“In the early years of the church a man named Saul encountered Jesus and his life flipped. The direction of his life changed, the condition of his heart changed, his message and approach to others changed, his hope for the future changed. Even his name changed, Saul became Paul.

He was so convinced that Jesus was God's greatest solution to our greatest need that he talked about Jesus whenever God provided the opportunity. The Holy Spirit used those conversations to convict and convince. Many placed their life and future in the hands of Jesus.

Paul's life wasn't easy, simple, smooth. There was something in his life that caused him great difficulty. He wrote about it only once. When he did he called it "a thorn in the flesh." He prayed that God would heal this affliction, remove the thorn, but apparently God did not. Instead, God declared that Paul's weakness would actually accentuate God's power, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

The passage for today is a clear reminder that power and strength in our Christian life comes from God, not from our own reserves, or that of others. We do not need to hide our weaknesses... we can acknowledge them, knowing that God loves us, broken and flawed as we are. By His grace He works through us, imperfections and all, to introduce every person we meet to the beauty and life-changing power of Jesus. Exciting .. and freeing!”