YOU ARE NOT ALONE

<p>YOU ARE NOT ALONE We begin reading in Acts Chapter twenty-seven  Acts 27:1 Paul finally leaves Caesarea and starts his voyage of some two thousand seven hundred kilometres to Rome, along with Luke and another Christian named Aristarchus, and other prisoners, all in the custody of a Roman imperial guard named Julius. After battling headwinds, they landed at Smyrna on the coast of Turkey, and from there they sailed for Italy. Again they struck heavy winds along the southern coast of Crete, finally arriving at Fair Havens and staying there for several days, and Paul spoke to the ship’s officers about the weather being dangerous for long voyages and told them he believed there would be trouble ahead if they went on - perhaps shipwreck, loss of cargo, injuries, and death.  But the officers in charge of the prisoners took advice from the ship’s captain and the owner to go further up the coast to a safe harbour called Phoenix for the winter. Then a light wind began blowing from the south so they decided to sail along close to shore, but abruptly the weather changed and a heavy wind of typhoon strength (a “northeaster,”) caught the ship and blew it out to sea. They tried to face back to shore but couldn’t, so they gave up and let the ship run before the storm, and sailed behind a small island, and hoisted aboard the lifeboat that was being towed behind them, binding the ship with ropes to strengthen the hull.  The next day as the seas grew higher, the crew began throwing the cargo overboard, all the tackle and anything else they could lay their hands on, but the terrible storm raged on, until at last all hope was gone, but finally Paul called the crew together and said, ‘Men, you should have listened to me in the first place and not left Fair Havens—you would have avoided all this injury and loss! But cheer up! Not one of us will lose our lives, even though the ship will go down, for last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul, for you will surely s