by David Anderson
Jeff Schlachtenhaufen is a big-time icon for me these days. His parents are parishioners of mine, and when Jeff developed pancreatic cancer in October I got to know Jeff—though I’ve never met him in person. He lives in Chicago with his wife Susie and their four children. Jeff has a Caring Bridge website—a blog that […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Family, Fear, Healing, Love
My father calls himself a conservative. In 1964 he voted for Barry Goldwater, and these days his car sports a big blue bumper sticker: CAIN. He is a born-again Christian who believes in the Bible and doesn’t believe in evolution. He’s a teetotaler. But I have to say, at nearly 93 my father is also […]
by David Anderson 19 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Change, Faithfulness, Family, Forgiveness, Grace, Love
This morning before Centering Prayer, Pam and I read from The Gospel of Thomas, a book of the sayings of Jesus discovered in 1945 in a small desert cave near Nag Hammadi, Egypt. Some sound word-for-word like other sayings in the canonical Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Some sound totally different, and some sound, […]
by David Anderson 6 Comments Filed Under: Change, Faith/Trust, Family, Forgiveness, Letting Go
We all know the Golden Rule, but do you know the Platinum Rule? Golden is: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Platinum is: Do unto others as they would have you do unto them. My brother told me the other day he had left his briefcase in a London taxi—with […]
by David Anderson 6 Comments Filed Under: Family, Love, Seeing
In this last week of Advent I have been baby blessed. On the shortest day of the year, I held the tiniest child ever placed in my hands. A four-and-a-half pound girl. I held her and thought, You were destined to be, child, because we had to believe that you could live, that you could […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Family, Fear, Gratitude
The day after. It so depends upon the day before. The wedding was bliss. My daughter Sharon was beautiful, smiling radiantly throughout the ceremony, and my new son Anthony was strikingly handsome in his navy suit and light blue tie. The bridesmaids and the groomsmen were all in a row, childhood friends and college buds […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Change, Family, Happiness, Letting Go
Christmas will come tomorrow. This Advent we have been watching and waiting for a wedding. My younger daughter Sharon is to marry Anthony Damelio at 4 o’clock tomorrow. Sharon always wanted a “Christmas wedding.” She loved the season, and she adored the church, festooned each year with pungent evergreen garlands and red poinsettias. To her […]
by David Anderson 12 Comments Filed Under: Family, Gratitude, Happiness, Love
This Labor Day weekend we roasted a pig and threw a party. We got the wild idea while swimming in my brother’s pool one July evening. My brother John had just grilled our two families a poolside dinner. We were still savoring the meat in our post-prandial dip and someone said, “We ought to have a pig roast!” Everybody’s […]
by David Anderson 9 Comments Filed Under: Change, Family