neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?' He said,
`The one who showed him mercy.' Jesus said to him, `Go and do
likewise.'
The Gospel of the Lord
All: Praise to you, Lord Christ
Address (Justin Davis) 10 mins
Hello! As Rev. Miller mentioned my name is Justin Davis. I am the
assistant chaplain at the Mission to Seafarers and have been working
Hong Kong for almost 2 years. To be completely honest, before I started
working for the Mission to Seafarers I didn't understand the true extent of
the shipping industry. Back in the United States I always saw ships
anchored at sea when I was at the beach with my family. However I
always perceived shipping with a romantic mentality. I thought of The
Pirates of the Caribbean and Moby Dick not the thousands of people
working on enormous floating warehouses. I thought that goods must be
flown all over the world and would just appear on my doorstep. As if by
magic. After researching however I was utterly bewildered to find that 90
percent of everything I used in my daily life, my IPhone, my clothes, the
petrol in my car, my sofa, etc. had been on at least one ship. I now have
come to realize that shipping is an integral part of our society. None of us
would have the things we do if it were not for the men and women who
work at sea, yet it seems that we as a society tend to forget about these
people who are called seafarers. This however is where the Mission to
seafarers steps in.
My main duty with The Mission to Seafarers is visiting ships alongside
the container terminal in Kwai Chung. Imagine driving through a maze of
walls that are five to six floors high. Then at the end of this wall appears a
ship. However this ship in not your average tugs boat. These vessels can
be upwards of 70 meters tall (a bit less than the wingspan of a jumbo jet)
and 400 meters long (about four football pitches from end to end). After
climbing the gangway (a stairway on the side of the ship) I step into the
ships office to say hello to the officer on duty (and to catch my breath as
there are gangways with 80 stairs up). If the officer is free I will sit down
and chat with them to make sure they are ok and to see if any seafarers on
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