Everybody, what is going on? You know what time it is. You're listening to join the Journey podcast with your host, Emma, daughter.

Thanks for joining. Today, we're reading Acts 9 through 11, answering the question,

how does Saul's story change how we read Paul's letters? And as I reflected on this question,

I was reminded that the personal story behind the

pen, behind the person writing, is really important when it comes to understanding what was written.

So think about it. Have you ever heard a song a hundred times? Then one day, you find out the

story behind it, and suddenly it resonates with you in a different way or just

impacts you differently. That's what happened for me with the song How He Loves. Most of us know

the version by David Crowder, big guitars, soaring bridge, the kind of song you can't help but

belt out. But the guy who actually wrote it wasn't sitting in a recording studio or on stage, he was sitting in

heartbreak. David Crowder didn't actually write that song. An artist by the name of John

Mark McMillan wrote the worship song, How He Loves, after losing one of his closest friends in a car

accident. His friend had been praying for revival and said, if it takes my life for

the youth of America to know God's love, I'll gladly give it. And the next day, to everyone's

surprise, he died. And out of that grief came the line, he is jealous for me, loves like a hurricane,

I am a tree. And once you know that story,

you can't sing it the same way again because every lyric feels heavier. It's this idea that

God is in control, he's moving all the pieces. To us, it may seem crazy like a hurricane,

but nonetheless, he's in control and is after our hearts. And so

this song, for me, felt like it went from being really catchy to being marked by a unique

holiness, leaving listeners like myself with a profound awe of God's love and sovereignty. And that's

kind of what happens when we move from Acts 9 into Paul's

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