by David Anderson
I recently parked my car in New York and came back to find a leaflet jammed into my door handle. I looked down the street; every car had been hit. I saw a picture of the pope and figured it was just an overeager Catholic blanketing the neighborhood with tracts. Opening it, I found otherwise. […]
by David Anderson 10 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Awareness, Change, Character, Community, Conflict, Conversion, Love, Vocation/ Calling
Long, long ago I studied French in grad school. It was strictly a “language requirement.” In class, I never had to speak a word of it. All I learned to do was translate French into English. Which has meant over the years that I am pretty good at reading road signs and menus, and very […]
by David Anderson 24 Comments Filed Under: Belief, Change, Conversion, Family
“If you died tonight, where would you spend eternity?” I heard that over and over in the church of my childhood and youth. It was a stock ending to an evangelistic sermon aimed at getting people saved. I grew up in South Dakota, but if you went to a Baptist church in Wisconsin or Washington, […]
by David Anderson 12 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Belief, Conversion, Daily Practice, Death/Dying, Faith/Trust, Letting Go, Now/ the Present, Prayer/Meditation, Salvation
was Jesus’ friend, from beginning to end. Like all the other women who were essential to Jesus’ ministry, Mary Magdalene was not counted as one of his disciples. Luke tells us that Jesus went about preaching, and “With him went the Twelve, as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and […]
by David Anderson 11 Comments Filed Under: authority, Change, Conversion, Faith/Trust, Faithfulness, Grace, Gratitude, Healing, Lent, Love, Transformation
is, outside of Jesus, the most poignant and affecting character in the passion story. We meet other great figures this week, but none that stir such emotion in us. Peter the denier comes close, but no one drops completely into the abyss like Judas. His sin is considered unforgiveable. Would I have done that? we […]
by David Anderson 3 Comments Filed Under: Change, Conversion, Forgiveness, Lent, Mercy, Surrender
On Saturdays our companions are musicians. Bob Dylan was on a grueling world tour in 1978, performing 114 shows in Japan, Australia, North America and all over Europe. He was traveling with an 8-piece band and three back-up singers. A lot to manage. All told, he sang to two million people. In the middle of […]
by David Anderson 8 Comments Filed Under: Conversion, Lent, Salvation, Surrender, Transformation, Uncategorized
does not choose this fight. But when he finds himself locked in an immortal struggle, he is either wise enough or reckless enough to hang in there. Jacob is at a tumultuous point in his life when God comes—in the form of an angel—to wrestle with him. He is alone, camped by a river. It […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Awe, Blessing, Conversion, Lent, Surrender, Transformation, Uncategorized
is you at your worst, yet closest to heaven. In Jesus’ famous parable of the Publican (or Tax Collector) and the Pharisee, the Publican is the one Jesus commends. The Pharisee stands in the front row of the temple and offers a “prayer” that is only a formal enumeration of his pious acts, while the […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Change, Conversion, Forgiveness, Grace, Lent, Mercy, Surrender, Transformation, Uncategorized