Hesed

Ever meet someone who had a conversion experience? Did it happen suddenly? Did they have a vision? Did it happen slowly, just one thing after another until everything aligned?

Did they seek the conversion or did it just occur?

This isn't an intellectual exercise. I knew a minister who told a group that his conversion occurred on a bus. It was a rainy evening and he looked outside and for the briefest of moments saw " a bright light, a blinding light"  and " the outline of Jesus."

" Perhaps, " he added, " it was just the neon lights and the reflection in the wet street."

He chose to believe that what he saw, even if it was a reflection. It had gravitas.

Conversion-- and then what? How do you follow? How do I follow?

I pick up the newspaper everyday and read of people who have had conversion experiences and became fanatic followers. I'm afraid of fanatics, no matter what or who they follow.

True followers, I believe, display hesed. There's no real translation from the Hebrew. When people try for an English translation they often say it is loving kindness.

"Hesed is not primarily something people “feel.”  It is something people DO for other people who have no claim on them."