“But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed.”
– Acts 27:22
Hi James and Ellen,
Would you be scared if you were on a ship and a northeaster began to blow? What would you do if you were on a ship and a northeaster began to blow? How big and powerful do you think that waves get that are generated by a northeaster? Do you think that a captain of a ship about 1,950 years ago could hold during a northeaster his ship’s course? Paul was on a ship when a northeaster began to blow. Paul was being taken as a prisoner from Caesarea – a city that was in the country of Israel, where he had been locked up in a prison for two years, to the city of Rome in the country of Italy where he was to stand trial before Caesar. There were 276 guys – including Paul, on a ship that was sailing from the country of Egypt – from the city of Alexandria, to the country of Italy with a load of grain. Luke was also on this ship accompanying Paul to the city of Rome. Because he was on this ill-fated ship with Paul, Luke was able to give an eyewitness account in the Acts Letter – in Acts 27, that he sent to his friend Theophilus of what took place when northeaster shipwrecked the ship that he and Paul were on. Aristarchus – who was an early Christ-follower who traveled with Paul during Paul’s third missionary journey, was also accompanying Paul to the city of Rome. Julius – who was a Roman centurion from the Imperial Regiment, had the responsibility of making sure that Paul – along with apparently several other prisoners, got to the city of Rome without escaping. The voyage to the city of Rome that Paul, Luke and Aristarchus were on began in the town of Adramyttium on a ship that was scheduled to stop at different Asiatic ports. When this ship arrived in the town of Myra in the region of Lycia, Julius decided to change ships – opting to put the prisoners under his care on the ship from the city of Alexandria to finish the long, perilous voyage to the country of Italy. Even though the optimum time for sailing was well past when ships sailed because of northeasters, the captain of the ship that was carrying grain from the city of Alexandria decided after a breeze began to blow gently out of the south to chance sailing along the shore of the island of Crete towards the country of Italy. The gentle south breeze turned quickly into becoming a hurricane force northeaster that began to push the ship in the direction it wanted the ship to go. When it began evident that their ship was at the mercy of the northeaster, the scared ship’s crew – in a desperate attempt to save the ship and themselves, began dumping the ship’s tackle and the grain that the ship was carrying into the Mediterranean Sea. After several intense days of not seeing the sun during the day and the stars at night and after being tossed constantly about by the massive, churning northeaster’s waves, God sent an angel to tell Paul that no one on the ship was going to die.
What would your reactions be if after you spent about two weeks in a desperate situation – during which time you really thought that you were going to die, you have God send you an angel? It appears that Paul called the ship’s crew together and told them what an angel told him – which is summed up in what is now verse 22, “But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed.” Paul began with telling the ship’s crew that if they had listened to him when they were at the island of Crete when he suggested to them that they winter there instead of trying to reach the city of Phoenix to winter there, that they would not be in the kind of mess that they were in at this time. Paul also told everyone that they needed to eat as everyone – because of the acute anxiety that they were all experiencing, had not eaten anything for 14 days. It happened just as Paul said that it would happen. While the northeaster’s angered waves broke up the grounded grain carrying ship, all the guys were able to either swim or float on the ship’s wreckage to dry land.
Your grandpaa has been in Costa Rica and Nicaragua for the past 14 days. Your grandpaa for eight of these days was the project leader for a Wesleyan School short term youth ministry team. This short term youth ministry team from Norcross, Georgia spent six of the eight days that they were in Nicaragua staying in a community called El Guyabo. El Guyabo is on a narrow, barrier type strip of land between Lake Nicaragua on one side and a bay that is filled with reeds on the other side. During the six days that the Wesleyan School short term youth ministry team was in El Guyabo, a strong east wind constantly blew off Lake Nicaragua towards El Guyabo. Wind driven waves relentlessly pounded Lake Nicaragua’s shore that was less than 100 feet away from where your grandpaa slept each night on an air mattress. Other than two episodes that involved one of the chaperones, this short term ministry youth team did not give your grandpaa ‘grief’. Even though both incidents were minor ones and the chaperone and your grandpaa often chatted, both times involved the chaperone making an arbitrary decision to do something that was an absolute non-negotiable in your grandpaa’s strong perceiver gifting. One of her decisions was that she and another gal – while the rest of the gals did home stays, would spend the night sleeping with the guys as she and the other gal were scared to sleep alone where they were sleeping – which was as secure as anyplace, and then wanting an 11 year old El Guyabo boy – who only hung out with the Wesleyan School short term ministry youth team gals and who was caught holding one of the gal’s hands, sit next to her during a devotional time. How are you surviving life’s storms?
Acts 27 (1145)