by David Anderson
Why do our past failures live on as such vivid memories? On Saturday I happened to see an interview with Alabama’s new coach, Kalen DeBoer. I knew that, after 17 years and six national championships, the legendary Alabama coach Nick Saban had retired, but I didn’t know who was unlucky enough to follow him. But […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Fear, Mercy, Surrender, Transformation
It was a small procedure, but even “minor” surgery requires general anesthesia, intubation, and signing a form that says if you die in there it’s not like they didn’t warn you. I walked into the OR in my johnny coat, an IV dripping in my arm, and there before me was a narrow operating table […]
by David Anderson 11 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Grace, Healing, Mercy, Now/ the Present, Suffering, Surrender, Transformation, Uncategorized
Have you ever had to choose your own punishment? Friend and writer Johnna Fredrickson shared a story a few weeks ago that I have not been able to forget. “When I was a kid, two of my playmates were Linda and Brenda McDonald; they lived in the house across the street from me, and they […]
by David Anderson 10 Comments Filed Under: Family, Forgiveness, Grace, Love, Mercy, Uncategorized
On this Good Friday, here is a poem and a song. A PRAYER TO THE GOD WHO FELL FROM HEAVEN by John Shea If you had stayedtightfisted in the skyand watched us thrashwith all the patience of a pipe smoker,I would pray like a golden bulletaimed at your heart.But the story says you criedand so […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Grace, Lent, Love, Mercy, Suffering, Surrender
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
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
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
On Saturdays our companions are musicians. I don’t remember when I first heard Mary Gauthier’s “Mercy Now,” but it went straight to my heart. I couldn’t tell what emotion the music was pressing on, but it felt deep and huge. It’s the only song about mercy I’ve ever heard—plenty on forgiveness, but not the depths […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Family, Forgiveness, Grace, Healing, Lent, Mercy, Music, Suffering, Surrender, Transformation, Uncategorized