Bob Dylan has revealed how a silver cross thrown onstage by a fan in 1978 helped pull him out of a personal and professional slump, ultimately steering him towards the born-again Christian phase of his career. The moment came during a difficult period following the poorly received album Street-Legal and the divisive film Renaldo and Clara, when a demanding tour schedule and illness had left Dylan depleted; the incident illustrates how an act audiences are usually told to avoid ended up having a profound creative and spiritual impact on one of music's most influential figures.

At a San Diego show in November 1978, an audience member tossed a small silver cross onto the stage, which Dylan, despite rarely picking up items thrown by fans, felt compelled to retrieve and pocket. By the time he reached his next tour stop in Phoenix, Arizona, feeling even worse, he found the cross still in his pocket and it became a turning point, marking the start of a spiritual shift that produced his "saved" album trilogy: Slow Train Coming, Saved and Shot of Love.