Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you can see God at work by faith. I had a good day on campus trying to walk off the Jet Lag from the bad headache that sidelined me yesterday. Mike & Derick prayed to receive Jesus today and Bridget trusted in Christ understanding the atonement for the first time saying she will pray later. She just joined the woman’s Bible Study at her church so hopefully her understanding will continue.

Ellen’s presentation went well she said she could tell people were praying.

Mike was sitting on the edge of the Science Buildings lounge with his friend Sam. Sam had a smaller version of Pete Townshend’s nose (guitarist for The Who) his hair combed back neatly oatmeal long sleeve cotton shirt and long black pants. His friend Mike had the classic GQ features and dimpled cheeks, wore gray shorts and a tan polo shirt, same standard haircut shorter on the sides. Mike was up for doing a student survey and Sam jumped in. Sam went to an Evangelical Church and had gone to a Christian school and said he’d say to God, “Because I’m saved by His Grace.” Mike went with “’Cause I never doubted Him.” Both listened to the Gospel and knew their sins were forgiven by Christ’s sacrifice. They tracked well with the Gospel and it all kind of came back to mind sort of for Mike. Both wanted to be forgiven. I said, “So have you been trusting in what Jesus had done or did you just know the story? Like when you do something wrong and you think about asking God for forgiveness have you been thinking you’d ask for forgiveness and try to do better, or were you thinking you know you’d be forgiven because Jesus had died for you. I know you both knew the story but did you trust in what Jesus had done?” Sam felt like he was trusting in Christ. Mike was thinking about it and it seemed like he had never thought about it before so I said to Mike something like, “You know you grow up in the Church and it is part of your identity but then you go to College and you are a man and you have to think about things and which way you will go with your faith or whatever.” “Yeah that sounds like that’s about it,” he said. So I walked him through the prayer and said he could pray like we weren’t there and he nodded and said, “Sure.” He prayed to receive Jesus then. I chatted them up and gave them both a copy of 20 Things God Can’t Do writing their names and “forgiven” in Mikes. I gave them a Bible study too. They were great guys. We talked about some differences in Catholicism and Protestantism most have which have dropped off since Vatican 2, which teaches all sincerely religious people are children of the Church. We talked about the Beatles a bit, since I had this tie-dye Guitar shirt on and own a guitar by the copy cat Beatles group American English which Mike had heard of.  I told them I would keep them in my prayers, they were appreciative and I headed out.

Derrick was up on the Third floor and said we had talked over a year before but we’d both forgotten each other’s names. I could not place him. Thin face and features, he had a very short afro, and trimmed facial hair his beard and mustache cut just so. He wore black track pants and a V-neck zippered hoodie. So I plopped down next to him to reintroduce myself seeing if he remembered much of what was said. He answered the question what he would say to God with, “You do good deeds and be a good person.” I said Christianity was a little different and talked him through the Gospel. He either had just “been there” when I chatted up someone else or had not followed at all. He only remembered I gave him a piece of paper but he had not gotten a booklet, which I give to everyone I talk to unless they refuse it (which happens with the occasional atheist). So I jumped back and forth with the points of the Gospel and he said his sister and brother had gone to Christian school but it was too late for him. “You got ripped off,” I said. He agreed but said he could talk to them about things. I had to go over and over some details; he couldn’t get on my first try. I told him Jesus was God, “Wait, He was God? I thought he was just God’s son?” he replied. I showed him a Bible study with the Trinity in Isaiah 9:6. I asked him if he believed Jesus was God had died for his sins and rose from the dead. He seemed to agree then said, “What was that you said again?” I wrote it out on the top of the Bible study I had given him. “Jesus is God. He died for your sins. He rose from the dead.” He then said, “Why do you have to believe He rose from the dead?” “Because death was what Satan had over us so He had to rise again to show he had defeated Death, He had won.” I read the verse 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 to Him again from the booklet explained some things again. He said something like there was so much to learn, he’d have to think about these things. I said, “Well you begin to learn by asking God to forgive you trusting in Jesus and to live inside you.” I talked about how when I first began watching football I just understood you try to attack the quarterback and throw or run the ball for a touchdown. I did not understand the routes they were running or the lanes they rushed the quarterback through. But I still could basically follow the game. And you understand enough to believe in Jesus and begin to follow Him. I walked him through the prayer and made notes next to the phrases in a different booklet. He read through it with me then again on his own. “So would you want to pray a prayer like this?” I asked. “I just read it,” he said. “OK Amen?” “Amen,” he said. I gave him a bible early on in the conversation and he really liked it thinking it was really nice and they are nice ones I found cheap that friends have paid for (thanks guys). I took it back and wrote “forgiven” under the date. I also gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “by the power of God’s Spirit” in the front explaining some things to Him. He was really grateful thanking me and telling me how nice it was of me to help him understand stuff and got up to go I gave him a hug and said I would be praying for him and he left happy.

Bridget was sitting in the Science building lounge and was the last person I talked to. She had streaks of blond in her dishwater blonde hair down past her shoulders. Real cute, curved face, rounded high cheekbones, wearing braces and velour leggings. She said she was athletic and looked like a softball player and her v-neck washed out reddish t-shirt had a Boston Red Sox “B” on it. She said she just started going to a woman’s group Bible Study at her Church. So I asked her if she’d like to do a survey anyway and maybe learn something and she agreed. When I asked her what she would say to God she said, “Well I follow Jesus, I try to follow His rules as best I can. I obviously made mistakes with imperfections. I feel I’ve a good life, what He wants for me.” She thought she had about a 90% chance of going to Heaven. As I began explaining the Gospel to her adding to the booklet as I went I asked her what the big thing was that Jesus had done to take away her sins. She said she wasn’t sure and didn’t have all the details down well. As I began to explain it she said, “Didn’t he rise from the dead?” I said He did and she took it all in enthusiastically. I told her there were two kinds of people, those who had asked God to forgive them trusting in Jesus and everyone who thought something else, ”But you’d say you wanted to be forgiven I guess right?” She agreed so I showed her the prayer and she felt like she might have done something like that already. “You explained this so well I have had other people explain this before but this really made sense,” she said. I encouraged her to tell God she was trusting in him through prayer and she said she thought she would pray later. She seemed reticent to pray in front of me so I said that was fine and asked, “Do you believe Jesus is God he died for your sins and rose from the Dead?” “I do,” she replied. And do you trust in that now understanding it better?” she did. I gave her Bible Promises for You and explained how she could read and even pray the verses. I wrote the date and “forgiven” in the front. She said her dad had moved recently to Canada to study to become a pastor. I talked to her about living the Christian life inside out. She was grateful. She asked if I was involved with teaching the Bible study and I said I was and she said she’d try to come sometime but she lived far away. I said no worries that if she had any questions she could contact me. She was grateful.

So thanks for your prayers for the Bible study and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob