THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS
Mike Tyson is completely a changed man!
Yes, this once mean, mad and unpredictable man…
Heartless Cannibal would be more appropriate!
A couple of days back, I saw this picture of
Tyson tightly hugging Evander Holyfield… When I saw the closed eyes and
childlike smile on Tyson’s face, I called my wife and said, “Look at this… Can
you believe this? Sixteen years ago, in the boxing ring at Las Vegas, they were locked in a boxing-hug –
a blood-soaked, merciless and devastating one – and, this very man, Mike Tyson,
had eaten off Holyfield’s ear!”
Sixteen years looked like an eternity! Now, this
hug evoked in me the softness of a baby cradle, the hope of God’s heaven…
Where the Past, as they say, is just a history… the
Future is an awe-filled mystery… and the
Present is an amazing gift as this baby-hug is…
To come to
terms with your bloody, reckless past… To be hopeful and trusting as a wonder-struck
little-child about your future… and, then, to embrace this day in hand – this
wonderful-throbbing-life-in-hand-now – is nothing short of the greatest miracle
of life… Grace!
You need to experience this moment of truth – to
believe it…
Yes, this moment in your life called – ‘The Road
to Damascus’!
For the ones who do not know what ‘The Road to Damascus’ signifies, here
it is.
St. Paul
is one of the greatest forces behind the spread of Christianity. He was a Roman
General and was assigned to persecute the early Christians in the first
century. So brutal and so determined this man was to fulfill his mission of
wiping off the trace of Jesus Christ on this earth that he eliminated scores of
innocent men, women and children… He personally supervised the execution of St.
Stephen when he was stoned to death… Then, one day, on his way to Damascus, on a fresh
mission to destroy Christianity, this General Saul was destined to experience
his moment of turnaround… “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” he was blinded
by the light and deafened by the voice from heavens, thrown off his horse…
Thereafter, General Saul was to become St. Paul… and was fated
to go on a diametrically opposite mission: to become the greatest follower of Christ
and spread Christianity all over the world. And, fittingly, his life was to end
with an imitation of his Hero… He was beheaded!
God touches
our lives in miraculous ways!
Living has been always marked with
falling from
Grace… and coming back Home…
And, to me, that is the greatest and the most
amazing thing about spirituality… the most beautiful thing about Faith and
religion…
That, my Lord is willing to welcome me, eat with
me… a sinner…
Oh yes, that’s the most reassuring thing about
Life.
When the hardened Pharisees taunted Christ,
saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them,” He would turn to the multitude
and ask, “Imagine, you had a hundred sheep, and if one of them is lost, would
you not leave your ninety-nine sheep and go in search of the one lost sheep…
and, when you find it, would you not put him around your shoulders and bring
him home with great rejoicing?”
It was then, that Jesus Christ had told another
story… another parable: the Parable of the Prodigal Son!
Mike Tyson
is the Prodigal Son…
If he is not, none of us can be…
The Road to Damascus
has no meaning!
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pics.: Manoj Nair
Video courtesy: YouTube
Video courtesy: YouTube
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-- Anik
... Nutan Singh