by David Anderson
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
is the queen of surrender. When the angel comes to her with the news, both impossible and outrageous, she says simply, “Let it be.” Let what is about to happen, happen. This isn’t passivity or indifference. It isn’t fatalistic. Not, “Well, it’s bound to happen, so there’s no sense fighting it.” It’s curious, wanting to […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Lent, Letting Go, Listening, Reality--trusting it, Surrender, Transformation, Uncategorized, Vocation/ Calling
always knew where this life-in-God was taking him. But his Gethsemane night of agony reveals his deep confusion and misgiving: he didn’t think it would come to this. He falls on his face and prays mightily for God to find another way, sweating blood. Nevertheless, he prays, “not my will but yours be done.” Jesus […]
by David Anderson 8 Comments Filed Under: Belief, Faith/Trust, Lent, Letting Go, Surrender, Transformation, Uncategorized
is not like the puff adder, the snake who inflates himself to look bigger than he actually is. John gets smaller. John was a baptizer—that’s how he got his name, after all. And at the start he was quite popular. Baptism business was brisk. Until Jesus and his disciples began baptizing, and people started flocking […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Lent, Letting Go, Power, Surrender, Transformation
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
became great in the act of surrender. After his long odyssey, Abraham finally made it to the land of Canaan. His nephew Lot had come with him, and they had both done very well. In fact, they had so many flocks and herds that the land could not support them both. Their herdsmen were quarrelling, […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Blessing, Choice, Family, Guidance, Lent, Letting Go, Surrender, Uncategorized
On Saturdays our companions are musicians. I want to end this week of “Simplicity & Joy” with something fun and celebratory. It’ a song suggestion sent in by a reader. I liked “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel when it came out in the 80’s, but this live version from Gabriel’s 1993–1994 Secret World Tour takes it […]
by David Anderson 6 Comments Filed Under: Joy, Lent, Uncategorized