Acts | Chapter 27

 

Acts Ch 27:1-20

“By the time we get to Phoenix”

Vs. 1-8 Ships log

Vs. 9-20 Tempest-tossed

Intro.

As we begin the final two chapters of the book of Acts Luke records for us the last of Paul’s four shipwrecks and the only one given to us in detail. For the most part this chapter reads like a ship log as Paul is being brought to Rome so that Caesar will hear his case. Remember that according to the author Luke, who wrote to Theophilus, the purpose of his writing was to provide an “orderly account” so that he would know the “certainty of the things in which he was instructed concerning all that Jesus began both to do and teach”. Luke wanted Theophilus to be as certain, as he and the apostles were, concerning Jesus being alive and still working in the lives of His people.

So we need to ask ourselves, “What does their shipwreck on their way to Rome have to do with Jesus being alive and still working in the lives of His people?” May I suggest that the purpose of this chapter is to show the practical differences between those who trust in Jesus and those that don’t? Here’s where I’m going with this, both Christian and non-Christian faced the same obstacles (the storm and shipwreck) but the way in which they faced them underscores the continual work of Jesus in His people.

 The Christian is often under the illusion that he can determine his spiritual state by whether or not he faces storms. In other words the mistaken Christian thinks that if they face any storms in their lives then they must be outside God’s will. The truth is found in what James 1:2-4 tells us “brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” Simply, it is not the trial that determines our spiritual condition but rather how we deal with the trial. As we read this section we have a clear-cut way to examine our spiritual condition by way of comparing our actions to Paul or to the rest of the world that was on that ship. 

Having done so I realize that I need to rely even more on Jesus in my life to become a leader like Paul. This Friday will mark the 62nd anniversary of one of the greatest leaders in the 20th century, Winston Churchill. What made him a great leader was how he handled a crisis, you see the day he took office was the same day the Germans invaded France (and most of western Europe), it was how he sailed stormy seas and endured shipwrecks that caused history to view him as such a great leader. Let’s come on board and take evaluation of our spiritual condition as we see Jesus continue to both do and teach through His servant Paul.    

Vs. 1-8 Ships log

Vs. 1-2 Back in chapter 23:11 while Paul was alone, the Lord spoke to him about bearing witness in Rome, little did Paul realize the way in which the Lord would fulfill His promise. Though I’m certain Luke did not write this as an allegory it nonetheless illustrates the voyage that all Christians are on. The first thing to note is that our destination is certain but the route we take to get there is often very unpredictable! I mean Paul was very encouraged by the Lord’s promise to him, he had already expressed a desire to go to Rome as well as Spain (Rom. 15:24-28) prior to Jesus telling him he was going. But never would he have guessed the way in which the Lord would bring him there. My point? Well Christian sailors, we can avoid a lot of heartaches in our Christian voyage if we keep our eyes fixed upon who the captain of our ship is, not the route by which He is taking us! Now I have to confess that this is very difficult for me to do and I’m usually getting seasick as I look at how we are leaving the harbor.

         Further more Luke records for us the other People that were placed upon the ship for the first part of the voyage:

We: Since Luke is writing this then the “We” would include himself. In fact this is the longest of the “we” sections that Luke writes in the book of Acts.

Other prisoners: The word “other” means “of a different kind”. Although we can not be sure, many believe that these were condemned criminals being brought to Rome to entertain the populace in arenas by their death. If you will, Paul was on death row with perhaps the last opportunity to speak of Christ to men who were quite literally on their last voyage.

Julius, a centurion of the Augustan Regiment: Not much is known about this group except that in Rome they were known as “foreigners,” because of their work mainly in lands occupied by the Romans. It seems that they were a special group of imperial guards that were hand picked to protect against military intrigue. In other words they were like the secret service of today. Julius was the commander of the 100 or so soldiers that made up the 267 people that were on the ship, (verse 37). Talk about a contrast, Paul was on a ship with condemned prisoners and loyal guards who were bringing them to their deaths.

