The world is burning. 

      Bombs fall, sirens wail, political leaders randomly create new lines on maps.  

      In the cramped spaces within a ship, new lines are drawn too. Hidden to the inexperienced, unpractised eye.  Earlier dotted lines are more nuanced now, suddenly plastered in place through mistrust and suspicion.  

      In Gaza and Hormuz walls crumble under bomb debris, but each bomb, every fired salvo, every announcement of death that breaks, plaster the walls between people higher and higher. On board the tension of the world has joined others at the dining table.  The captain is from Israel, the cadet from Iran.  The engineer from the Ukraine, the second officer from Russia. Our chaplains often find the two poles of the globe trapped within the walls of a floating iron colossus. 

Danie is on board a ship for lunch. Here men that would, on another plane, take up arms to fight each other, eat from the same kitchen, share the same deck, survive the same storms and guard the same dark nights in shifts. The practised eye, behind the silly jokes shared at the dining table, sees something heavier in the air - being careful, feeling insecure, silence. The conflicts of the world find it easy to board a ship. 

Danie always starts by asking who comes from where. Beneath the superficial discussion lies the discomfort of a divided world. What had been a simple icebreaker in the past, is now a statement of position. Saying where you come from is a statement now, whether you agree or not. As each explains where they are from, Danie quietly becomes aware of the juxtaposition of world powers represented in the dining area. 

       Then they ask Danie where he is from: "Firstly, I am a Christian... a child of God." That is his answer. In a single sentence he changed the trajectory of the conversation. Suddenly there is an awareness of something bigger. Labels are rearranged. They start to rather build bridges. In a moment the conversation quality is different. It is now rooted in deeper being. Humanity comes to mind. Danie talks about mercy - mercy for each. 

       "Citizens of heaven," the captain remarks later. 

That is another reason why the CSO goes on board. It is to remind that the Man of the Cross can build bridges in the most improbable moments. This work does not happen by itself. We need donors. We need people that help us to take the Word to the world's ships, harbours and crews and work with us, until, even in a divided world, Christ brings together people around the same table. Please consider it, prayingly, to support us financially.