Centuries ago there was another ship in the grip of a tempestuous storm. The apostle Paul and 275 others were on board. Fearing that the ship would be broken to pieces by the intensity of the storm, the sailors apparently passed “helps”—chains or ropes—under the ship from one side to the other to hold together the wooden planks that made up this merchant ship’s hull. All the passengers on board were saved, though the ship was not.—Acts, chapter 27.

In Paul’s day, when a ship encountered a turbulent storm, the survival of the passengers and the ship depended on the skill of the crew as well as on how well the ship held together. It was no less so when the apostle encountered figurative storms. Though Paul had weathered physical deprivation, imprisonment, and torture, the severest storms that challenged his spiritual and emotional stability and his ability to continue to love came from within the Christian congregation.