Adventures at sea, part 2

Good evening sisters and brothers,
Having prophesied disaster and been ignored, Paul is unable to refrain from saying, "I told you so." Even through this failing, he is able to offer some comfort to his fellow travelers. It's also interesting that his vision is so specific, and that, having seen Paul be right about the big picture, the commander is now convinced by Paul's ability and follows his advice. May we keep up our courage when the going gets rough too.

God bless,
Sam

Acts 27:21-32

21 Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, ‘Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and thereby avoided this damage and loss. ²²I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ²³For last night there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, ²⁴and he said, “Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor; and indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.” ²⁵So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. ²⁶But we will have to run aground on some island.’

27 When the fourteenth night had come, as we were drifting across the sea of Adria, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. ²⁸So they took soundings and found twenty fathoms; a little farther on they took soundings again and found fifteen fathoms. ²⁹Fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. ³⁰But when the sailors tried to escape from the ship and had lowered the boat into the sea, on the pretext of putting out anchors from the bow, ³¹Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, ‘Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.’ ³²Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat and set it adrift.

Adventures at sea, part 1

Good evening friends,
In yesterday's reading Paul advised the centurion and captain to stay where they were, even though it wasn't a good harbor to spend the winter in. Not surprisingly, they listened to the pilot and the owner of the ship instead of to Paul. We'll see what happens next in an exciting nautical adventure in two parts.

God bless,
Sam

Acts 27:13-20

13 When a moderate south wind began to blow, they thought they could achieve their purpose; so they weighed anchor and began to sail past Crete, close to the shore. ¹⁴But soon a violent wind, called the northeaster, rushed down from Crete. ¹⁵Since the ship was caught and could not be turned with its head to the wind, we gave way to it and were driven. ¹⁶By running under the lee of a small island called Cauda we were scarcely able to get the ship’s boat under control.

^{17After hoisting it up they took measures to undergird the ship; then, fearing that they would run on the Syrtis, they lowered the sea-anchor and so were driven. 18We were being pounded by the storm so violently that on the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard, 19and on the third day with their own hands they threw the ship’s tackle overboard. 20When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest raged, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.}