Begin with two minutes of silence and stillness before God.
Today’s scripture passage is a remarkable and detailed account of one of the most famous shipwrecks ever recorded. the Titanic, the Edmund Fitzgerald (only by virtue of Gordon Lightfoot), the Lusitania, and Paul. There are obviously many more, but Luke spent time giving us great detail about this ordeal. Why is that, do you think? A couple of things I think about: 1) It was so relevant to their day. Everyone knew of the importance of shipping. It would be like Amazon showing up at your house once a year with everything you had ordered. It was common. They could relate. 2) God has always reminded us through the stories in scripture that He loves to rub shoulders with the everyday guy. The sailors, the centurion, and the slaves all got to experience Him and all in the same proportions. Rank did not receive a bigger dose.
Now let’s look at the story. As usual, God has given this group, like us, some warnings. Some guardrails. Through Paul, “Hey guys, you might want to consider not sailing there.” But, just like we experience, the world says, “It’s OK. Just going to go a little further on. What could go wrong?” Man, let that sink in a little. How many poor decisions could I have avoided in my life had I not trusted that voice? But they did. And just like me, they determined that they could just hug the coastline, not do anything too stupid (meaning make sure your actions are at least better than the worst person you know), and things would work out. It didn’t. By the third day, they were chunking their cargo and their tackle into the sea to lighten the load. But verse 20 is the final straw for them. It says, “…from then on all HOPE of our being saved was gradually abandoned.” I hate to admit it, but that is where God has done His best work with me – when I have exhausted my efforts and abandoned any hope my efforts could muster.
Fear not. God showed up there just as He does in our lives. He had already told Paul that He was going to Rome. So Paul was able to stand in their midst on Day 14 of this horrendous storm and tell them, “Hang on. God has told me that I and all with me on this ship will survive.” He even had the centurion following his orders. Not surprised about that. God usually has that effect on those guys.
So even after they ran aground on a reef, had the ship break up, and all had to swim to shore, all 276 on board survived, just like God told Paul they would. I can only imagine the stories told around dinner tables over the next few months/years. “Hey kids, you are not going to believe this…”
Take two minutes to reflect in silence.