Seafarers

OK so let me tell you one of the many reasons I’m crazy about Jesus. I never know where I’m going to end up day to day and yesterday was no different. I started off the morning just relaxing in bed and writing the last jewel you got when I was prompted to text my dear friend April. She quickly responded with an invitation to join her in meeting a new ministry she was checking out for our church. Here Gems is where the Lord began to unfold His plan and my fun began. As I said I just finished writing a jewel and no sooner had I hit the send button I got a response from a woman I met about 3 years ago. I will never forget her because her name is the same as my grandmothers who was very Italian and this woman is very Chinese. I knew it was an opportunity to help someone so while I was waiting for April to pick me up I called her. As I said she is Chinese and so communication was a bit difficult. My daughter and a friend were in my kitchen so I wrote a note asking them to be praying while I was on the phone for the Holy Spirit to break the language barrier so I didn’t have to keep saying things like, sorry, what, excuse me and break the flow of the conversation. Little did I know the Lord was preparing me for later that day. If you know anything about me you know I love meeting new people especially people who are being the hands and feet of Jesus. April picked me up and off we went to the Tampa Port Authority. We met the wonderful team at the Tampa Seafarers Center. Our host Steve, Jeff, Wesley and his beautiful wife Judy and learned about their ministry called Tampa Port Ministries, Inc. If any of you are reading this I’m sorry in advance if I don’t do the ministry justice because it is an amazing ministry that God has put on your hearts. As you can imagine in a Port Authority you would have ships coming in and out of the country. On those ships are men (sometimes women) from all over the world! Their time at port can be a few hours or a few days so what do these seafarers do while they wait? In comes God!!! This team of awesome people drives a van to the ship and picks them up. They take them to Walmart if they need to pick up some personal belongings since there are no Walmart’s at sea, yet… If there is no need for a shopping trip or other errand they bring the Seafarer’s directly to their facility where there are clothes they can have for free! A place to relax and watch TV or a game room complete with pool tables, ping pong, foosball and various other games. There are snacks and drinks and a feeling of home. They have a table set up for personal computers complete with Skype so they can see their families. There is a separate room for privacy with computers in case they don’t own one of their own. There are phones so they can call home and camera’s so they can see their loved ones. You can feel the love the moment you enter this place. Who would have thought of this? Only God! I love how God is concerned about everyone even people we don’t even think about not because we don’t care it’s just that our worlds never interact. Now get this you never have to leave Tampa to have a foreign mission experience, you have foreign missions right here in your back yard. They have tracts in all different languages on the wall and there is at least one person that speaks English on the ship so a translator is also available! They do more than meet their physical needs but Jesus said that’s where to start. James 2:16 If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? Don’t ask a man if he’s hungry then not give him something to eat. The team shares the love of God with these seafarers in Spirit and truth. They have a chapel for quite moments of prayer or if someone were killed at sea they can perform a ceremony for the men right there. If you can’t hear the excitement in this jewel I will tell you I am sooooo excited about this unique ministry. I have always wanted to do a foreign mission trip but I’ll be honest I don’t like to travel and here I was without knowing it moments away from my first one. After our meeting April and I got a tour of the place and before we knew it it was time for Steve to go to a ship and pick up some men! Oh my gosh! They asked if we wanted to come and I was like YESSSSSS! I really wanted to see a ship but we couldn’t go that far. We anxiously waited at the guard booth for our van to come back for us. Up pulled Steve and as I climbed in the back of the van there were 6 smiling Chinese faces looking at me. Chinese!!! God had covered me with communication prayer earlier in the day remember?? Is God good or what! We had great conversation on the way back with my spiritual ear for Chinese My new friends would be going to Brazil the next day and then in a few months back to China. Gems I was officially on a foreign mission trip! My new friends invited me to China and agreed to be my personal GPS as I told them I get lost easy. I pray that day happens, some day. I want to share one of the most solemn moments of the day for me. It was when Steve handed me a black and white composition book which the team lovingly referred to as “The book of Life.” In it were the names of men and women they led to Christ and prayed would go back to their countries and change their worlds. Oh how precious was this book and all it represented. It made me think of the Lambs book of life we will one day see in the hands of our sweet Jesus, I cry as I write these words. It was such a Holy moment I asked the team if we could pray before we spoke any further. Gems this, like all ministries, is funded by support. I have put the information of this ministry below if you feel led please go visit them, send money or at least pray for them. If you, like me, have ever wanted to go on a foreign mission trip but didn’t want to leave the country we no longer have an excuse. For one day you can be a Seafarer too! www.tampaseafarerscenter.org