Read Acts 27 and 28.

Sometimes there are bumps along the road and they can be annoying like mosquitoes intent on distracting you from the otherwise beautiful rain-forest around you.  But sometimes, there are hurricanes in the way that take you off the path you are traveling and shipwreck you somewhere completely unexpected.  Sometimes you escape one shipwreck and find a viper attached to your hand, and hopelessness seems your constant companion.  Sometimes God puts you on a path that doesn’t seem to be the most desirable, yet you know it will end where He wants you, so you are excited about it anyway.  At the end of Acts, Paul was en route under guard to Rome to appeal to Caesar.  While Paul was a well-traveled guy who was not unfamiliar with imprisonment, I imagine he would have preferred other travel arrangements and travel destinations.  But, we read Acts 27 and 28 and we see this guy who is so intent on serving the Lord, that he doesn’t let discomfort distract him.  He knows a fundamental truth that sometimes we Americans with so many creature comforts forget…life isn’t always easy.  Even the life of a Christian isn’t always easy, but the difference for a Christian is that in times of difficulty, we have a family, the church (which is not a building) to fall back on; we have a Father who loves us; we have the assurance of forgiveness; and we have the hope of eternal life.  Those difficult times seem to get easier when you have a light at the end of the tunnel that resembles sunshine more and more.

Paul dug in his heels and continued to preach the Word and reassure the people en route to Rome with him.  He didn’t let a fourteen day storm that only seemed to promise death distract him from God.  He didn’t let a shipwreck distract him.  He didn’t let the fear around him distract him.

I hope that the next time I’m going somewhere God is leading me and things start to really feel out of control that I keep focused on Jesus no matter what.

Also, in this comfortable America I’m proud to live in, I hope I don’t make Jesus secondary in my search for stability and (redundant) comfort.