The storm hangs around Port Elizabeth like an uninvited guest. The wind screeches through the taut ropes and tugs at the majestic ships as if they were toys in the hands of a giant. Even in the safety of the harbour, the waves crash against the hull of an ore carrier, distributing blobs of foam that twirl high up against the gigantic steel hull. It is sitting high in the water, because it has not been loaded yet, the enormous vessel creaks ominously in the onslaught of wind and weather. 

The storm in the Bay is barely a hint of what is happening on the other side of the world. There they have to deal with Bualoi, a tropical monster that unleashes its anger over the Philippines. Homes are torn apart as if they are made of cardboard, roads turn into rivers of slush and mud. In an area where rain is considered normally, a blessing, each drop of water now represents a tear. The tears run over a village, East Samar, forcing about 433 000 people to flee and escape the rising water levels and mountains that lose their feet in mud slides that demolish entire villages. People lose their lives. Bualoi is not a mere name on a weather map, it is a dark hand that grabs everything of value to erase it from the surface.

On board the ship that Danie is visiting, two of the men carry storms within, storms that cannot be silenced by anyone. Mario and Trevor sit quietly in the dining area, but the silence is loud. Their faces seem calm, but they have tornadoes within. The news washes over them like angry waves. Their village was also demolished by a mud slide. The phone on the table is an ominous messenger. It can bring a message of hope, but it can also bring the worst tiding of all... The fear threatens to overcome them. No gear or rope on board their ship can control their stress or thoughts. They are stuck on a battlefield of thoughts and fears. The waiting is like torture of questions without answers. The past night was just a dark sea of dreams in which they try and try again to return home, but always arrive too late.

Danie cannot change anything about Bualoi and its anger, but he is there. He stays for the afternoon and evening, to wait with the two men. They pray, beg and search for comfort in the Word. In between, when words fail, he is comfortable with the silence between them, satisfied to just sit with them. He stays until the message comes that the families of the two men are safe.  They can pray again, read again, but now with new eyes. What if the news had been different? What if they received the dreaded worst news? Then, they would also have prayed and read again. Because the God in whose name Danie came on board, is not only the God of calm seas. It is also the God that commands storms to calm. That is what the CSO does. We are there when storms rage. The emotional and grateful goodbye from Mario en Trevor when Danie finally left to go home, testifies to this.    

Please consider helping us to take care of the people working at sea when storms are raging. Your financial contribution can make a material difference across oceans.