Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Stephen’s accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. Acts 7:59 NLT.
Saul was a well-educated and passionate Jew whose resume began early — early in his life as a young man, and early in the life of a new movement that didn’t even have a name. Most thought the new movement was just a sect of the Jews. And Saul was determined to extinguish it.
The next time we encounter Saul, is in Acts 9 where we are told of a trip that Saul was taking to Damascus, north of Jerusalem in southern Syia, to catch and kill proponents of the new movement. Saul had grown in his fanaticism and was eager to advance it.,
On the way to Damascus, Saul had a life-changing moment during which he had a vision and heard a voice, “I am Jesus; why are you persecuting me,” Acts 9:4. Only Paul heard the voice clearly. His traveling companions saw the bright light and heard an indistinct voice. All were stunned by the experience. This was the beginning of Saul’s preparation to be an apostle named Paul.
Preparation comes in many forms. Formal preparation comes when you read a book on a specific topic, get a degree in a specific field, enroll in a practicum of some sort or in the Peace Corp. But sometimes preparation comes in vague forms, like being asked to speak at a funeral for which you have no training, or experiencing some trauma that teaches you previously unknown things. Or personal failure that grabs your attention.
Saul had such a surprising, traumatic experience. The former persecutor turned into a loud proponent of what he formerly tried to extinguish. Sporting a new name, Paul was now persecuted by the people with whom he was formerly aligned. But he was prepared for it.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, how good it is to know the story of how you woke Paul up and gave him a new calling. May we also be attuned to the voices around us and how we too might be in the process of being prepared. Amen.