Unstoppable! 'A Complete U-Turn!' — Acts 7:57-58

Nearly all of us who drive cars know the embarrassing and sometimes terrifying realization that we are driving the wrong way on a one-way street. Later, Saul made a complete U-turn away from persecuting Christians and then appreciated grace so deeply because he realized how terribly wrong he had originally been about Jesus, Stephen, and the early disciples. Saul apparently was in charge of this makeshift mob stoning Stephen to death because they laid their coats at his feet. The violence he advocated against Stephen and other disciples (Acts 8:3, 9:1-2) hung in his memory the rest of his life. Something about witnessing Stephen's faith in Jesus and forgiveness of his accusers opened a place in Saul's heart for Jesus' grace to reach him. That grace would later lead Saul, who became known as Paul, to turn completely and re-align his life with Jesus. The persecutor became the persecuted. The murderer became the martyr. The hate-monger became the grace-giver. Such is the power of Jesus!