Acts 27:1-6

This is the start of a long and arduous trip for Paul. He had a promise from the Lord Himself that he would testify before Caesar in Rome, but the journey was going to test his faith along the way.

Many times we have a promise from God, however, He doesn’t always reveal the individual steps of the journey. There is a wonderful book called “Hinds Feet in High Places”—an allegory—which addresses this reality. Much afraid, the main character of the book, embarks on a trip to the High Places thinking it will be a relative short trip but encounters many “detours”, adding at times to her distress. The journey challenges her in more ways than one and at times she would get discouraged. At one point, Much-Afraid is carried by the Shepherd (representative of the Lord) from the valley to above the clouds to see the High Places and then brought down again to the valley and the lesson is clear—though the clouds sometimes block the view, the High places are still there.

Many times God will show us a glimpse of our future but the path to our future often has many unsuspecting twists and turns that will no doubt enrich our experience in ways that will leave us with invaluable lesson gems, much like Much-Afraid’s little stones she put in her pouch. At every detour, she would pick up a stone, representative of that place as a reminder of where she had been.

Paul was about to have plenty of stones, which thankfully Luke wrote an accounting of so we can share in his journey. His destiny was certain for God had promised him, but he left out the “detours that Paul would face in the days ahead.