An imaginary biography of Paul

We get the idea that Paul immediately became the writer of 1/2 the new testament, the vanguard of Christ to the gentiles, the man who "pressed on to win the prize ...". It's possible, but it reassures me to think it wasn't. He spent 14 years in Arabia before his memorable ministry started. Paul is an example, not a goal. We each have our own path to maturity.

I have this personally relatable, extra-biblical narrative in my mind that starts with a naive, dogmatic Christian who has discovered the answer to his life-long dissatisfaction with religion. Like Apollos, he finds his Aquilla and Priscilla who help settle him. This gradual maturity leads him to help in the local church with a God-given thirst to share Christ to the world. He butts heads with some leadership that is determined to maintain the Jewish status quo. He finds himself ostracized for his views on circumcision. He searches himself, agonizing over disagreeing with people he loves and respects.

Although his encounter with Jesus after a life of legalism confirms the supremacy of faith over works, it takes a while to flush out the old prejudices, to truly accept gentiles as equals with Jews. He builds friendships that would not have been possible in his legalistic state. God takes him spiritual places he could not have imagined but gives him a "thorn in the flesh" to keep him grounded.

My imagination wants to write an entire fictional biography of Paul between Damascus and his first missionary journey. I don't have the skill or patience, but I hope I can communicate what I believe:

1) That we should look at senior Christians with hope of more to come, not with guilt about what we haven't yet achieved.

2) We each have our path. There is only one Paul. There is only one sister Mary who gets blessed every Sunday. There is only one C.S. Lewis with a profound gift of communication. There is only one John Wesley, one Charles Wesley. There is only one Rob Conaway with all the quirks, defects, and even sins that requires molding and shaping by the same Holy Spirit that has worked in all of us.