We spend a lot of time and effort preparing for the future. We tell our kids to get good grades so they can get into a good college, so they can get a good job, so they can have success and security in life.

When, after decades of jumping through all those hoops and following a particular pathway, someone suddenly changes their mind about who they are and what they want, we call it a “mid-life crisis.” When that kind of change happened to Saul of Tarsus, we call it “a Damascus Road experience.”

When Paul was young he had his life planned out, determined, perfectly outlined. He was circumcised on ”the eighth day,” in accordance with the observance of Torah mandates (Genesis 17:12; Leviticus 12:3). This was why, when questioned by his opponents in Philippi, Paul could proclaim his own cultu…