Aristarchus: This guy’s name (The best prince) appears 5 times in the Bible and you could say based upon those entries that he was a “prince of a guy”. He first showed up connected to Paul in Acts 19:29. It was there that he was seized by the riotous mob in Ephesus along with Gaius and we are told there that they were both Paul’s traveling companions, so he was most likely one of the folks that got saved during Paul’s 1st missionary Journey in Acts 17:1-4. Then in Acts 20:4 we are told that he and Secundus, both of Thessalonica, accompanied Paul when he brought an offering to the Church in Jerusalem. In Col. 4:10 he is called a fellow prisoner and in Philemon 1:24 he is called a fellow laborer.

These last two references to him shows that he went to Rome with Paul and remained there serving Paul and the believers in Rome. For Luke and him to be on board the ship with Paul would be near impossible unless they came with Paul as being his slave. I like this guy, he is the kind of guy that is ready, willing and able to do whatever it takes to further God’s work! They enter a ship with a route that is hugging the shore along the Mediterranean Sea heading up through modern day Turkey. The first of two ships was from an area (Adramyttium just above Troas) that had an ominous name in light of the future of their voyage, “The court or mansion of death”.

Vs. 3 They no doubt set sail from Caesarea about 65 miles to Sidon and the Roman commander gives Paul liberty to go into the city and receive care from his friends in the city. This group of believers would have come from the time when Paul persecuted the Church and they fled Jerusalem. Looking at this scene and I’m amazed at what a witness Paul had already become to give confidence to Julius to treat him so favorably. Paul truly was a witness of Jesus in every situation he found himself in.

Vs. 4-5 After leaving Sidon the winds blowing northeast this time of year would have given them an easier trip seeing that they would have sailed with Cypress to their right in about half the time. Instead, they encountered the first of many obstacles on this voyage, “contrary winds” or winds that blew northwest. So they use the Island of Cypress to help shelter them from the winds. So to counter this they would have had to sail a zigzag course, using Cypress to help block the winds.

We believe the ship left Caesarea in mid August and according to verse 9 when they arrived at Fair Havens on the Island of Crete which is off the tip of Greece it was already past the Fast which would have been the “Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur”. According to some, the date of Yom Kippur that year was October 5th.  Which means they had been traveling some 3 to 4 weeks by the time they got to port in Myra which is in modern day Turkey.

I again remind you that Luke is being very specific in his details to us about the difficulty Paul, as well as the rest of those on the ship, were having to get to their port. How about it? Have you ever felt as though you were facing “contrary winds” as you tried to follow what the Lord has told you? As I studied this section I realized that I’ve got a lot of growing to do in the Lord because I don’t do crises well. I’d like to just get off the sea as soon as possible and any port will do! It seems to me that lately the Lord has been trying to develop my character a bit as we set sail to where He has called us but I’m getting weary of the zigzag course we’re on and the slowness of our journey. 

Vs. 6-8 Finally they arrived at Myra’s chief port of Andriaca that was known for the trade of grain from Egypt to Rome. Julius puts them aboard a much larger ship, this one was probably around 120 feet long. They sailed up the Aegean Sea keeping the Island of Rhodes on their left for many days, then came up to Cnidus which was the last port in the Aegean Sea. The words “sailed slowly” are nautical terms meaning to tack. Furthermore, Luke says that they sailed “many days and arrived with difficulty” in other words it took a long time with great effort to go a short distance. Finally Luke says that they just could not keep on the course they had started out on; instead they sailed in between the Islands Cos and Rhodes seeking shelter from the strong winds by going around the tip of the Island of Crete which would be Salmone with great difficulty. So?

Well lets look at how Luke describes their voyage since leaving Myra’s port 3 to 4 weeks earlier.

• Vs. 7a Sailed slowly many days

• Vs. 7b Arrived with difficulty

• Vs. 7c Wind not permitting us to proceed

• Vs. 8a Passing it with difficulty

On the first half of their voyage Luke says that the “winds were contrary,” but since leaving the port of Myra four times in two verses he mentions how slow and difficult the journey was to get to where God had clearly said He would take them. After many weeks of sailing they have hardly gone anywhere. Do you see my point? Paul’s voyage was at a near stand still; they were going nowhere; how could this be the Lord’s will? Well God was more interested in getting their hearts to where he wanted them to be than He was in getting them to where their bodies wanted to be! Oh how I do battle with this personally.

