more of the unexpected......hope.,

Acts 9:10-20,26-31

         We are all aware of the expression that we are supposed to turn the other cheek. Or if a man slaps you on one cheek, turn and offer the other as well. I am not sure how good I am at that but I am a work in progress and I try. I think that's all the Lord asks of us. We are not perfect, but we try. We listen, and we try. Then, with God, anything is possible.

          It certainly isn't hard to imagine how we would react if someone harmed us or a loved one. Would we welcome that person in our home when they say "I've changed" or "I've seen the light". Paul claimed to almost literally have seen the light. There was great tension in the early church. A man who persecuted the church now is claiming to be a staunch believer. How would you feel?

         Of course as I mentioned the other day, God has incredible power, anything is possible with God. So the metamorphesis of Paul is not only possible, it is history. This passage can have many lessons, forgiveness would be one.  The power of God is another.

        It is the combination of those two, forgiveness, power and the most unexpected scenario that brings about something truly joyous. Hope. Ask anyone who is recovering. The power of God is seen through forgiveness,  the ability to change against seemingly insurrmountable odds and the hope of new life. The possibility, the history of the fact that we can change and are meant to change.

       Totally unexpected. Totally loved.

Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, ‘Ananias.’ He answered, ‘Here I am, Lord.’ The Lord said to him, ‘Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.’ But Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.’ So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’

When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He spoke and argued with the Hellenists; but they were attempting to kill him. When the believers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up. Living in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.