Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me

Good morning. And so what happened when Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns instead of complaining? Suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains where unfastened. Pretty cool, right? When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. Remember that there were no lights like we have, and he could not see clearly that the prisoners were still in their cells; he assumed that they had escaped. He knew that the penalty for letting them escape was death. Paul said, do not harm yourself, we are all here! There was probably a lamp where the jailer was; and so the prisoners could see him, but he could not see them. He called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before them. He brought them out, and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Since he called for lights, there must’ve been at least one other person with him. Why did he ask them, what must I do to be saved? Had he heard about them preaching “a way of salvation”; or was it because of their praying and singing in the midst of the prison that he was aware he needed to be saved? We will find out next time what Paul told him. Father thank You that when we praise You in the midst of our problems, You respond in miraculous ways! Sometimes You miraculously solve the problems; but at all times You give us peace in the midst of our problems.