I could hardly believe what I was seeing.  It was raining (hard to see from the photo) but standing on the corner were two young men advertising a benefit car wash.  Who, I thought, would be crazy enough to stand in the rain to advertise a car wash?  I drove around the block to see if they had given up, but even though the rain had increased, they were still at it.  I thought, "there must be a lesson here."  But when they smiled and waved as I took their picture the lesson that had initially come to my mind quickly changed.

Over thirty-five years ago I did research for my Doctor of Ministry dissertation which was titled, "The Effectiveness of Various Spiritual Disciplines in Facilitating the Emotional Healing Process."  It was a look at how the personal practice of spiritual disciplines (prayer, Bible study, journaling, meditation, etc.) assist us  in the healing of our damaged emotions.  In the 70's and 80's very few protestants ever spoke about "spiritual formation" or "spiritual guidance."  At that time, I had to rely heavily upon Catholic and Episcopal writers.  But today, as evidenced by the book Sacred Rhythms (written by Ruth Haley Barton who studied at Wheaton College) and Celebration of Discipline (written by Richard Foster from Friends University) people from almost all theological backgrounds are interested in this topic.