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December 18 - Acts 27 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Wednesday, the 18th of
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  December. Great to have your company.
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  Hello. Gee, I hope you're going well.
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  I hope your week is looking good as we hit this middle hump day,
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  coming down to the other side of the week to the end, getting
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  even closer to Christmas. And maybe this is even you
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  getting madly prepared to take a bit of time off work to enjoy a
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  bit of a holiday. If that's you all, good luck
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  with the tidying up of loose ends, getting things ready for a
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  bit of a break. And if you are on a boat, as I
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  know probably at least one of you is out there listening with
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  your Starlink connection, I need to warn you that today's not a
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  good day for boating in today's Bible reading.
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  Yep, it is a stormy, stormy reading where things go awfully
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  wrong for our seafaring friends. Well known.
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  The people all survive, but the boat doesn't do so well.
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  But that's enough of a spoiler alert.
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  Let us read the story about Paul on his way to plead his case
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  before those in Rome and all that happens on his journey
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  there. As we read together Acts chapter
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  27. When the time came, we set sail
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  for Italy. Paul and several other prisoners
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  were placed in the custody of a Roman officer named Julius, a
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  captain of the Imperial regiment.
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  Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was also with us.
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  We left on a ship whose home port was Adrenitium on the
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  northwest coast of the province of Asia.
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  It was scheduled to make several stops at ports along the coast
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  of the province the next day. When we docked inside on, Julius
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  was very kind to Paul and let him go ashore to visit his
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  friends so they could provide for his needs.
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  Putting out to sea from there, we encountered strong headwinds
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  that made it difficult to keep the ship on course, so we sailed
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  north of Cyprus between the island and the mainland.
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  Keeping to the open sea, we passed along the coast of
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  Sicilia and Pamphylia, landing in Myra in the province of
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  Lycia. There the commanding officer
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  found an Egyptian ship from Alexandria that was bound for
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  Italy, so he put us on board. We had several days of slow
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  sailing and after great difficulty we finally arrived at
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  Snyders, but the wind was against us, so we sailed across
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  to Crete and along the sheltered coast of the island past the
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  Cape of Salmon. We struggled along the coast
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  with great difficulty and finally arrived at Fair Havens
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  near the town of Lacea. We had lost a lot of time.
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  The weather was becoming dangerous for sea travel because
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  it was so late in the fall, and Paul spoke to the ship's
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  officers about it. Men, he said.
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  I believe there's trouble ahead if we go on shipwreck, loss of
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  cargo and danger to our lives as well.
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  But the officer in charge of the prisoners listened more to the
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  ship's captain and the owner than to Paul.
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  And since Fair Havens was an exposed harbour, a poor place to
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  spend the winter, most of the crew wanted to go on to Phoenix,
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  farther up the coast of Crete, and spend the winter there.
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  Phoenix was a good harbour with only a southwest and NW
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  exposure. When a light wind began blowing
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  from the South, the sailors thought they could make it, so
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  they pulled up anchor and sailed close to the shore of Crete.
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  But the weather changed abruptly, and a wind of typhoon
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  strength called the Nor'easter burst across the island and blew
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  us out to sea. The sailors couldn't turn the
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  ship into the wind, so they gave up and let it run before the
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  Gale. We sailed along the sheltered
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  side of a small island named Corda, where, with great
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  difficulty, we hoisted aboard, the lifeboat being towed behind
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  us. Then the sailors bound ropes
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  around the hull of the ship to strengthen it.
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  They were afraid had been driven across to the sand bars of
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  Sertis off the African coast, so they lowered the sea anchor to
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  slow the ship and were driven before the wind.
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  The next day, as Gale force winds continued to batter the
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  ship, the crew began throwing the cargo overboard.
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  The following day they even took some of the ship's gear and
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  threw it overboard. The terrible storm raged for
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  many days, blotting out the sun and stars, until at last all the
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  hope was gone. No one had eaten for a long
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  time. Finally Paul called the crew
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  together and said, men, he should have listened to me in
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  the 1st place and not left Crete.
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  He would have avoided all this damage and loss.
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  But take courage. None of you will lose your
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  lives, even though the ship will go down.
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  For last night an Angel of the God to whom I belong and to whom
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  I serve stood beside me. And he said, don't be afraid,
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  Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar.
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  What's more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone
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  sailing with you. So take courage, for I believe
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  God it will be just as he said, but we will be shipwrecked on an
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  island. About midnight on the 14th night
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  of the storm, as we were being driven across the Sea of Adria,
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  the sailors sensed land was near.
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  They dropped a weighted line and found that the water was 120
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  feet deep. But a little later they measured
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  again and found it was only 90 feet deep.
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  At this rate, they were afraid we would soon be driven against
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  the rocks along the shore. So they threw out four anchors
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  from the back of the ship and prayed for daylight.
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  Then the sailors tried to abandon the ship.
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  They lowered the lifeboat as though they were going to put
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  out anchors from the front of the ship.
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  But Paul said to the commanding officer and the soldiers, you
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  will all die unless the sailors stay aboard.
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  So the soldiers cut the ropes to the lifeboat and let it drift
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  away. Just as day was dawning.
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  Paul urged everyone to eat. You have been so worried that
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  you haven't touched food for two weeks, he said.
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  Please eat something now for your own good, for not a hair of
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  your heads will perish. Then he took some bread and gave
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  thanks to God before them all and broke off a piece and ate
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  it. Then everyone was encouraged and
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  began to eat, all 276 of us who were on board.
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  After eating, the crew lightened the ship further by throwing the
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  cargo of wheat overboard. When morning dawned, they didn't
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  recognise the coastline, but they saw a Bay with a beach and
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  wondered if they could get to shore by running the ship
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  aground. So they cut off the anchors and
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  left them in the sea. Then they lowered the rudders,
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  raised the foresail and headed towards shore.
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  But they hit a Shoal and ran the ship aground too soon the bow of
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  the ship struck fast, while the stern was repeatedly smashed by
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  the force of the waves and began to break apart.
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  The soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners to make sure they
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  didn't swim ashore and escape. But the commanding officer
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  wanted to spare Paul, so he didn't let them carry out their
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  plan. Then he ordered all who could
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  swim to jump overboard first and make for land.
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  The others held on to planks or debris from the broken ship so
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  everyone escaped safely to shore.
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  Our Lord, what an incredible story of faith in you.
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  Faith that Paul has that what you have said would come true.
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  And this incredible faith in Paul that we see from the
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  soldiers that when he declares that if anyone takes the
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  lifeboats that all will perish, they act in faith and they cut
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  the ropes to those lifeboats and let them drift away.
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  Oh, Lord, this would have seemed like sheer madness in that
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  moment. But such is faith that we are
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  inspired to do things that would, from the outside, look
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  like sheer madness. Lord, grant us such faith that
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  in the heat of the moment we would hear your voice and that
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  we would listen to you, and we would act in the way that you
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  prompt us, not in the way that the overwhelming forces around
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  us would have us act. Lord, I thank you for your
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  Spirit that you place inside each of us, and I thank You that
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  you use Your Spirit to prompt us and to lead us our Jesus.
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  Attune our hearts to Your Spirit so that as we hear your
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  prompting that we would follow and give us the courage and the
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  faith to act according to your promptings.
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  We are your children and we want to live our lives following You
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  and worshipping you, our loving Heavenly Father.
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  So we pray all of this in the loving name of Jesus, Amen.