I just finished reading Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians.  Very short letters to groups of people who needed to be scolded for the things they were doing wrong, and encouragement to those who were on the right track.  Paul never held back.  He got to the point.

He knew some of the people, some he didn’t.  He was sitting in a hole in the ground--a jail cell--writing letters to help people.  If he hadn’t been in jail, I doubt we would have these wonderful letters.  

I got to go down into the cell in Rome where Paul was held.  It was a hole in the rock.  Carved out to hold water.  A cistern.  Curved walls--actually like the inside of a balloon.  It was cold, damp, no sunlight...and there, with a pen, letter by letter, he wrote--probably by the light of a candle.

There was a hole at the top of the cistern where you got inside by going down a ladder--which would then be retracted so the prisoner couldn’t get out.  Paul doesn’t have much to say about his misery.  Just told people to hold on, stay the course.  Look for the return of Jesus.  Share the gospel.

They finally killed him.  But the things he wrote live on.  He met Jesus on the road to Damascus.  Ananias was afraid of Paul but God told Ananias,  “He is a chosen vessel unto me...”  Paul’s educational background was phenomenal, all he needed was for God to open his eyes to the fact that Jesus was the Messiah.