Happy Friday!

Happy Friday, everyone! Hope you have something good planned for your weekend!

Here's the question and answer from yesterday:
Thurs, Feb. 19- What was the Ethiopian reading as he sat in the chariot?
Acts 8:30, “Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet.”

And here's the question of the day:
Fri, Feb. 20- The goat chosen by lots is called a what?


And here's the reflection of the day:
There's so much to unpack in Acts 9! I won't even attempt to do it all here at one time. Instead, I think I'll just pick out one or two things to highlight.

Here we see Saul--the great and mighty persecutor Saul--brought down low, struck to the ground, blind, helpless. It's perhaps the part of Acts that is most well known. Luke actually tells the story of Saul/Paul's conversion three times (Acts 9, 22, 26). And the Damascus road experience we hear about is mainly from Luke's point of view; we don't hear too much from Paul about his own conversion.

This story about his conversion is dramatic, theatrical almost. And it can sometime lead us to believe that conversions must always be dramatic and instantaneous. But that is not always so, cautions Will Willimon. In fact, this conversion is a rather long process of sorts for Paul.

First he is struck down, on the road to Damascus. He wasn't quite to Damascus so he had to finish the journey blindly, being led by his servants. Then for three days he was blind, not eating or drinking. Then Ananias has to make the trek to "the house of Judas on Straight Street," where he finds, and heals, Saul. Once he is healed, he gets up, is baptized, and rests a few more days to regain his strength. He spends "several days with the disciples in Damascus" (9:18-19).

When I have read this passage in the past, I didn't pay enough attention to the details. Paul's conversion probably took a week or two to fully develop! The extra time he spent with the disciples was probably filled with alot of teaching by the disciples. God has big plans for Paul, but he can't go out and preach about his own story. He needs to know the whole story of God.

Some folks have dramatic conversions, like Paul's. But unless it's accompanied by discipleship and teaching, the momentary "high" of that experience is like to wane. The conversion of other folks is slower, with an awareness of God's grace growing slowly over the years.

But every believer has a moment when--at least for a moment, all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place and he/she believes that Jesus Christ did indeed die as a substitute for his/her sin. And from that realization, comes both great shame but also great gratitude for the God who gave His only-begotten Son.

When was that moment for you? Is it something you think about every day? Is it something you haven't thought about in a while? How did it change you? How does it continue to define you even today?

Saul was never the same after his encounter with Jesus. God had big plans for him, preaching and teaching, baptizing and discipling. And I believe God has big plans for you too--maybe not exactly like the plans for Paul, but He has put you in the middle of a mission field in your own backyard. God still calls us to tell our stories of faith and the grand story of God's love for each one of us. Go out, and like Paul, "speak boldly in the name of the Lord!" (9:28).


Allison

PS Did anyone else notice by large blunder from yesterday? Sometimes I rearrange numbers and must have gotten the Acts and Leviticus numbers mixed up. And I sometimes write these a couple days ahead of time so I didn't catch that these were chapters we already read! My bad.