Ship visiting

I begin this blog with a quote from the former chaplain of the Mission to Seafarers Rev. Joe Parker who wrote the following in his book, " On the Waterfront ". " The backbone of our  work I have always claimed  is ship visiting. Neglect to visit seafarers on board ship and in time they will neglect to visit you. There is no substitute for personal contact." After almost eight years of ship visiting I certainly agree with Rev. Parker; Ship visiting; meeting sailors where they are, is the ' backbone ' of my work and I thoroughly enjoy it.
That being said. times have definitely changed.  Last week I lunched with a Danish captain and Chief Engineer on board a Maersk container ship. In my mind. the Danish people are some of the friendliest, laid back and polite people on this earth! A lot nicer, friendlier and easy going than the Dutch! I asked the captain if he sometimes gets tired of meeting so many different people in the various ports around the world, " people like me ",  I said. He looked at me and said, " Well, first of all I seldom see a chaplain on board anymore and never one who joins us for lunch! "