The Essential Question (Part 10): Paul's Journey to RomeSample

Mission Journal

Prepare: What is the longest trip you've ever taken? Spend a minute remembering what happened and how you felt about that experience.

Read: Acts 27:1-12

Reflect: I've kept a journal for most of my adult life. For years, I used spiral-bound notebooks, but I've switched to an iPad to record my thoughts more recently. One of the best times for journaling is when I'm traveling, especially for ministry purposes. Something about being on the road with God helps me reflect on what he's called me to do.

Our current passage reads like the beginning of Luke's mission journal for the trip to Rome (the word we in verse 1 reminds us Luke was an eyewitness). He inventories the odd little group that boarded the ship: Julius the centurion, Luke the journalist, Paul, the apostle, and other prisoners. Like the crew of the SS Minnow on the TV show Gilligan's Island, the passengers had no idea what was in store for them on their "tour."

That's the way it is with serving God. We set out in a direction with a certain group of people, but we must be ready for God to change everything along the way. As God said through his prophet Isaiah, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways" (Isaiah 55:8). As we discovered earlier in Acts, God always has a plan, though we may not always be able to perceive it in real-time.

I wonder what Paul was thinking as he sat on the deck staring out at the open sea. Did his thoughts drift back to his early life as a top-gun Pharisee, his dramatic encounter with Jesus on the Damascus Road, or all he'd been through as an "apostle to the Gentiles"? Today we know the result of Paul's ministry: the good news spread "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). But at the time, Paul had no idea that would happen. That's why it's important to look back, to remember what God has done in the past. It helps us recognize the pattern of what he's doing in the present and encourages us to trust Him for the future.

By the end of this short journal entry, as the wind stiffened and the sky darkened, we have a sense that the worst was yet to come. In the face of the impending disaster, Luke notes, Paul stepped up as the spiritual leader (27:9-10), and as we'll see, it would significantly affect the outcome of the trip. That's one thing mission trips, especially difficult ones, can do: create opportunities for shaping spiritual leaders, which the church desperately needs more of today.

Apply: If you've ever kept a journal, take some time to read portions of it today and reflect on what God has been doing in your life. If you don't keep one, start a mini-journal: write down the three biggest things God has done in your life over the past year.