An Appointment With Caesar

An Appointment With Caesar

a devotional by Peggy Blann Phifer* 

“Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar;” Acts 27:24a [NKJV]

It was fall, 1949. I was ten. It was Friday and school had just let out.

As usual, my little sister, brother and I, along with most of the kids from the small one-room schoolhouse, crossed the street to the little country store on the opposite corner.

Mr. Stoeker, the store owner, always welcomed us and, as always, had a little bin or straw basket filled with an assortment of penny candy free for us kids. Peppermints, licorice, jaw breakers, bubble gum …

But this day I decided I wanted something better than mere penny candy. I slowly inched my way down the aisle to the real candy and slipped a Baby Ruth candy bar into my sweater pocket 

Courtesy pixabay.com

We had a quarter mile walk ahead so I dawdled behind my younger siblings and the other kids we walked with and tried to eat that stolen candy bar as fast as I could before we got home, and without anyone noticing.

Mothers are omniscient; they know everything. So it wasn’t long before Mom somehow knew about that Baby Ruth candy bar. (No doubt somebody had snitched, and I figured I knew who. You can probably guess, too.)

 Mom promptly marched me out to the car and drove me back to the corner store where I confessed my theft and paid for it with a nickel out of my own precious piggy bank…all the while a little sick with fear. Not only about what Mr. Stoeker would do, but what would happen when Daddy found out.

In the chapter from which the above verse is taken, the Apostle Paul was a prisoner on a storm-tossed ship bound for Rome. They feared sinking and jettisoned everything from the ship to lighten it, but it wasn’t enough. The ship was still at the mercy of the sea and wind. A shipwreck was imminent.

But just when it looked like all was lost, the angel of the Lord assured Paul they weren’t going to die. Yes, they did wreck but were rescued because Paul had an appointment with Caesar that God was going to make sure Paul kept. [See Acts 27]

Maybe I’m stretching a parallel here, but bear with me a moment, if you will.

The intrepid Paul had done nothing wrong, but he’d angered Rome by his preaching and teaching about Jesus, the risen Messiah, and Rome still feared a Jewish uprising.

Me? I’d stolen a nickel candy bar and had to face two “Caesars”–the store owner–and my father. Mr. Stoeker showed a kindness and mercy I didn’t deserve. He said he’d seen me take that candy and instead of making a scene he let me go. He thanked me for coming back to pay for it.

 God showed me even greater mercy because, for some reason, Mom never told Daddy about it . . . and I never asked her why

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Prayer: Abba Father, thank You for loving us even when we do wrong. Because of Your unconditional love, I know I don’t need to fear confessing my sins to You because You always stand ready to forgive. This child of Yours is grateful that with You, sins confessed are remembered no more. In the name of Your precious Son, Amen.

*Adapted from a devotion that first appeared in a book of 33 devotions titled "Fear Not," compiled by Anne Baxter Campbell and released by Elk Lake Publishing, Inc, in 2014. Used with permission.