Book of Acts shipwreck, a metaphor?

[Clear Blue Sky]

This is referring to the biblical Book of Acts, Chapter 27, where Paul is being sent to 'appeal to caesar' They set sail in a boat that becomes wrecked, and there is peculiar detail and pacing in this story. I am wondering if some here may see it as containing some kind of symbolic meaning.

They are to go to Italy to appeal to Caesar. He is handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment.

They first board a ship from Adramytthium about to head out across various Asian Ports (and this perhaps is the first leg of early Christianity being spread through the land). Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, is with them.

To Sidon and provisions from friends (first leg), then to Cypress when the winds are against them (second leg). Then across open sea off coast of Cicilia and Pamphylia, landed at Myra in Lycia.

There they switch to an Alexandrian ship headed to Italy (beginning of Church in Rome). It was slow headway and difficult landings. The winds force them to go off course, and they sail on the lee of Crete (greek) opposite Salmone. With difficulty they reach Fair Haven near the town of Lasea.

"Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Day of Atonement." Paul warns them of the dangerous journey, fortelling loss of ship and cargo and loss of their own lives. But the Centurian (the ruler one now Julius of the Imperial Guard) heeds the advice of the owner of the ship and the pilot (aka the secular world and the popal pomp). The majority over-ride Paul saying the Fair Haven harbor was unsuitable for overwintering, so they set out for a place called Phoenix (Crete to the SW and NW).

They get a gentle wind from the south and it says "they thought they had obtained what they wanted". but then it becomes a hurricane "northeaster" swept down from the island of Crete (why am I thining of Daniel and his rampaging goat visions?). They cannot stand against the wind and get swept along by the winds. by the small island of Cauda they can't even make the lifeboat secure.

They get so battered they begin to throw the cargo overboard (release of religious trappings) On the THIRD day, they throw the ship's tackle overboard WITH THEIR OWN HANDS.

Paul at length tells them to take courage, "Now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed".

On the 14th night they were being driven across the Adriatic sea when the sailors sensed land. They found the water was 20 orguias deep, a short while later they found it was 15 orguias deep. Some sailors tried to sneak off the ship, but Paul warned the Centurian, "Unless those man stay with the ship, we cannot be saved."

They eat bread and it is said all togheter there was 276 on board. they eat their fill and then throw the grain into the water to lighten the ship.

They see unfamiliar land they decide to ground the ship on. They leave the anchors in the sea, and untied the ropes that held the rudders. then they hoisted the foresail to the wind. The ship runs aground and is wrecked on a sandbar.

The soldiers want to kill the prisoner, but the centurion prevents them. He ordered THOSE WHO COULD SWIM to JUMP OVERBOARD FIRSTand get to land. The REST were to get there on PLANKS OR ON PIECES OF THE SHIP. In this way everyone reached land in safety.

They are greeted on the island of Malta, build a fire. Paul gets bitten by a venomous snake, but the poison does not kill him.

There is an estate of publius, who entertains them for three days. His father is ill of fever and dysentery but is cured, and all are cured. After three months they put out to sea on an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux. They land at Syracuse and stay there three days.

a few more things..... then they arrive at Roe. Three days later he called together the leaders of the Jews. he tells them "it is because of the hope of Israel I am bound with these chains." Some believe, some don't]. For two whole years Paul stays in Rome at his own rented house and teaches people about Jesus.

Is this some kind of map of the spiritual history of Christianity?

[Clear Blue Sky]

I need to report this, about the bit above about them wanting to set sair for "Phoenix"

Something strange happened to me. like an e-mail twitter hack.... by a Burnsdale Katonah. But it lead me to this quote comment that caught my eye, which I think pertains to the Phoenix thing:

"Times of contempt have long since arrived and made their horrid wings upon the face of the earth. What does mind!"

wondering if that ties in with Peter-poster saying that God meets us in the place of our Mind. But if that mind contain contempt....

[Clear Blue Sky]

.... but if I translate that into Greek and back to English, it says:

Elf has long since arrived and made horrid wings upon the face of the earth. What has the brains!