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When Saul of Tarsus rode down the Damascus Road, he had one thing in mind.  It was his intent to do everything in his power to put an end to this Jesus business.  When he rode down that road with his murderous intent, he had the power to do exactly what he had set out to do.  If Saul of Tarsus had been able to have his way, the Christian movement would only have been known as a short lived spiritual phenomena.  He was a man possessed with  purpose.  He was a man full of himself. He was a man of authority and power.    

What Saul of Tarsus did not know when he got on his horse for his last ride as an antagonist of Christ was that God had a plan that had not yet been revealed.  Along the way that plan of God shook the earth under the foundation Saul had built under his life.  The antagonist suddenly found himself in the presence of the all powerful Christ. The dead Jew who had caused so much chaos became known as the resurrected Jesus who had all power and who had a different plan for the antagonist.  In a moment that came and went quicker than the blinking of an eye, the great antagonist of the Christian faith became its greatest advocate.   Those who have doubts that Christ really has the power to change lives need read no more of Scripture than this story in the 9th chapter of the book of Acts.  

Actually, the story of Saul of Tarsus has been re-told so many times throughout the history of the church that it is impossible to count.  Many of us have books on our shelves that tell of the great life changing moments of many of those we think of as saints.  It is also true that there are many of us who look at ourselves every day in the mirror and shake our heads in amazement that God could change such as we were and enable us to be useful in the Kingdom enterprise.