Vs. 9-20 Tempest-tossed

Vs 9-14 In this section we can see some great spiritual truths to why we often get ourselves into spiritual storms and shipwrecks.

         As they finally arrived at the small port of Lasea called Fair Havens they were faced with a decision which apparently because of Julius’ respect for Paul he was consulted about what to do. Sailing along this route to Rome from mid-September to early November was very difficult, but all sailing ceased from Mid-November until the first of February because of hurricane force winds from the northeast called “Euroclydon” (north easterner) verse 14. The word in verse 14 “tempestuous” is where we get our English word “typhoon”.

 So Paul advised them no doubt since he had already survived three shipwrecks (2 Cor. 11:25) to not go any further and to winter in the port of Fair Havens. But Julius was persuaded by the ship’s captain and the owner of the ship that they could travel the 40 miles up the coast to Phoenix, which was a larger city with better protection from the winds. Initially the conditions as they left Fair havens looked to back their decision to travel the forty miles up the coast but as we shall see in verse 14 they had made a bad decision. So what got them into stormy seas? Well the text tells us three things led them into tempest-tossed seas.

Vs. 9 IMPATIENCE “When much time had been spent”: They were stuck for a considerable time in Fair Havens and had already wasted a lot of time on a very difficult voyage. Simply put they made a bad decision for the same reason we do, they became impatient with where they were and how long it was taking them to get to where they wanted to be! Ouch! How many of our shipwrecks would have been avoided if we would have just harbored the winter out in Fair Havens? Instead we think, “No if I can just push a little further up the coast man I’ll be happy!” The number one reason we get into typhoon-like trials is because of our own impatience!

Vs. 11-12 PERSUADED BY THE MAJORITY: Julius sought the experts instead of seeking godly counsel, Paul. Hey, democracy is a great thing but you can not use that as the basis of knowing the heart of God. We often get ourselves into typhoon trials because we listen to the experts instead of following God’s word. “What do you say? And what do you think? Ok, let’s take a vote!” Paul gave the council from personal experience he had been shipwrecked three times as well as from God’s Word but it was not the popular decision. You know why? Well because there was nothing to do in Fair Havens for the winter and the sailors wanted the ease and nightlife of Phoenix forty miles up the coast. So Paul’s voice was not the popular counsel. How about you, are you open to counsel that goes against the popular majority? How many trials would we have avoided if we would have followed the advice that went against the popular majority? 

Vs. 13 TRUSTED IN IDEAL CIRCUMSTANCES: Finally their mistake was that they looked at and tested the winds, which are far more unpredictable, than God’s Word. Bob Dylan sang about the answer blowing in the wind but most often all you’re going to find in blowing wind is dust and allergies! We Christians get ourselves into typhoon trials because we look to favorable circumstances to point out our course instead of following the clear path of God’s word! Folks, you put impatience and being persuaded by the majority, and trusting in ideal circumstances, and you are guaranteed to run into trouble. 

Vs. 15-20 Let’s look at the outcome of this type of decision making:

Vs. 15-17a If you’re guided by circumstance you will soon be out of control, blown whatever way the wind is taking you. Furthermore you will be driven out without a lifeboat. Luke records for us the fact that they were so certain of their decision that they failed to bring aboard the skiff which trailed behind them and it was with great difficulty that they brought it on board. Simply put they spent all their energy upon just securing something that could possibly save them. Quite literally the only thing that was blowing in the wind was caution! 

Vs. 17b They had to do what is called “frapping,” which is where they wrapped cables around the ship’s hull to keep it from splitting apart. Furthermore they were worried about sandbars called the Syrtis Sands which were 250 miles away off the coast of Africa famous for the sinking of ships. If you make decisions based upon impatience, the popular majority and circumstances you will soon find your life in a panic as you put all your energy in just trying to keep your boat a float worrying about sandbars 250 miles away!

Vs. 18-19 To save themselves they got to the place where they began to throw out the necessities of life. I mean they chucked out some of the food and as verse 33 says they didn’t eat for 14 days. They also threw out the ability to power the ship. Do you see the downward progression here? They are now just living only for the here and now and not preparing anything for the future even if they survive.

