Was it when you were first born? No, not when you were first born ..
How about when Papa was first born ... when Papa was a baby?
No. Even before that.
Wow, the story I'm going to tell you happened a very long time ago.
It was in the year 60.
60? What is that? Right now our calendar says the year is 2010.
We have counted all years from year 1 on our calendar all the way to 2010. That is a lot of years. But our story happened when the calendar was around the year 60.
Paul
Here is a painting by Rembrandt that gives us an idea of what Paul might have looked like. He is about the age of a grandpa. The most important thing he did in his life was to love God, our Father and Creator.
Paul wrote in his letter to Ephesians
For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom His whole family on heaven and earth derives it's name ... and I pray that you being rooted and established in love .. may grasp how deep is the love of Christ ..
Paul loved God with all his heart and so he wanted to tell others what Jesus had done for us. That Jesus had saved us from our sins and made a way for us to get to heaven.
But, the problem was .. some people didn't like that Paul was talking about Jesus. They threw him in prison!!
Horrible, I know.
Paul was a brave man and he loved God more then he loved his own life so he chose to continue to teach about Jesus.
He ended up in prison. Poor Paul. Prison was a tough place.
They did not have TV or CD's. The food was awful, the cell was cold and damp. He was not comfortable.
They did not have TV or CD's. The food was awful, the cell was cold and damp. He was not comfortable.
God sent Paul on an errand. God was using Paul's time as a prisoner for good things. Paul who at the time was in jail in Jerusalem was sent to Italy where Caesar was so Paul could tell even the most important person about Jesus.
Roman cargo boat
So they set sail for Rome.
click on picture for better detail
On the map you can see where they started in Jerusalem
and then where they ended up in Italy.
(Ethan do you remember the tiny island of Malta?)
You can also see on the map the image of a hurricane type wind. It's there that our story happens.
Luke, the physician (like Dr. Hurley) wrote a book about the adventures of the new Christian Church and here is a part of his story .. from the book of Acts.
Paul who was a prisoner, Luke his friend and many other men were on the ship headed for Italy when there came a great storm ..
After some time at Sidon they got back on the ship to Italy and now
Luke is telling us what it was like for them as they were sailing ...
the winds were against us... we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia ...
We sailed slowly for a number of days and .... and with difficulty.
Since much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous ... Paul advised them, saying,
"Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives."
But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix ...
But soon a tempestuous wind, called the northeaster, struck down from the land.
And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along ... we managed with difficulty to secure the ship’s boat. After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship.
Then, fearing that they would run aground they lowered the gear, and thus they were driven along.
Since we were violently storm-tossed, they began the next day to jettison the cargo. And on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands.
When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.
Those poor men, they must have been exhausted. I bet they thought they were going to die because it says "all hope was abandoned" But the Creator of the universe had other plans.
Luke continues telling us what happened next ..
.. Paul stood up among them and said, "Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss.Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.
For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.'
So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on some island."
When the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship’s boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved."
Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it go.
The men that didn't stay in the boat - very bad for them.
Paul encouraged the men that stayed on the boat by saying ..
As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, "Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you."
And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves. (We were in all 276 persons in the ship.)
And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea.
Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore.
So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders.
Then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the beach... striking a reef, they ran the vessel aground. The bow stuck and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf...
the centurion, wishing to save Paul ... He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land, and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship.
And so it was that all were brought safely to land.
Just as God said it would happen
WOW! That was an amazing story. The Apostles Paul and Luke were SO brave.
And the angel, I bet Paul was so relieved when the angel came and told him that he would be OK.
What part of the story do you remember?
Do you remember why Paul was going to Italy?
Do you remember how the ocean looked during the storm? Do you think you might have been afraid?
Do you remember what happened at the end?
There is a lot of stuff happening in that story. God's Word is full of exciting stories just like that.
I liked how God was with Paul and Luke. Even though it was a scary time, still the Lord our God was with them.
Have you had a scary time in your life where you knew the Lord was with you .. even though it was a scary time?
The paintings were done by Ivan Aivazovsky
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