“If what you are doing now is not working, try this.”
When I grow up, I want to be like Tom Raley. I had the privilege of serving with Tom during my first years on staff. Tom was a club kid from East Texas who met the Lord through Young Life and joined staff in 1953. We met when Tom led spiritual formation for staff in Dallas, and I’m grateful for the seven years I spent learning from him until his death in 2008.
It wasn’t the number of clubs he started or the number of kids he reached during 55 years on staff that made me want to be like Tom. It was his steadfast commitment to following Jesus. Tom read his Bible, and he prayed. Every. Single. Day.
Tom attended a staff conference in 1970 where the speaker talked about the spiritual lives of those in ministry. Tom remembered him saying, “If what you are doing now is not working, try this.” Tom made a decision that day to spend the first hour of every day with Jesus. Early morning meetings and late night clubs were never an excuse – he simply adjusted his alarm.
Tom was a voracious reader of authors like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Henri Nouwen, but he rarely used devotionals. All Tom needed was his Bible, a journal, an hour each morning, and 30 minutes each evening. He adapted practices shared at the conference to create his own spiritual rhythm.
Here’s how Tom described his routine:
“I settle down in a quiet place with a cup of tea. First, I read the Scriptures and ask God to speak to me – usually a chapter, but this varies. I record in my journal His Word to me that day. I then follow a 7-step format for my morning prayer. I record each step in my journal. It helps me to write down very specifically what I am saying to the Lord as well as what I hear Him saying to me. In the evening, I look back on the day and follow four specific steps.”
Those who knew Tom saw the fruit of his daily time with Jesus. When he passed away, it didn’t surprise us when people described Tom as “a man who loved the Lord more than anything” and “a wonderful model of Christ-likeness.”
Tom created space so that he could be “transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)
I still have the piece of paper Tom gave me outlining his prayer time. I redesigned it as a bookmark and now I try to make his routines, my routines. I watched Tom become more like Jesus, and I hope God will do the same for me.
You can download Tom’s steps for morning and evening prayer HERE. If you’d like a bookmark, LET US KNOW and we’ll mail you one.
Written by: Julie Clapp, Vice President of WyldLife