Did you notice something different this week? If you have been present for the Lenten services during the past six weeks, you know that this is the first week you did not sing that song, "Were You There, When They Crucified My Lord?" And I cannot say that I was there, either. No, I did not see them nail him to the tree, and I was not with Jesus and the apostles on that night when he was betrayed, that night when he met with them and broke bread with them around a table in the upper room. In fact, in the time that followed the death and Resurrection of Jesus, I became a fierce opponent of the early believers. I persecuted the church of God.

Then one day, while I was traveling to Damascus, in order to extend the persecution of those who followed Jesus in faith, a bright light from heaven sudd…