I write after a good cry. Dallas Willard died this morning after announcing stage 4 cancer on Monday. You can read more here.
For those who don’t know, Dallas was a longtime philosophy professor at USC. He was a great voice for Christianity and his writings will continue to influence new generations of Christians. His book Spirit of the Disciplines was influential in my life, helping me to see that following and becoming like Christ is our life’s work. I became a disciple by reading this book.
At the end of my first semester on campus at USC I stopped in my tracks one day with the conviction that I should visit Dallas’ office and share more of my heart with him. We had met a couple of times earlier in the semester, but I had only been able to introduce myself briefly.
I had an apple left over from my lunch and I grabbed it and walked to Dallas’ office while I sifted through the thoughts I wanted to communicate. He was in his office and only had a few minutes before class. He was standing and eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while reading something on his desk. He welcomed me, the interruption. [Read more…] about Thank you. You can rest Dallas Willard.