by David Anderson
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
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
is known as the “weeping prophet” because he had to carry the people of Israel through the worst time in their history. The Babylonians had besieged Jerusalem, pulled down the temple, stone by stone, and exiled Israel’s leaders. It is the most catastrophic moment in the Hebrew Bible. In the midst of the disaster Jeremiah […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Belief, Change, Conversion, Faith/Trust, Forgiveness, Grace, Gratitude, grief, Lent, Mercy, Surrender, Transformation, Uncategorized
used to be Saul, and the name change—signaling a new beginning—may have been the only way he could have gone on, could have lived with himself. We first meet him at a murder. Young Stephen is being stoned for his faith in Jesus, and the accusers who took off their coats to limber up for […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Change, Character, Conversion, Epiphany, Faith/Trust, Forgiveness, Freedom, Grace, Gratitude, Identity, Lent, Mercy, Repentance, Surrender, Transformation, Uncategorized
lives in a meritocracy. He’s in debt to the tune of ten thousand talents, an astronomical sum that would take the average worker of that era 150,000 years to repay. Following the custom of the day, the king decides to sell him into slavery, along with his whole family, to try to recoup at least […]
by David Anderson Leave a Comment Filed Under: Conversion, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Lent, Mercy, Repentance, Surrender, Transformation, Uncategorized
is one more explosive revelation we have safely turned into a children’s Bible story. When God asks Jonah to go preach to the Ninevites—to repent and find God’s forgiveness—Jonah refuses. He’s afraid God will forget all those passages in the Torah about how gentile nations are anathema, and only Israel is God’s choice. Jonah knows […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Anger, Belief, Change, Conversion, Forgiveness, Grace, Lent, Mercy, Surrender, Transformation, 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