. In Durban he tells Nico stories from the latest entries in his life inventory. His past is a mess, often disconnected, but styled using words like sad, depressed, stressed, hopeless... He hails from a small village at the Black Sea, about two hundred kilometres from Odessa. There one would find his wife, a woman he loves with all his heart, a daughter from a former life, Covid19 that left a trial of death, shipping that spread parts of his life puzzle over the globe, sitting at a harbour at the southern tip of Africa where he knows no one - all from a life whisked together in a haphazard fashion. 

But, what can one say. How do you comfort him? How can you care for the wounds, some of them still raw, but others having left large lesions? The poet DJ Opperman asks - what advice can I give, what star can I show you, to travel safely through the grey country? At the start of the new year, happiness is often momentary. The temptation is big to remain in the ash and soot of the grey country, only to remain within the minor notes that life whisked up or serves. 

But, let there be hope, because for us a Child is born, for us a Son is given and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace...

It is all that Nico can offer Gregori. It is all that remains when all else is stripped away. We can only hope. That hope is seated in Him that gives life and takes life. That is it. There is a definite choice to maintain hope. There is a definite choice to keep believing... to continue loving. 

As Nico sits with Gregori, it is not to convince Gregori to maintain hope and continue loving according to Nico's guidelines. It is rather that Nico maintains hope, keeps on believing and continues loving. It is because he believes and hopes. It is because of the One of whom it is written: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace...

Our donors help seafarers to remember hope each day. It is the most powerful thing we have in this crazy existence. On behalf of each person that experiences something of hope because of their donation, we thank you. We are so grateful. 

May you remember in the new year and experience that there is an Everlasting Father that guards you too.