You must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.

 Good morning. So the ship was caught in a nor’easter, and they could not make it go the way they wanted. They gave way to the wind and sailed under the shelter of a small island. My Bible shows a map of where they were. Remember they were only a short distance from the city where they wanted to go. The island was south west of where they wanted to go – because they were hit from the north east with the storm. Of course there was no way to know exactly what path they went after that because they were in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. The map just shows a squiggly line until they get to the island where they were grounded. The storm went on for many days and the and men lost all hope of being saved. So what did Paul say – I told you so. I told you not to go. Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying, do not be afraid; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you. All of this from his arrest in Jerusalem to now has been setting the stage for him standing before Caesar and witnessing to him. Even though the men did not follow Paul’s (God’s) advice, they were still going to get to where God wanted Paul to go. We need to be encouraged from this. We know what God wants us to do but circumstances prevent us from doing it. It is still possible that things will work out the way God wants them to, if we keep following His directions and not lose hope. From what the angel said, Paul must have been praying that no one would lose their lives. Father help us to not lose hope of achieving what You have told us should happen. Help us to trust You to get there

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