Let us shift for a moment from Paul, to Ananias, since we are here in his house. Ananias was already a Christian... already a follower of the Way...long before Paul came on the scene. There were many Christians in Damascus, at that time. That is why Saul was coming here, in the first place, to round them up and take them to jail. It was here in this room that Ananias had a vision from God: "Go to the house of Judas, on Straight Street, and ask for a man named Saul...pray for him, lay hands on him, and restore his sight." Like most of us, he wanted to argue with God, a bit...surely he didn’t hear that right, or was it that God didn’t know the whole story about Saul... "he’s come here, Lord, to arrest all who call on your name". But Ananias is faithful, even against his better judgment. He goes and prays for Paul... and the rest is history, as they say.

As we think about the Conversion of St. Paul, we have to think about our own conversion experiences... and who the "Ananias’" are in our lives, and in our conversion??? Who has been praying for you? Who has "touched" you so that your eyes were opened? Who baptized you? I am thankful for Ananias’ role in the conversion of Paul.... even though we know very little about him...other than what these few short verses in The Book of Acts tell us. And I am thankful for the people in my life, who have helped me along the way... especially those who were faithful to what God wanted for me, and maybe not what I wanted, or the world expected.

My own conversion experience has been quite a journey... a journey that I am still on... even here in Damascus. So I would like to think that Paul’s conversion was a journey that took quite a while, as well. I believe we see that conversion happening as we read through his letters, somewhat chronologically. After his Damascus experience, he went into Arabia, to think about what had happened, to pray and fast... then he went to his home town of Tarsus, then to Jerusalem... And finally, he began to realize his true calling was to share the gospel with the Gentiles, and the world.

Paul had been a man who always saw the world in "black and white".... it was laid out for him in the law, and he had studied the law so well... and lived it, as well as anyone could, or perhaps even better. Now, with his new eyes, the scales having falling away, he was seeing the world, not in black and white, nor even in shades of gray, but in living color. And he wanted to share this "new vision" with everybody....with the Jews, who only knew the "black and white" of the Law... and with the Romans, who only knew the gray of living "in-between" heaven and earth...... and with all of us, who now only see as in a mirror dimly. Jesus had opened his eyes to see the wonderful world of "grace".