Becoming God’s Intimate Disciples

Last month, Basil and Ruby went for a trip revisiting their old places in Vancouver, Canada to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. They also visited my old house and looked for the rock by the river where I used to sit and pray. I had prayed for 10 years over there. When Basil sent me a photo of the rock, a lot of gratitude and memories came flooding back.

I have known Basil and Ruby and their parents for 30 years – I personally baptized them all. I have known Adino for even longer, over 35 years, and he was among those baptized in my former church’s first baptism. They have now all become pastors and have baptized others as well. We would have our weekly cell group gatherings in our old house and C-Mo would prepare a sumptuous feast, after which we would often chat from noon till night, sipping tea, studying the Bible, and sharing. Adino was still a student then, young and energetic with plenty of free time, so he would often help me with mowning and snow shoveling, and we would go pray together by the river, which was just 5 minutes away from the church.

Rain or snow, I would go to the river to pray, usually sitting there for two hours at a time, receiving much revelation. This habit stemmed from a course called “Spiritual Direction” taught at Regent College, where I learned about the spiritual journeys of the desert fathers. Seeing how they practiced contemplation, I delved deeper into the discipline of contemplative prayer. Upon graduation I started pastoring a church in Vancouver, when I encountered immense difficulties. So I would take my Bible and go to the riverbank to pray and meditate.