“Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ He asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’” (Acts 9:1-6)  Wow, talk about your plot twists!  When we first meet Saul, he is complicit to the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr.  This apparently whets his appetite for blood and so he begins systematically to persecute the early followers of Jesus.  And then this: the Road to Damascus.  It has become synonymous with a sudden and dramatic conversion.  Saul’s conversion is probably not really sudden (it is going to take some time for it all to sink in) but it sure is dramatic.  Saul thought that he was correcting the thinking and practices of some errant fellow Jews.  But the reality was that he was persecuting the Lord of Glory.  For to go after the little ones, is to attack the Elder Brother.  And so Jesus engages Saul by way of a blinding light.  Once again, talk about your plot twists!  If we could somehow read Acts as if for the first time, would we not be amazed that the great persecutor of the church becomes the primary means by which the early Christian movement will go and spread throughout the known world?  Jesus speaks and everything is different: the former enemy becomes friend and the greatest advocate of the cause.  Do you have any enemies; people with whom you no longer associate or avoid at all costs?  Do you have anybody in your life upon which you have given up?  Maybe, you have even given up on yourself.  But, this is Easter; the Lord is risen!  The light shines, he speaks, and then the strangest things begin to happen.  Our plots twist and new chapters are written.  Who knows how many folks are walking on the Damascus Road today.  Maybe even you and me…  Have a great week!