Acts 20:15
“Sailing from there, we came the following day opposite Chios. The next day we touched at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium, and the day after we came to Miletus.”
What does Acts 20:15 mean?
Paul is racing against the clock to reach Jerusalem by Pentecost, so Luke (who wrote Acts) notes each port along this urgent journey down the coast of Asia Minor. These brief stops—Chios, Samos, Trogyllium, Miletus—mark the route of a man driven by both spiritual conviction and practical deadlines, traveling by sea as quickly as the winds allowed. What strikes many readers is how these seemingly small details remind us that real faith involves real travel, real effort, and real people moving through actual geography. Paul isn't floating above the world in spiritual contemplation; he's on a ship, tired probably, making calculated decisions about where to stop and where to push forward. For those of us navigating our own difficult journeys, there's something grounding in that picture.