A couple of weeks ago I met a couple named Rudy and Juanita Rasmus from Houston, TX. They are the pastors of St. John's United Methodist Church in downtown Houston. Their ministry is similar to ours at Embrace, only on a much larger scale and further along. They've been faithfully serving the most vulnerable and marginalized in their community for decades. They spent two days teaching and sharing with about 100 pastors from the KY Conference of the United Methodist Church. Their stories resonated with me on a deep level.
Juanita introduced the group to a daily prayer guide called, "The Daily Examen." St. Ignatius developed this simple method of reviewing a day through prayer. It is often practiced in the evening before going to bed. At our community prayer service this past week we used The Daily Examen to guide our time of prayer. One of our regulars expressed that so far it was his favorite day at the prayer service. Since we were using it at noon instead of at the end of the day, we reflected on the previous day instead of the current day. We plan to use it again next week.
In the Lord's Prayer we are instructed to pray, "Give us today our daily bread." That is a prayer that must be prayed daily; you can't pray it for tomorrow or yesterday. I recommend using the The Daily Examen to guide your daily time with God.
For more info visit the link below:
http://www.loyolapress.com/prayerfully-reviewing-your-day-daily-examen.htm
-Pastor John