Watch and Pray!
by Pastor Sid Ogino, Phoenix (AZ) Japanese FMC

Sid Ogino

In March I attended a session of a conference that featured Doug Murran. One comment that Doug made was that he was often blessed when he spent an entire night in prayer. This was not his main point and I think he only mentioned it twice. But since our theme for 2002 was "passionate spirituality", it struck a chord in my soul. During my Campus Crusade years, the staff and students would sometimes have all night prayer vigils but I always managed to avoid them. I would always rationalize my absence by telling myself, they have the gift of prayer and I have the gift of sleeping. That is until recently ...

The day after I attended this seminar, the Lord gave me a strange dream. I was hiking down a steep mountain trail. The steps were extremely narrow and steep. One wrong step and I would fall thousands of feet down the sheer rock cliffs. I gingerly stepped on a stone ledge and the entire staircase collapsed and I found myself falling through the air. However, I was not scared. I thought to myself, "Since, I'm going to die soon, I might as well have fun!" So I opened up my arms and legs and began skydiving! As I explored my dream, I knew the source of the image came from a T.V. show I had watched several nights before. This show featured an expert mountain biker named Hans Rey as he cycled down Mount Sinai. Super steep cliff like steps did not stop him, loose rocks did not faze him, in a typical irreverent attitude that characterizes most hard core cyclists, he biked down the mountain of God. I asked myself, "What part of my life feels like this dream?" I think hiking down the mountain is like my journey at mid-life (being over the hill). As I walk down mid-life's treacherous trail, I tend to be extremely cautious. I carefully test each step before putting my weight on it. However, the Lord may have been telling me in my dream that being too careful is the worst thing I can do at mid life. Just like in mountain biking, your stability comes from forward momentum. Stop or go too slow and you will become unstable and fall. And like the dream, I need to realize that life is short so it is crucial that I have fun now. Jump off the cliff and sky dive to glory!

Well, when Maundy Thursday (the time Jesus prayed all night in Gethsemane) came around, I knew the Lord was calling me to keep watch with Him by praying all night. I figured that since life is short, I might as well experiment with bold and crazy things! So at 10:30 p.m., instead of falling asleep, I began reading the gospel of Luke. I noticed that three times our Lord asked Peter to stay awake and pray, but all three times Peter and the disciples fell asleep. It would not be long before Peter would deny Christ three times. Peter's denial of Christ was rooted in his failure to pray!

It was a struggle. It only took about an hour to pray through our entire church directory. At 1 a.m. I had to jump on my exercise bike and peddle. At 3 a.m. I got on my commuter bike and rode around the neighborhood. At 5:30 a.m. I took a shower. But soon the sun began to rise. I wish I could say that I had a great life changing vision. I did not. But I did have a sense of satisfaction that I communed with Jesus and tried something bold for Christ.