Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Darren Milam
Wednesday, January 10, 2024
Last summer we had the opportunity to travel via train from Moab, Utah to Denver, Colorado. Along the way, there were some amazing sights to be seen. This “double falls” (my name, not the official name – if there is one) was one of those picturesque spots along the way. As you can see, these two waterfalls tumble over the rocks, amongst the green vegetation, from one landing pool to the other. The first pours down, collects and then back to the pouring again. A beautiful scene for sure.
This past week in our Sabbath School class, we were reading about Paul’s conversion, from this laser focused early-church-disciple-hunter-and-destroyer guy named Saul, to the absolute 180 turned-around Paul, the everyone-needs-to-know-Jesus-crusader. Quite the directional change for sure. In our class we were attempting to put ourselves in the shoes of Saul and see how he could have changed, so drastically, so quickly. As I was thinking about this, it struck me. He saw Double.
Just think about it, he’s on the road, on his way to track down these Jesus followers, but Jesus found him. In fact, Jesus took Saul’s sight away from him, to show him who HE was. Then Saul was told to change his ways and start doing the right things. He wouldn’t be doing these important and positive things alone; no, he would have the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Double. You see it now? First, the Son of God and then the Holy Spirit. Boom. Boom.
Paul wasn’t the only one to have this one-two punch. Think of the first disciples. They had the opportunity to walk, learn, laugh, eat with, and experience Jesus – up close and personal. Then the plan moved to the next stage and Jesus returned to His rightful home. Now what? The Holy Spirit. One-two punch again. Jesus knew these disciples needed additional support to carry out their required actions, just like Paul, when he was recruited later.
We may not have the luxury of a physical, face-to-face, experience with Jesus, but we still can have the “double” experience. A daily (remote) walk with Jesus and the Holy Spirit is right there alongside, teaching, guiding, influencing – making us better for Him and for those around us. Just like Paul, (once his eyes were working again) we can see double too. I pray we all have the double experience, each and every day.