I’m changing my titles to reflect a little more of the content. I believe search engines actually pull more from the headings than anywhere else. So, while I’ll keep the day, I’m adding more info about the post.
Readings
Hosea 13:4-8
Acts 27:27-44
Luke 9:18-27
Meditation
If you’ve been reading the story of Paul and the voyage to Rome today’s reading strikes calm amidst the storm. Paul, the prisoner, has essentially taken over as captain of the boat. The boat had been drifting with bad winds and the waves. The cargo has gone overboard and the crew has no idea where the are exactly. Paul promises they will all survive. They’ve been in this drift for 14 days, and the finely tuned ears of the sailors hear the wash of waves against land. Afraid of running onto sharp shoals (undersea rock cliffs) the crew throws out anchors to slow or stop the boat. If they can only hold until daylight, then they might have a chance. But some of the experienced crew decide the time is right to make a break. Paul stops them. He tells the centurion, unless they stay, we’re all hosed. The soldiers force the sailors back. They cut the dinghy loose. Everyone is in the same boat.
And that is when the calm happens. Paul tells them all to eat – to share a meal. They haven’t eaten for two weeks. Yes its dark, yes there is no life raft, yes we are going aground. Eat, the outcome is in God’s hands, but he works through people. Fed people are more prepared to swim (remember Phelp’s 5000 calorie diet?) Paul took bread, gave thanks to God before everyone and began to eat. Luke tells us the number, 276 people.
They make it to daylight and try and beach the ship. They do hit those shoals and the boat is being broken apart by the waves. Once again people want to do something stupid – kill all the prisoners. But the other leader steps forward. The centurion stops them, and gives the orders. Swimmers overboard first. Non-swimmers, grab a plank of the breaking up ship. In the middle of disasster, calm and order emerge. This time from a secondary source.
Where does that calm and order come from? It comes from the faithful Paul. God said not one would be lost – and Paul believed it. He so believed it that the crew followed his orders. His influence was such that at the tensest moment, with the sound of danger right over the side, everyone stopped worrying to eat. And the calm passes from one leader to the next. The centurion, needing Paul’s orders to stop the sailors from leaving, now takes his own action in abandoning the ship orderly. The calm comes from the promises of God.
That is also true in our lives. 401K’s crash. Houses sit unsold. Sons and daughters wander away. Parents and spouses pass away. The waves are all around. We have a sure Word. God is making all things new. He has a mission – to save sinners. We are one of those saved sinners. Occasionally we have to swim for it. Our sin leads us into dangerous shoals, but God is at work through it all. If the tension is a little high – take time for a meal – take eat this is my body given for you…
May the Lord keep you safe and calm through the shipwrecks we pilot ourselves into.
