As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Acts 9:3
RECOMMENDED READING: ACTS 9:1-9 “And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.8 And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.9 And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.”
COMMENTS: When Saul was engulfed / circled with Christ’s light, there was no place to run. Saul had no choice but to stop and listen to Christ’s message. His denial and ignoring that message were over. He was forced to accept or reject Christ’s deity and message once and for all. Saul chose to accept both Christ and His message. Satan’s deception could no longer persuade Saul when Christ came to Him personally. Saul was struck blind, so he had to be led in obedience into the city and be at the mercy of those he had come to persecute.
Martin Luther studied law at the University of Erfurt as a young man when a lightning storm suddenly came and surrounded him. A lightning bolt struck dangerously close to him, causing him to cry out “Saint Anne, help me! I will become a monk.” Shortly after that he honored his promise and entered an Augustinian monastery and eventually traveled to Wittenberg to teach at the University. He began a journey of obedience away from worldly wealth to eternal joy and fulfillment and wealth beyond his wildest dreams. His family was not supportive of this change in direction, and the church leadership and government leadership tried hard to discourage him even at threat of death, but God helped and protected him. He did champion change that empowered common people to discover God’s redemption personally and discovered His truth from scripture directly without the filter imposed by the established church.
Everyone of us must choose and discover our own Damascus Road encounter with Christ. Christ pursues us just like He pursued Saul, who would become Paul. He loves us just as much and has a plan for us just as important to Him as His plan for Paul. Our encounter with Christ likely won’t be as dramatic as Saul’s or blind us for a time like his. We likely won’t be called into a work of service as demanding as his, but Christ has a plan for us just as important to Him as Saul’s and His love for us is just as deep and passionate as for Saul. The words and message He instructs us to share likely won’t be written down and guide and instruct Christians 2000 years from now like his are. But the significance of doing God’s Will is significant and will be used by God in ways just as significant to Him and will likely make an eternal difference to someone or many someone’s. We are called but must make our own choices. Choices that will either bring eternal consequences or eternal blessings. We can choose for ourselves but results and consequences of those choices are completely in God’s hands, not ours. That is a very good thing because that puts responsibility on Him instead of us. AMEN? AMEN!
Today is Easter eve. The day before Easter Sunday. This was a very dark day for the disciples and Christ followers that first Holy Week. They had the promise but Christ’s resurrection was not a reality yet. They didn’t understand yet why Christ died and what that sacrifice would mean in spite of what Christ had taught and told them. BUT IT WOULD MAKE SENSE AND MESSAGE CHRIST TAUGHT WOULD PERMANENTLY CHANGE THEM AFTER EASTER.
Lent has passed by so quickly but the impact and message of Lent and Easter need not fall into a distant memory. The Good News of Christ’s redemptive death and sacrifice and resurrection is as fresh and powerful and transforming now and tomorrow as it was nearly 2000 years ago that first Easter morning. Christ second coming is very soon but He is still waiting. There are still multitudes who still haven’t heard. Multitudes Christ’s Holy Spirit is speaking to and preparing to accept Him when they do hear. We are called to share what He has done for us. Let’s pray for more opportunities to do so.
No one is the same after an encounter with God. His Living Word changes everything!
The Bible is alive, it speaks to me; it has feet, it runs after me; it has hands, it lays hold of me. Martin Luther
If you wish to view pictures of our 40th Wedding Anniversay, you may do so if click on link below or copy the link below in your browser:
“https://www.dropbox.com/sh/iytyg6op7awxutq/AAD9dk8D3wbKaDyzEV2Ma_Vaa?dl=0”
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 123 blog posts i have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.
You may also access my facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
My hope and prayer is, they will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
donsdevotions 