My Road To Damascus

My early path was dark and cold,
And I found no relief.
My dad destroyed my confidence,
And my naïve belief!

I squandered my integrity
With my dishonest hand.
I stole the things I coveted!
I didn't understand.

I didn't know what I gave up
With each lie that I told.
For every sinful dollar earned,
Part of your soul is sold.

By the time I reached my twenties,
My heart was full of hate.
And Christians got my wrath in full,
They always took the bait!

I'd goad them into arguments,
And then I'd lay them low.
Their answers always looked the same,
"The bible told me so!"

And then, in nineteen ninety two,
A motorcycle crash
Changed everything I thought I knew,
And turned my world to ash!

My soul departed to a place,
A grand, transcendent lake.
I sat with Christ upon a log,
His voice made nature shake.

He showed me what the bible is,
The depths to which it goes.
He showed me what His children are,
Their heads down to their toes.

The surface is what people see,
And when most of them do,
They go no deeper than the face.
But think they know what's true.

My eyes were opened, and I saw
The truth for the first time.
I saw the hole that I had dug,
And faced a daunting climb!

But there were lesson on this path,
That left my mind in awe.
And every inch brought something new,
As I climbed from that maw!

My family has seen the change,
From darkness into light.
They notice now, how hard I try
To always do what's right.

And yet, they still think I'm a nut,
Believing in the Lord.
They tell me God is just a myth,
There's no divine reward.

They don't argue over Krishna,
The Buddha or Allah.
But if you speak the Savior's name,
You'll always feel their claw!

And that was how I used to be,
But now, as I look back,
I think I know what piqued my rage
And caused me to attack!

For it was just the Christian God
Who brought that out in me.
I saw the others more like Zeus.
A harmless fantasy.

Why didn't I see God that way?
Why did He rouse my ire?
How did the others leave me cold,
While Jesus stoked my fire?

Can demons really cloud the mind?
That's up to you to choose.
A myth is just a fairytale,
How can that blow your fuse?

And yet, it happens all the time.
I guess that's why I see.
I doubt I would have noticed it,
If that had not been me.

God stands above all other gods!
Whenever wrath ignites.
With most gods we just disagree,
But Jesus starts the fights!

And who hates Jesus most of all?
It's Satan and his horde.
When faced with Buddha they just smile!
But they howl at the Lord!

I see the patterns we create,
In matters I once broached.
I know which topics rule the soul,
By how they are approached.

And this has been the road I've walked,
For nearly thirty years.
With every pattern I observe,
My mental vision clears.

I see the things that clouded me,
Which still provoke the blind,
The darkness hates to be found out,
It likes a sleeping mind.

But now my mind is wide awake,
Resisting Satan's lies.
For out on my Damascus road,
The Lord opened my eyes.

This poem was a finalist in the March 2022 poetry contest