A chill wind sweeps cold through the Cape Town Harbour. Ropes moan against the quay, gulls glide high above and the sea butts perpetually against the steel hull of the VELOS FORTUNA. Passers-by see only another ship that has come and will go, but for the CSO each ship is a floating world full of stories of hope, longing, sacrifice, love, worry and faith. Each ship matters. Every man working at sea matters...

André, our Cape Town Harbour chaplain, enters the ship along the walkway. He does not carry big plans or complicated answers. He only carries a few Bibles, Christian literature and the willingness to listen. Just like so many times before, he also knows well that this visit to this ship is in God's hands.   

In the dining area he meets Vaughn.

They start a simple discussion as he is offered a cup of coffee. Vaughn tells him about his life in the Philippines, about his wife that is a teacher, about his three young sons and that they are all waiting at home. The oldest son is five years old and the twins are almost two years old.  

Working at sea means food on the table. It means school fees. It means a future with opportunities for his kids. But, each Rand earned comes at a high price. For Vaughn it means that he wakes up thousands of kilometres from home, while his wife is raising the kids on her own. He will miss the first day of school, he will not be there for the small victories. He also misses birthdays and simple dinners. His chair, that of the father, is empty. They learn to grow up without him. He learns to love them based on what he sees on the small screen of a mobile phone. It breaks his heart. After all, a father's heart is made of glass. 

Yet, he chose this way, because he believes that God sometimes asks a person to leave behind the safety of the known, to meet the unknown with strong faith and a sad heart. He looks in the direction of the endless ocean and simply calls it 'a jump of faith'. 

He laughs with a tear. He tells how he constantly prays with his wife for guidance. They try to believe and trust implicitly. That is why he gets on the ship. It is not without fear, but because he learnt that faith does not mean having all the answers, only that you believe in the One that does have all the answers.  Sometimes, only sometimes, doubt does raise its ugly head. That is why Andre's visit is absolutely on time and essential. In this moment the encouragement, praying together, talking and reading from the Bible are more necessary than bread.    

We enter ships in the belief that God is already at work there. We meet men working at sea in the midst of longing, insecurity and unanswered questions. We do not only issue Bibles. We share hope. We remind them that no ocean is so big that God's presence cannot bridge it. Sometimes a life does not change because of a big sermon. Sometimes it changes because of a simple conversation, a cup of coffee, or discovering that someone cares enough to listen. 

That is why the CSO needs people like you to walk this road with us. The support of our donors means that we can continue to take the Word to the harbours of the world and to the ships visiting them. It means that more men working at sea, like Vaughn, can discover that the biggest jump of faith is never undertaken alone.