Damascus was important to both Isaiah and Paul. For both, it was the city of the enemy, the place where the danger dwelt - not so much physical danger, but danger to their very souls and identities.

For Isaiah, seven hundred years before Jesus, Damascus housed King Rezin, who sought to have Isaiah’s King join forces with him. "Together," said Rezin, "we can defeat the armies from the East."

For Paul of Tarsus, Damascus housed the Christians, those followers of the Way, prompting so many of Paul’s friends to abandon the Law and the Temple as the bed-rock of their religious identity.

Two men on fire. Two men on fire because of faith. Two men aflame with a passion for the living God.

God has different ways of dealing with such people. God took Isaiah to the temple in a vision and purified…