Paul wrote to his converts in Galatia about a part of his life the book of Acts did not include. He did not start working right away as a traveling evangelist. He spent time praying and studying to think through the meaning of his encounter with Christ (and did some preaching in Syria and Cilicia—1:23). Only then did he meet with the Jerusalem Christian leaders. Paul had once thanked God he was not a Gentile. Now they agreed that God had sent him to those very Gentiles, a calling that re-shaped the emerging church.

• Paul’s references to “three years” and “fourteen years” are enigmatic enough that scholars have always struggled to identify an exact chronology. Nor can we be sure of exactly what he did during that time span. But it’s clear that Paul (and his Lord) were more patient than we often are in our “immediate gratification” culture. When have you had to wait for something you wanted right away? In what way(s) are you having to wait today for God to act in your life?
• As a Roman citizen born in Tarsus, and a rabbi trained in Jerusalem by the eminent teacher Gamaliel, Paul knew both the Greco-Roman and Hebrew cultures as few people in his time did. How did that background prepare him for the mission to which God called him? In what ways do you think his ambitious temperament, once turned to God’s purposes, might also have qualified him for this groundbreaking mission?