Captain Paddy

CAPTAIN PADDY

Whenever a Missions to Seafarers padre climbs up a gangway of a ship, to visit the seafarers on board, one never knows what kind of reception one is going to get.

Though, having said that, after 15 years of working amongst seafarers, I cannot recall a single instance of a hostile reception.

However, when I went on board the small coaster called the 'Wild Rover' in Fremantle, Western Australia in the mid 1980s, I was a little apprehensive.

I was greeted by an Irish Captain known as Paddy. He was a large person with a very fine grey beard. He proudly announced that he had no time for 'Godrotherers'. I began to wonder if he was about to throw me overboard, particularly since I cannot swim!

I need not have worried. Half an hour later, whilst drinking gin in his cabin he said to me, 'I don’t believe in God’. He then went on to say that, 'Many a time crossing an ocean in a storm, I have often prayed. I've never been given the calm sea of Galilee, but I have been given the strength to see the storm through’.

What a very mature approach to intercessory prayer! So often, we tend to treat God as a celestial magician, who, provided we use the magical formula, 'Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord’, we expect our prayer will be answered in the way we want.

The point about intercessory prayer, or prayers of asking, is that we are not summoning God into a situation which he has carelessly overlooked, but rather making ourselves available to be the answer to the prayer. 'He has given me the strength to see the storm through’, says Paddy. As soon as we have prayed, the prayer comes back to us like a boomerang, challenging us to be the answer.

Thank you, Paddy, for this insight. May God keep you and the 'Wild Rover' safe, wherever you may be.