I’ve written elsewhere about my pending early reader children’s book Pedro’s Delivery, a fictional story based on fact about a Filipino seafarer who escorts cocoa beans from the Ivory Coast to Philadelphia and the difference mariners from often faraway places make in our daily lives.

At age 81, my life has had many blessed chapters, twists and subplots. This blog will celebrate the ones that led to this new book, which comes out July 25, 2026. Maybe you have had similar unfolding stories. I believe God has breathed life into each subplot.

About 25 years ago, I worked with other Lutherans on a long-term flood recovery escapade to help mostly older residents along the banks of the Delaware River recover from the ravages of two tropical storms. That work involved me with seminarians from what was then known as The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (now part of United Lutheran Seminary), as well as volunteers from Trinity Lutheran Church in Lansdale, PA. Volunteering several years along the Delaware was in itself life changing. My wife, Lynn, and I subsequently helped out in the aftermath of Katrina in Mississippi.

While working in Bucks County, I met another volunteer, the Rev. William Rex, who was pastoring a Lutheran church in nearby Ferndale. Eventually, Bill invited me to serve with him as a shipboard visitor extending hospitality to cargo ship seafarers visiting the Port of Philadelphia.

One ministry leads to another. I became a visitor with Homeland Security credentials affording me access to highly secure terminals in the Port of Philadelphia. That service was as an ambassador for Seamen’s Church Institute of Philadelphia and South Jersey (SCI) for 10 years.

Memories gleaned from relating to thousands of seafarers on hundreds of ships led me to write Pedro’s story. I wanted early readers to know something of how many commodities get to their store shelves. I wanted them to know about the seafaring professionals who sacrifice so much to “deliver” for them.

I showed my manuscript to Helene Pierson, the CEO for SCI, a couple of years ago long after I had “retired” from climbing gangways on so many ships, sometimes writing stories about my experiences for SCI when Father Jim Von Dreele was the SCI leader. Helene was enthusiastic about the “face” the story would give to many who know little, if anything, about the origins of commodities we can take for granted when we shop. Helene, as I recall, had read it to a grandchild before we met.

She has been a vigorous supporter, helping me with author photos aboard ship in Gloucester City, NJ, early in 2026 and introducing me to Jeff Wheeler, the man who oversees the importing of cocoa beans from West Africa to the Port of Philadelphia, and the distributing from there of bags of beans as far away as Illinois and Wisconsin. In 2025, the Port of Philadelphia imported 5 million bags of cocoa beans, more than received by any other port in the U.S. Jeff himself is a remarkable story. He began as a longshoreman helping to load bags of cocoa beans on railroad cars in the Port. Today he is the chief executive if Dependable Distribution Services, Inc. in Pennsauken, NJ, overseeing all that I have described. Jeff, who connects with hundreds of colleagues in the cocoa industry nationally, has also become an advocate for Pedro’s story. “Many people don’t understand much about the people who work in foreign trade and what goes on behind the scenes in places like our port,” he says. “This book will really put a face on that work.”

I met Jeff May 29 in the Pier 84 warehouse along Columbus Boulevard that houses thousands of bags of cocoa beans before they make their journey to be processed into chocolate products you can buy in your neighborhood.

I had last visited that terminal in 2012. But so much seemed exactly the same in 2026. A huge cargo ship, the Kyveli GS, was at dockside. Cranes hoisted pallets full of bean bags from the ship’s holds onto the pier. The pallets are wooden platforms that stabilize the bags during shipping. Dockworkers diligently collected the bags using forklifts and transported them to warehouse storage nearby.

Inevitably some bags break open and a forklift will run over beans on a platform. Both on the ship, which I visited with Helene and Jeff, and in the warehouse, the succulent smell of chocolate permeates the air. “Delicious,” as I say at one point in Pedro’s story.

While in port, the Kyveli’s logistics were managed by Capt. Kenneth Mistry, 89, of Bryn Mawr, PA. For nearly 65 years he has served as a Port Captain aboard ships berthed in the Port. (He doesn’t go to sea.) Capt. Mistry was remarkably spry as he moved around the deck surfaces of a cargo ship that I breathlessly traversed

A couple of other twists remain to relate about this Pedro journey.

