So after Paul's trial, the king sent Paul on a ship with other prisoners and guards to sail to
Rome. The guard let Paul go see his friends and other followers of Jesus when they were in the harbors of other towns.
Then they got on another ship and the wind was very slow for many days. It was not good to sail
then because the ship couldn’t get anywhere, so Paul said, I think that this trip will be lots of trouble and maybe we’ll even die.
But the soldier listened to the owner of the ship instead of Paul and they kept going
on.
The next day they threw out of the ship the bags of grain and other stuff that they were carrying
to sell in Rome.
The next day they threw some extra ropes and sails and stuff into the
sea.
The storm was so big that the sun and moon and stars weren’t showing at all for many
days.
Then Paul stood up in the middle of all the people on the ship and said, You should have done
what I said, but don’t be scared: be happy. No one is going to die.
I know because an angel of God, I am God’s and serve Him, an angel stood beside me tonight and
said, Don’t be scared, Paul, you must stand in front of Caesar to tell him what you saw.
And God gives you all the ones in the ship who are sailing with you. So don’t be scared, Paul
said. I believe it will happen like God said. We will all be ok, but we will be thrown up onto an island.
It was 14 days later at about midnight the sailors thought they were near some land, so they
tested how deep the waters were under the ship.
When they got closer to the land some of the men let down the rowboat to go to the land, but Paul
told the soldier, The men need to stay in the ship to be saved. So the soldiers cut the rope and let the rowboat drop down into the sea and the men stayed on the ship.
Paul told them, Eat some food. You haven’t had any food to eat these 14 days. Please eat food so you will be healthy. Not even
one hair will be lost from any man’s head.
Then Paul took food and thanked God for them and they ate. They were all happy then and ate
bread. 276 men were on the ship.
When it was day, they saw a creek and tried to get the ship into it. They put up the main sail
and let the wind move them to the shore.
The waves on the beach were so strong that they broke the back part of the ship.
The soldiers were going to kill the prisoners, so they couldn’t escape, but the main soldier in
charge wanted to save Paul so he didn’t let the soldiers kill anyone.
Some of the men who could swim, swam to the shore and some floated on broken boards from the ship. And they all got to land
safe.
The people on the island were kind and made a fire for the men from the ship. It was still
raining real hard.
As Paul was getting sticks for the fire a poison snake bit into his hand and hung on there. Paul
shook the snake off into the fire. The people of the island saw it and were thinking, this man killed people and now he will die. They watched Paul and waited to see.
But as they watched Paul, nothing happened, so they thought, He is a god.
The leader of the island took the men to live at his house for 3 days. The leader’s dad was sick
with a fever and bleeding, but Paul put his hands on the man and prayed to God for him, and God made him all better.
So all the people on the island who were sick came for Paul to touch them and pray for them and
they were all made well.
They gave lots of presents and parties for Paul and the men from the ship and when they left on
another ship, they gave them everything they needed for the trip.
The new ship stopped in many ports along the way going to Rome; and followers of Jesus came to
see and help Paul; and that made his heart stronger.
When they got to Rome, more followers came to see Paul, and Paul thanked God and was helped be brave by
them.
In Rome, the soldier in charge, put Paul in a house of his own with a soldier to guard
him.
The leader of the Jews in Rome came to see Paul after three days.
Paul told them all that happened and how the soldiers in Jerusalem had kept the Jews there from
killing him.
The Jews there said, We didn’t get any letters about you from Jerusalem. But we want to hear what you know because bad stuff
is said everywhere about all these followers of Jesus.
So they picked a day for Paul to tell about it and came to the house where Paul was
living.
Paul talked to them about the kingdom of God and about Jesus from the special writings from God
and some of the people believed what Paul said and some didn’t believe it.
Paul told them what the Holy Spirit in Isaiah said, Hearing you won’t get it. The Holy Spirit
said right about you. Your ears are too fat to hear and you have closed your eyes. So God will go save the other countries.
Paul stayed two years in his own rented house and talked to everyone who came to see him, telling
them about the kingdom of God and everything about Jesus. No one tried to stop him.