Preparation time

After Galatians 1:11-24 

The star for the prosecution

show, transformed, became

nothing, disappeared from

the stage, vanished into 

the deserts of Arabia and

Damascus. No stage,

no spotlight, no star billing.

A few conversations, and

then a renewed time 

of quiet, reflection, fasting,

and preparation, listening,

not speaking, my fame

once spoken of and revered 

or feared now vanished

into the mist, except for

a word here, a rumor there.

The prosecutor is now

the preacher, occasionally

and quietly.

 

Photograph by Angel Mendez via Unsplash. Used with permission.

I tell my story

After Galatians 1:11-24 

I was the zealot,

the persecutor,

the destroyer, aiming

not to control or limit

but to eliminate and

obliterate forever

this aberration,

this heresy, what

I knew was the enemy.

I was zealous, zealous

for what I’d been taught,

the traditions handed

down, the tradition that

had saved us. And then,

a moment of light,

a blinding light, a voice

calling me, summoning

me from my wilderness.

My zeal vanished,

replaced and transformed.

An old man dies.

A new man is born.

 

Photograph by Universal Eye via Unsplash. Used with permission.