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Hi, my name is the Reverend Pat Allerton and I'm a vicar in the Church of England
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Perhaps you or a friend of yours has had what you described as a Damascus Road experience
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so a Damascene moment. What common culture refers to as a revelation where your life
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is transformed and you set off on a new course. Well, that expression actually finds its roots
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in the Bible, in the New Testament. And it speaks of a man called Saul, who was traveling to a place
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called Damascus in modern day Syria to persecute and arrest the early Christians, the early church
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that was taking root there at the time. He's walking there and he is struck down by a blinding
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light as the risen Jesus speaks to him from heaven and blinds him and his life is transformed
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as he comes to faith in Jesus being the Messiah. From that moment on chapter 9 tells us that at once he began to preach in the synagogues
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that Jesus is the Son of God. And he went on of course to write most of the New Testament in the Bible I have a friend called Michael Emmett who sadly passed away this last year in 2025 after a long battle with cancer but he was one
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of the most inspiring people you could meet. He was a lifelong criminal for the first half of his
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life with his father. He was in the family business. They were drug smugglers together and he and his
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father got arrested in a sting operation for trying to bring in the biggest shipment of cannabis
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this country had ever seen at the time. They both went to prison and it was there that they did an alpha course
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and their lives were changed forever. And Michael spent the rest of his days, 30 plus years
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telling people about Jesus and the difference he can make to our lives
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Now, you or I aren't necessarily called to be modern day Pauls or even Michael Emmits
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but each one of us has our own story. and each one of us is invited to come to the risen Jesus
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and be transformed by his mercy, grace and love. How about stepping into that in 2026
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Not a bad way to start the year
