"Young men will see visions." Acts 2

"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams." 

Those words are from Acts 2 and while the idea to convert a space at our Robert's Bank Centre into in a 24 hour accessible room for the seafarers wasn't a dream  it was  the result of listening to the needs of seafarers, of discussion, of prayerful discernment and having a vision of what the space was to look like and serve as.

The implementation of the vision was symbolic of the changes in the lives of seafarers as we removed the old shelves where a line of computers once sat and phone booths, both of which seafarers used to connect to the outside world and esp. to speak with family.

Being away for long periods, the loneliness, the isolation, the challenges of the work onboard means that family and a  way to connect with them means everything to seafarers.

Mission centres must provide free Wi-fi to facilitate that contact and so this space was designed to be a place for seafarers to come into 24 hours a day and sit and talk and given technology today meet with family.

This 24 hour accessibility also takes into consideration that seafarers come from around the globe and that someone from Ukraine may want to talk with family at a different time than a seafarer from China.

We have in the space put up some art work that speaks to the natural beauty of BC and Canada(see the photo). So the care and hospitality of  the Mission is brought to the seafarers in different ways.

This project to serve the seafarers better speaks to how  the gift of God's Holy Spirit is at work in our lives and in the world helping us to see a need and find ways to respond to it, offering up new possibilities and bringing about new life.