The Surgeon Who Switched Sides

In 2003, Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish was one of Gaza's most promising physicians, trained in Israel at the Sheba Medical Center. For years, he crossed borders that most considered uncrossable — an Arab doctor treating Jewish patients, building friendships where politics demanded enemies. Then in 2009, during a military operation, an Israeli tank shell struck his home and killed three of his daughters and a niece.

The world expected rage. Every voice around him said the same thing: fight back, seek justice through vengeance, let grief become a weapon. Abuelaish had every reason to become a man of destruction. Instead, something broke open inside him that defied explanation. He founded Daughters for Life, a foundation providing education to young women across the Middle East, regardless of nationality or religion. "I shall not hate," he declared — and meant it.

That is what a Damascus Road moment looks like in the modern world. Saul was marching toward destruction, armed with letters of authority and burning certainty. He knew exactly who deserved punishment. Then a blinding light knocked him flat, and the voice of the very One he was persecuting asked the simplest, most devastating question: "Why?"

Sometimes the Almighty does not argue with our fury. He interrupts it. He takes the road we were so sure about and floods it with a light so fierce that the only possible response is to fall down, open our hands, and whisper, "Lord, what would You have me do?"