Thoughts on the Apostle Paul

So, I've been joking a lot lately about how it irritates me when preachers go all...
"And Saul became Paul!" Think in terms of a raving Southern preacher so it might sound something like this...
"And-a Saul-a became-a Paul!" You know what I'm talking about, like when spit flies at the first few pews and theres no warning sign about a "splash zone"? Yeah, it's like that.
So here's what I've learned. By the way, I learned this at bible college. Get ready, it's a shocker...
Paul and Saul are the same name. One is Greek and the other is Hebrew. It just irritates me when people preach on things that aren't necessarily true even if it has been accepted as such for a long time.
Well, last Saturday, I was sitting at cell group and someone read the scripture about the road to Damascus. Why is it that Paul's name changed suddenly from Saul to Paul? Why is that? Doesn't anyone find it strange?
Here's what I think and why this is so very, very important...
Paul was sent to preach to the Gentiles. He reminds them more than once that Jesus came for the Jew first and, then, the Gentile. Even Jesus stated this fact more than once during His ministry.
It all makes sense then if you add these facts together. When Paul's name changed from Saul to Paul, it was God giving Paul a new purpose. With the Greek Paul instead of the Jewish Saul as a name, others would be more inclined to listen. That's what I think.
Here's another brilliant thought that I had several years ago after my grandmother died. This is also about the apostle Paul's journey to Damascus. When my grandmother died I wanted desperately to know what they would do with her body. For some reason it was just that important to me. I read that when the body decays it develops a scaly appearance...among other things. End of that story and moving on to Paul.
Now when Paul is received by the guy in Damascus(?)-sorry, I can't remember his name, the Bible mentions that something like scales fell from his eyes. Now, I thought, huh, that's interesting. We know from the story that Paul was struck blind. So let us think about this for a moment...
Dead people devlop a scaly appearance...something like scales fell from Paul's eyes when he received Christ as his savior. Hmmm... Our souls are considered dead when we do not belong to God. Anyone catching on? I think that Paul's outer appearance reflected his inner appearance. Now that is both scary and cool. Even more so when the scales fall off signifying that his outer appearance now relfected his inner appearance. God stopped the decaying mess that was Paul's soul and gave it new life and new sight.
Now that's just cool.