I had an electronic exchange on Alignable, a sprawling electronic network for
entrepreneurs, with Yvonne Kathryn Caputo, an author of adult books published with Ingenium Books of Toronto. She lives in the Perkiomen Valley. Yvonne suggested I submit Pedro’s manuscript to that publishing house. Thanks to Yvonne’s suggestion, Pedro’s Delivery will soon become the first imprint of Granum Kids, Ingenium’s new initiative to reach children. You can read about it elsewhere on this site. Thanks Yvonne!

And special credit goes to John Kahler of Coatesville, PA, my long-time friend, technical specialist, photographer and publicist. He plays a major role in bringing my work to life. John is truly a wizard! He has accompanied me one way or another through most of these subplots I describe.

The final special twist in this Pedro Journey belongs to Lynn Roberts Staples, my spouse of nearly 59 years. Without her encouragement and support none of this happens.

Pedro’s main lesson is a simple global perspective I hope children will take to heart as they read. We need each other.

My book, Pedro’s Delivery, set for publication and distribution by GranumKids July 25, tells the story of a Filipino seafarer who escorts bags of cocoa beans from the Ivory Coast in West Africa to the Port of Philadelphia in the U.S. “Pedro” will be the first imprint of GranumKids, an initiative being launched at the same time by Ingenium Books of Toronto, ONT.

The book puts a face for young readers on those who sacrifice to bring commodities that eventually land on our store shelves. Who doesn’t enjoy candy or a mug of hot chocolate on a cold winter’s day? A work of fiction, the story is based on my 10 years of experience relating to seafarers from myriad backgrounds while working as a volunteer shipboard visitor, furnishing hospitality to crewmembers on behalf of Seamen’s Church Institute of Philadelphia and South Jersey.

Seafarers endure weather hardships and long periods of time away from home as linchpins in global trade exchanges that improve our lives. They visit some 360 ports in the U.S. alone along three coasts, the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes. Some 1.9 million seafarers serve on cargo ships globally.

Nowhere are the challenges facing cargo ship crews more evident these days than those aboard ships near Iran’s Strait of Hormuz. Normally 100 ships or more pass through the Strait daily bearing cargos like petroleum, coal, grains and fertilizer. In the current spring planting season, farmers depend on affordable fertilizer, much of which traverses the Strait, to generate the crops they raise. The current state of the Strait, however, is that traffic is severely restricted, according to news reports. Bloomberg News reported that only 19 non-Iranian ships bearing petroleum, had navigated the Strait since early March by mid-May as Iran uses the closure as a bargaining tool to negotiate an end to the war. More recent reports indicated somewhat increased ship traffic had been able to pass through, but still far less than prior to the conflict. The Strait’s restrictions have upended much of the world’s economy.

As many as 2,000 cargo ships bearing 20,000 seafarers are “stuck” near the Strait. Recent reports, during a cease fire, indicated conditions were somewhat calmer for crews than was the case at the recent height of the conflict when seafarers could view overhead drones and hear the impact of heavy bombing, depending on their location. During the best days of the ceasefire open airports made it easier to transfer crew members as contracts for their work begin or end. Recent resumption of hostilities as of June 10, 2026, threaten to disrupt the state of relative calm for seafarers. A cargo tanker, reportedly carrying oil from Iran and allegedly struck from the air by U.S. forces, took the lives of three seafarers from India, according to a New York Times report. They were the first seafarer casualties from the war.

Provisions aboard ship last four to six weeks. Delivering needed goods, however, is more costly to ships at anchor than when a ship is at berth in a port, according to Jason Zuidema, the chief executive for the North American Maritime Ministry Association, who is among many tracking the war’s impact on seafarers. Such costs will likely sooner or later impact consumer pocketbooks, he suspects.

Medical emergencies are always a challenge when ships are at sea. For vessels stranded near the Strait such emergencies are much harder to deal with than when a ship is in port.

Large shipping concerns are doing what they can to support their seafarer employees, according to reports. Technology aboard ships makes it easier for crewmembers to be in touch with loved ones. Some concerns offer hardship pay in the face of crews’ uncertain predicaments. But, those amenities do not ease the stress of wondering whether seafarers could soon once more be witnesses to wartime hostilities that could place them in peril.