Thought of the Day May 18th, 2020

Acts 27:39-44 Paul is Shipwrecked while being taken to Rome

39 When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. 40 Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach. 41 But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.

42 The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. 43 But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. 44 The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.

    Often, we see that the decision or action of one person can have a positive affect for many. In the versus prior to these we see that there were 276 people onboard the ship. They had run into a sand bar some distance from the shore, so they were stopped from their goal (the beach). The soldiers were afraid of punishment if the prisoners escaped. If the Centurion had not stopped the soldiers Paul and the other would have been killed.

   This true in many situations where an organization may run into an obstacle that stops them short of their goal. But the action or inaction of just one person mean the difference of the organization reaching the goal or not.

Peace and Blessings- Pastor Tom