Vs. 20 Finally, their decision has brought them to the place of hopelessness. Look at what Luke tells us concerning their situation, “Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us”. Do you see that? They navigated by the constellations, that’s how they could tell where they were at. So for many days they had no idea where they were and furthermore the situation was still beating on them.

When impatience, the popular majority and circumstances guide us, eventually you will become lost and beaten up with no hope of survival. But here is the good news: they finally gave up all hope of being saved by their own efforts. That’s when God can step in and save us! Oh thank God for no ability to navigate and the world beating down upon us for it’s then that we are finally receptive to His saving grace! 

                                                              Acts Ch 27:21-44

“As good as His Word”

Vs. 21-26 Blown away

Vs. 27-38 Don’t jump ship

Vs. 39-44 Saved surfers

Intro.

As we saw in V. 20 Paul was in one of those typhoon trials that come upon us at times. In fact the word “tempestuous” in verse 14 is where we get our English word “typhoon”. 

Now I find that I can be in these trials for two reasons:

James 1:2-6 The testing of my faith: In this type of situation I may find myself in a typhoon trial apart from any of my own doing and God is allowing it to produce a Christ like character. In other words as James so aptly puts it, “that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

The other reason is poor decision making on my part. So based upon the text, we saw three ingredients that led them into a typhoon trial.

Vs. 9, 12 IMPATIENCE: “When much time had been spent,” and “if by any means they could reach Phoenix”. You put the words “much time spent” with “by any means” and the outcome is always impatience! They became impatient with where they were and how long it was taking them to get to where they wanted to be! And they made an impetuous decision based on that.

Vs. 11-12 PERSUADED BY THE MAJORITY: The popular decision was what the majority wanted, to stay the winter at a more comfortable place. Have you ever noticed that the popular majority decision is almost always the one that makes its appeal to our physical comfort and ease? If what we are about to make a decision on is based upon our being able to kick back and relax on anything other than God’s grace our red flags ought to be up.

Vs. 13 TRUSTED IN IDEAL CIRCUMSTANCES: We place far too much importance in our decision making on fickle circumstances. In other words we place our faith on fate instead of our fate on faith!  

You combine “impatience” with “being persuaded by the popular majority,” and through placing our “faith on fate” and you are always going to find yourselves in a “typhoon trial”.  The question is what do you do if it’s too late and your voyage looks as if it’s going to become a shipwreck? Well we are going to see how Paul made his decisions in the remainder of this chapter and what’s cool to me is that no matter how we have gotten ourselves into a typhoon trial God can cause us to gain great spiritual growth as we go through it. 

Vs. 21-26 Blown away

Vs. 21 It could well be said that “by crisis a person is not made but by a crisis we will see what a person is made of!” Paul had started this voyage in mid August and by now it was mid November. Here then are the facts:

• The Journey that started off with “contrary winds” was now a typhoon trial and all hope was gone.

• The trial could have been avoided had they only listened to his counsel earlier but they made the decision to sail as we saw based upon impatience, the popular majority and placing their faith on fate.

• Paul boarded the ship in Caesarea as a prisoner but when the ship was in open seas, when neither sun nor stars appeared for days, he became for all practical purposes the captain.

Based upon this verse and verse 27 it had been 14 days since they left Fair Havens for the comfort of Phoenix on what (borrowing from Gilligan’s Island) was to be only a “Three hour tour”. They had not eaten since and the question comes to mind, why? A lot of times when people go through typhoon trials they may abstain from food in a fast seeking God. But based upon the text (plenty of grain on board and verse 33 they do eat) with the ruff seas and all I think it is safe to say that they weren’t seeking God they were just (pardon the pun) literally sick of the situation.

         Have you ever experienced that? The situation that you find yourself in has caused you to lose your appetite? I know what you’re thinking, “Obviously that has not happened to you very much!” Worry and anxiety can cause all sorts of physical disorders can’t it? 

But look carefully at how Paul responds to this crisis:

“Paul stood in the midst of them”: The words in the Greek not only describe his physically coming forward but in contrast to those that didn’t. In times of crisis the one that leads is the one that comes forward and stands in contrast to all the others that don’t and says, “Follow me!” How about it, when you are facing a crisis do you stand around and say, “Some one ought to do something about this!” Where am I going with this? Well it’s simple the first right decision Paul made was to stand up in the midst of a crisis! Oh don’t underestimate the importance of that, the world is waiting for you to stand up in the midst of the chaos and say, “Not on my watch!”

“Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss.” Ok I know how this verse looks, Paul is getting his, “I told you so, in.” But again in the Greek it is “It was necessary for you to listen to me not to set sail.” Paul mentioned the wisdom of his former counsel in order to induce acceptance of his present advice. So then here is the second right decision Paul made in a crisis “instill confidence through communication.” Paul had already made the right decision to stand up but he still needed to get others to follow, so he reminded them that he was right once and that not following his leadership had gotten them into their present typhoon trial. Just how did Paul instill confidence through his communication so that others would follow? 

Well we see four things here:

Vs. 22, 25 Encouraged them: Twice in five verses Paul says, “take heart or be of good courage”. Paul communicated by stating, “It’s going to be alright!” Now it’s interesting that he starts out by saying that, then in verses 22b –24 gives the reason why he is so confident. In other words it does no good to tell a person to cheer up without giving them reasons why they can! Oftentimes during a time of great difficulty you will hear someone say, “I know that you have lost everything but you still have each other.” What they are doing is exactly what Paul did here, “You all are going to make it and only the vehicle that got you here is going to get destroyed.” If the worst thing that could happen is the loss of life and that’s not going to happen then already things are looking up!

Vs. 23 Gave them perspective: Paul had been exposed to the same perils they had but he was comforted by the presence of God in the midst of the typhoon trial. In other words God did not take him from the pressure of the trial rather Paul had the assurance of God’s presence in the midst of it. In the darkest of nights all hope that they would be saved given up, the presence of the Lord stands by him. Here’s where I’m going with this so pay attention, we often think when we have given up all hope that we are going to be saved that what we need is the pressure to change in order to gain perspective on our situation. But what we really need is not a change in the situation but rather the assurance of God’s presence in the midst of it.

In the 139th Psalm David comes to this realization when he writes, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me; Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.” Simply put it is assurance that God is standing with us in our situation that gives us perspective not being removed from it.

Vs. 24 Showed the Process not just the victory: Notice this, Paul did not portray himself as one that never struggled as they did. No, in the words of the angel of God clearly Paul had been afraid and doubted God’s ability to keep His word. Otherwise the angel of the Lord would not have said “Stop being afraid….you must be brought before Caesar.” What this reveals is that Paul was experiencing the same emotional hopelessness in the situation as they were presently and that God’s presence changed his heart. Simply put Paul showed that, “If God can change my heart He can change yours too!”  I love the fact here in verse 24 that the angel of the Lord told Paul that God had granted to him all who sailed with him. It reveals to things:

Paul was praying for his shipmates:

God was going to save them based upon His grace. The word, “granted” in Greek is literally “graced”. They were going to be saved from harm because of God’s grace.  

Vs. 25-26 Showed that the key to a calm heart was trust in God not the situation: Here in this verse we have a great definition of what it means to have trust in God and His Word, “I believe God that it will be just as it was told me.” Did you notice that Paul does not say, “I believe in the existence of God”? Instead Paul is declaring his total confidence in God and His promises seeing in His Word. And when did Paul declare such trust? Well when all hope of being saved was lost! Now look at verse 26 in light of Paul’s trust in God and His Word. Paul says, “Hey, the circumstances are not what you base your hope and confidence on.” Oh to God that we would learn to trust God not only when there is no other hope but rather because there is no other hope! Let me put it to you this way, “We always interpret our situations by what we know to be true about God and not interpret who God is based upon our circumstances!”

So Paul communicated four things that made people want to follow him:

• Encouragement: God is in control

• Perspective: God is with us

• Progress: God is at work in me

• Truth: God will do what He said He would do  

I challenge you to write those four things down so that you can easily find them in order to remind yourself of the hope you have in Christ! 

