Is There Ever a Good Excuse?

                The shipwreck story found in Acts 27 is much more than a story of a seafaring expedition gone wrong. This past week my New Testament class studied the story in a little more detail than just casually reading it, and I was really impressed by how close the story parallels conditions in our own lives. Let me explain:

                In the story, Paul is a political prisoner being transported to Rome so that he can be tried by Caesar. After spending quite a length of time sailing along the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Paul and his captors found themselves in a place called “Fair Havens” before the onset of winter. At this point the party must decide whether to stay in the havens for the winter or set forth to continue on their journey. Paul approaches the centurion who commands the party and advises him that they will lose the ship, their cargo, and some lives if they continue onwards so late in the season.

                It is the next point in the story that is so eerily familiar to me: the centurion decides not to follow Paul’s counsel. In his head he begins a reasoning process that I have gone through too many times, and comes up with the following bits of information:

·         The location where they are at is “not commodious to winter in”. It’s a little uncomfortable and it would take a little sacrifice to stay there. The majority of the party doesn’t want stay around.

·         There is another port a very short distance away (on the same landmass, no less!) that would be a much more ideal place to stay for the winter

·         The expert in the matter, the ship’s captain, advises going onwards will be perfectly safe.

·         The ship’s owner, the largest stakeholder in the matter, also advises going onwards.

·         The winds shifted to provide nearly perfect conditions to sail onwards.

Faced with all of this information pointing to the conclusion “move forward”, the centurion decides to set sail. What follows is an absolute disaster: the ship sails straight into a raging storm that causes them to lose all of their cargo, the ship, and leaves them at the mercy of the wave for 14 long and terrifying days.

                The whole story is comparable is making the decision to follow the prophet. When the prophet speaks, what will it take for us to listen? Will we be like those in the shipwreck and give more importance to factors like comfort, peer pressure, “expert” advice, short-term conditions, and the seeming ease of a path more than the advice of the prophet? For in our day those same conditions exist in most major decisions. It isn’t easy to follow the prophet; the world and it’s “experts” call it foolish, and most assuredly the adversary attempts to make the path of wrong look easy, and more comfortable.  

                I share my personal witness that God is more knowledgeable than all of the intelligence in the world. Following his path, as marked by His servants, is the way to avoid misery and sin. Undoubtedly it will not be easy or popular to do so, but if we can learn from the centurion and heed the voice of God, we will be able to avoid the shipwrecks and calamity of our own lives.