Against The Tide of Defeat: Beating the Odds>

     On one of Pauls's last voyages on his way to Rome he and about 276 others ran aground on the Island of Malta. After spending 14 days in a sea turbulent with waves and a sky filled with thunder and lightening they all went ashore as they could.  Those it was said who could swim went first, and then those others made it ashore on pieces of "plank" or the remnants of the ship they had just been in.  For the past two week period many did not eat for sake of suspense.  So they were in a weakened state and Paul urges them to eat and gain strength for the trip remaining.  He also encourages them in a prophetic word that no one would be lost due to the storm.  They would all come under God's divine care.
    Harkening back a thousand years before, the Prophet Jonah was thrown overboard to appease God and those who were of a superstitious nature threw him overboard without compunction.
     Fighting these very powerful types of natural disasters causes us to be in a very humble state  or very arrogant take a stand frame of mind.  Which will you find yourself in when the time comes?
     Into thin air tells the story of some men that climbed Everest and some were caught in the tempest winds of the peak. Some turned back and climbed down to safety, one a leader decided to stay stick it out and died, leaving behind small children and a wife.  Gutting it out for him meant the end of his life.
     So it was with Paul, the major difference, The Lord of Peace was with him and in him.  That confidence in his God made all the difference between defeat and survival. Beating the odds against every instinct and natural obstacle the natural world had to throw at him.  Lashing waves, thunder, lightening and hunger all thrown together in terrible mix to kill him and those with him.
     For the next three months Paul and his captors (Roman centurion) ate and drank with the locals who showed them "unusual kindness"  In the aftermath of the storm Paul shook of a viper off his hand with no ill effects healed a sick man's father and many others of the island that were brought to him.
     So not only did those 276 who could have been killed  have their lives spared but were witness to God's
incredible way of doing things.  Paul beat the odds set against him only because of his faith and knowledge of his God's intent for his life.
     Those who have surrendered their lives in Christ will be at some time in their life in a place to doubt God's intent or to faithfully gut it out in him and wait for his rescue.
     If you stand pat in a poker game: you better have the best hand or risk losing the big pot.  This life we have is no game the is intent on the part of the devil is to kill you and rob you of your inheritance.  He does not care which way it comes in, only that he wins.  So for some, a natural death, ease of life, no pains, worries or challenges.  For others obstacles thrown in our way at every turn making us ponder: What's it all for?