Life's Hurricanes

The pleas of officials to evacuate before Hurricane Florence reminds me of the storm that Paul encountered, the firsthand and dramatic account of which is told by Luke in Acts 27. Tropical-like cyclones are rare meteorological phenomena in the Mediterranean Sea; so perhaps that is why the ship's captain ignored Paul's warning not to set sail.  For two weeks the ship was battered and eventually ran aground on Malta. It's a fascinating story.

I've wondered:  Why did God allow that to happen to Paul?  After all, he was on his way to Rome to meet Nero, who was still relatively sane at that point in his reign.  Why waste the time of one His most valuable assets with a detour that could have been avoided?  What was the point of that?  

Luke doesn't tell us.  But we do know that God will go to any length to bring people to Himself.  Almost certainly at least one person on the ship or on the island came to trust in Jesus through Paul's testimony.  That alone would have been worth the detour.  And maybe that person then led others to Christ and those people led still more to Christ, and so forth, for 2000 years.  Maybe there are tens of thousands or even millions of spiritual descendants of that one person.  Maybe you are - or will be - one of them!  I can't wait to hear the rest of the story at the Throne of Christ.

The next Atlantic hurricane will be called Gordon.  We are early in this year's hurricane season, so it will come; as will personal hurricanes in our lives.  But God is always in control.  For those who love Him, He will bring good out of the storms of life.  



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