Vs. 27-38 Don’t jump ship

Vs. 27-29 A British sailor named James Smith wrote a book called “The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul,” based upon his discoveries. He found that the drift of a ship of that size in those conditions would travel 36 miles in 24 hours. The distance of the Island of Clauda (verse 16) which is right off of Crete to the eastern tip of Malta (28:1) is 476.6 miles, which at the rate of speed would have taken them 13 days one hour and 21 minutes to reach this place. Again based upon those calculations a ship leaving Clauda in the evening would have reached about three miles off the shore of Malta around midnight of the 14th day right at what is called today, “”St. Paul’s Bay”!

Now they probably could hear in the distance the pounding of the surf and as they took soundings they found that they were at 120 feet then as they sailed a little farther in the dark they found that they were at 90 feet. So they dropped anchors from the stern in order to keep the bow pointed towards the shore and prayed that daylight would come before they drifted onto the rocks.

Vs. 30-32 Here we see yet another way Paul demonstrated good decisions, He sweated the details! Look at these verses carefully and it reveals that Paul stayed on top of what was going on. As the sailors sought to save their own lives at the expense of every one else, Paul noticed that they pretended to need the small life boat to stretch out or lay out the anchors in front of the ship. But Paul thought, “Hey wait a minute if we set anchors in front of the ship that will cause the bow to head out to sea instead towards shore.”  So Paul springs into action and lets the centurion Julius know what was going on and that if the sailors leave everybody will be in jeopardy.

         Now here is an interesting section of scripture in dealing with God’s promises and human responsibility, or if you will in theological terms “predestination and freewill”. In verse 24 God promised Paul that every life would be spared and that only the property would be lost but here Paul clearly warns Julius that unless the sailors stayed aboard he would not be saved. You see God’s promise includes man’s responsibility to obey His commands. God’s promise to Paul never canceled out the sailor’s responsibility to obey and just because God announced the end result prior to it happening does not lessen all that were aboard the ship’s responsibility to stay upon the ship. The bottom-line? Stay aboard Jesus and don’t jump ship and if you have to cut away any means of escape!  

Vs. 33-34 Here is another way Paul showed good decisions, They were very practical! Paul did not just say, “Hey, fellows that Lord is in this so don’t worry!” No, he said, “Hey guys the Lord is in this so you need to prepare yourselves so that He can work through you.” All too often we tend to say things like, “Well it’s all going to work out some way or the other!” Instead clearly Paul believed that the Lord was going to keep His word but he also approached this with common sense. There are far too many Christians out there who believe that trust in God means we don’t do anything and that’s not at all what it means. Rather it means that we allow Him to work through us!

Vs. 35-38 I love the fact that Paul led by example and what was that example? Well it’s found in the word “gave thanks,” which is the word we get our English word Eucharist from. Now I’m not suggesting that Paul had communion with them, rather I’m suggesting that Paul thanked the Lord for His provision in front of them all. In other words Paul demonstrated his decision-making ability by showing that he recognized that the Lord was the only One providing for his well being!

         So how did Paul respond to this crisis? Well we have seen by:

• standing up in the midst of a crisis

• instilling confidence through communication

• sweating the details

• being very practical

• recognizing that the Lord was the One providing

Vs. 39-44 Saved surfers

Vs. 39-42 Now I find it interesting that daylight did not immediately change the fact that they still did not know where they were but neither did it change how they were going to respond. In fact their circumstances got worse not better. They are prepared to make it to shore in the ship and lighten the load as well as hoist the main sail and aim for the beach, all of which were right decisions. But things didn’t work out according to their plan but they were working out according to what the Lord told Paul that no loss of life, only the ship. Here’s my point: if their confidence was in their decision-making then they would have been bummed out and would have acted as they did, (to kill the prisoners).

Folks, obstacles will come at us even when we make good Godly plans. Our ship will run aground, become immovable and break apart between two seas at times. And we will have some planning for our destruction as well but God will always have a “centurion” who will save us and provide a means of escape. Sometimes we will have to “swim” to shore, some will get to surf on “boards,” others will hang onto “broken pieces of ship”. But I guarantee as you trust Jesus all will escape safely to land.

         Hey Christian, you may be here today and reading this text you feel a bit like you were on this ship. Perhaps you’re feeling like everything is going wrong in your life. May I suggest to you to turn to Jesus as Paul clearly did in the midst of his typhoon trial? If you do you will find out that though “Everything is going wrong it will all turn out alright in Him!”