Passage of the Day - February 23, 2011

Acts 27:1-13

¹When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, they proceeded to deliver Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius.

 ²And embarking in an Adramyttian ship, which was about to sail to the regions along the coast of Asia, we put out to sea accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica.

 ³The next day we put in at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul with consideration and allowed him to go to his friends and receive care.

 ⁴From there we put out to sea and sailed under the shelter of Cyprus because the winds were contrary.

 ⁵When we had sailed through the sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia.

 ⁶There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it.

 ⁷When we had sailed slowly for a good many days, and with difficulty had arrived off Cnidus, since the wind did not permit us to go farther, we sailed under the shelter of Crete, off Salmone;

 ⁸and with difficulty sailing past it we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.

 ⁹When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast was already over, Paul began to admonish them,

 ¹⁰and said to them, "Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives."

 ¹¹But the centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul.

 ¹²Because the harbor was not suitable for wintering, the majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there, if somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

 ¹³When a moderate south wind came up, supposing that they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began sailing along Crete, close inshore.

Paul was given the wisdom to determine that this trip was going to end in disaster.  However, as often happens with wisdom, his words were ignored.  Not listening to wisdom is what has caused much of the pain in our world.  Not listening to wisdom is why many are not Christians.  People are more concerned with their pride and being right than being wise.  I know I have this problem. 

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)