This year we yearn, more than ever before, for the Holy Night and the Child of the manger. We need shepherds on the open fields, angels singing 'Hosanna' and a bright star reminding us clearly of the Child of the King. We search for the ironic peace of the dirty barn, because life seems more and more like life in a dirty barn - messy and not clean. Yet, from the inside of that barn we can see the bright and unmistaken light of Christ that has survived every war, every pandemic, every government, all sorrows and every setback throughout the centuries. The Light is eternal...

It is an eternity for the man from the Ukraine that Danie meets on the ore carrier. He is weary. He is overworked. The work is an escape from the waves of bad news threatening him from his country. You need no official qualification to see that life is too much for him. It is blinding him to a point where he can see no escape. Giving up seems to be a good option. It may be messy and dirty, but the Light is overwhelming...  

It is also an eternity for the man from India that recently lost his wife, for the Philippine man that lost his house in the tornado and for the man from Indonesia that just hopelessly longs for home. 

When Chris places a Bible in the hands of a Chinese seafarer in Durban, it is with the knowledge that the Child is eternal for the Chinese man too. André on the other hand, helps a man from Myanmar working on a giant container vessel. Loffie in turn helps a man from the Philippines in Richards Bay and Nico helps someone from Ghana, waiting on an ancient melancholic ship - because the Light of the manger is eternal for all. 

We do not mind eternal things enough. We are so captive in the messy, dirty barn that the Light becomes a by-product. Then we have Christmas, to remind each of us of the One that is eternal. It reminds us of the One that is Saviour and Prince of Peace for each of us. 

After a terribly difficult year in the shipping industry the men working at sea yearn more than ever before for a Holy Night, for the Child of the Manger, as well the shepherds and angels singing 'Hosanna'. But they long more for the ironic peace that the Child of the King brings to a dirty old messy barn.  

At Christmas this year we need your financial support. That is the only way in which we can share and continue to share the Christ Child's Light with every visiting person working at sea in every harbour of our country. Please consider helping in thought, prayer and deed.

May this Christmas time remind you clearly of the Light and Eternity of Him that came to free us all.

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