by David Anderson
“Come, look!” I call to my wife. It is a single, pink clematis flower. No big deal, except that I had planted that clematis three years ago and it never wanted to grow. So the next year I planted another clematis next to it, and the two together withered, no matter how much I watered […]
by David Anderson 11 Comments Filed Under: Beauty, Change, Discernment, Faithfulness, Family, Letting Go, Nature/Creation, Patience, Reality--trusting it, Waiting
I assumed we would go to the Episcopal Church in town, the one we always go to. The parents were away and we were in their home, watching the grandkids for the weekend. Come Sunday morning, we are all enjoying our cinnamon raisin French toast when I say we will be leaving in about an […]
by David Anderson 18 Comments Filed Under: Community, Daily Practice, Faithfulness, Grace, Uncategorized
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
has decided he wants joy more than he wants order or a clean accounting of things. When the prodigal comes home from his bender, having wasted his early inheritance, the father throws a party. That doesn’t make sense to most of us parents, and it sure didn’t seem right to the elder brother. Why, he […]
by David Anderson 10 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Conflict, Faithfulness, Family, Forgiveness, Freedom, Grace, Lent, Letting Go, Love, Mercy, Surrender
was down to her last meal when the prophet showed up hungry. There was a drought and famine in the land, and Elijah was without food and water. That was when the word of the Lord came, “Go at once to Zarephath. . . . I have directed a widow there to supply you with […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Blessing, Community, Faithfulness, Gratitude, Lent, Uncategorized
suffered from bullying and depression (1 Samuel 1: 1-28). Like her matriarchal sisters, Sarah and Rachel, Hannah is a “barren woman.” In an agrarian culture that prized children and demanded them of women, infertility is seen as a curse. Something’s wrong with you. In the Bible—and until recently—infertility was a woman’s problem, never a man’s. […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Faithfulness, Lent, Surrender, Uncategorized
is a heroine of faith because she aspired to something greater than survival. We only meet this Moabite woman because an Israeli family, in the middle of a devastating famine, flees Bethlehem in search of food. Naomi and her husband Elimilech arrive in Moab, their two sons marry Moabite women—Orpah and Ruth—and then all the […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Belief, Character, Conversion, Faith/Trust, Faithfulness, Family, Hope, Lent, Salvation, Vocation/ Calling
Isaiah 40:1-8 “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” I want to go home. If you’ve ever been far from home, felt lost or trapped in the wrong place, you know how the people of Israel felt in exile. They want to go home, […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Faith/Trust, Faithfulness, Hope, Identity, Salvation, Waiting