Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

How’s the life? Hope you were blessed today. Sunny day today in Wheaton and I went for a brief ride, winter is coming but it was still harvest today and  Jesse and  Kyle prayed with me to receive Jesus also Patricia* (an African American girl with long two tone braids, dark with wide features, cute kid) committed to Christ but had to run to class. She began by asking me about Buddhism for her world religions class for a paper and I explained it in light of Christianity, which took too long but helped he see the lie of it. Her friend from class walked up and she had to go, not having time to pray as I finished the Gospel. But I hope to see her again to check since she was sitting outside the cafeteria and her class was right down the hall so maybe I can catch her next week.

Jesse was sitting on an overstuffed chair in the big lounge by Starbucks where we have our Bible study on Tuesday, so I sat at his feet on the floor. He was not a very big guy he had brown straight hair and was wearing grey sweats and a dark blue-grey short sleeved shirt. He look Latino, had a nice smile, though I did not see it until the end. When I asked him what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into Heaven he said, “Hmm,” for just a second and then spit out “It’s up to you,” like someone remembering an answer they had been told. I asked him what the likelihood was he would go to Heaven and he said, “I have no idea.” He attended a Roman Catholic Church in Elmhurst. He was really quiet. But though he was nearly completely unresponsive he was listening and undistracted by the occasional outburst of racket that went on in the lounge. I told myself God would be doing the work and just kept going through the Gospel. When I asked him how God had taken away his sins he kind of mumbled some stuff and I said, “He dies for you” and that seemed to sound familiar. As I finished the gospel I asked him if he would want to be forgiven or if he thought something else and then said to clarify, “When you have asked for forgiveness did you just think God was merciful and you’d try to do better or were you thinking ‘I know I’ll be forgiven because Jesus died for me.’ So were you trusting in Jesus or you just didn’t know.” “I didn’t know,” he replied. So I explained that if he wanted to receive God’s forgiveness trusting in what Jesus had done for him there was a prayer he could pray and I read it through with a bit of explanation. “Lord Jesus I want to know you personally. (so I want you to live inside me). Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive you as my Savior and my Lord. (or my God) Thank you for forgiving me of my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person you want me to be.” Then I read the line, “Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?” He said “Yeah,” shaking his head affirmatively. So I said he could pray it silently and be forgiven and God would live inside him and he said “Alright,” and took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus and when I saw him making the sign of the cross out of the corner of my eye I knew he was finished. I told him he could kept booklet and explained the Christian life. He did not want a Bible but I gave him a Bible Study and explained the Christian life by living the Power of the Spirit, writing that and his name and “forgiven” in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do. I shook his hand and he said, “Thank you,” as I did and I said I would keep him in my prayers each night until this spring and then for one year after. “Thank you so much,” he replied and he got a big smile on his face for the first time and I headed out.

Kyle had a very thin mustache he was trying out, dark brown hair parted on the side with an occasional freckle or birthmark on his neck on the side of him I sat by. He had a sharp nose and chin and fair skin. When I first passed him he was clutching his phone and holding it close to his face. His posture and cock of his head somehow looked like he might be one of the students talking special needs classes at school. That doesn’t matter to me I’ll talk to anyone, though most of the time those kids don’t want to talk with me if they are really focused on something. If I see them they are usually by the cafeteria doors. He was in the ground floor hall just down from the back doors that empty out to the outside amphitheater. I felt really wiped out and it is often a challenge to communicate with some of those students. I walked past him and he did not look up so I kept walking. But I felt like I should try talk to him so after walking down the hall I turned to go back and ask him if he’d do a student survey. And he put the phone he’d been playing a game on away instantly to talk. I realized he was not special needs but had eye problems. I think he had Horizontal Nystagmus which is sometimes called “dancing eyes”. It is a condition that causes involuntary, rapid movement of one or both eyes back and oath from side to side. He had this in both eyes and it appeared like he was watching a tennis match on fast forward on a TV screen at times. Nystagmus often occurs with vision problems, including blurriness, I think he had that too because he occasionally leaned forward to read a verse I was reading to him, close to the words and would explain the way he’d been looking at the game on his phone. He was wearing black nylon sweats that zipped at the ankle and a black and white vertical striped cardigan that zipped up over a white T-shirt. His black slip on shoes zipped up. He was articulate in his responses to the questions. When I asked him what he would say to God if asked why he should be let into Heaven he said, “”Hmm,” and then as if reading a quote, “No man is without their flaws, I have mine but that is what makes us who we are.” I replied that I agreed that that was true but I did not think it would get him into Heaven. “Worth a shot,” he said as a verbal shrug so I asked what the likelihood was he would go to Heaven when he died. He thought 60% 40% and I said, “60+?” “Something like that, yeah,” he replied. He had gone to Church every Saturday (being Roman Catholic) until he was 14 or so and had been through CCD. He listened to the Gospel remarking interest and ascent here and there and knew Jesus had sacrificed Himself to pay for our sins. When I asked him if he would want to be forgiven trusting in what Jesus had done so He could live inside him or if he thought something else he said, “Probably the former.” So I said, “Do you believe Jesus is God He died for your sins and rose from the dead.” “Yeah, it makes sense,” he replied after thinking a moment. So I said if he would want to place his trust in that to be forgiven there was a prayer he could pray and after walking him through it he agreed it was the “desire of his heart” and prayed to receive Jesus. I got his email and gave him a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” and “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. I explained the Christian life living “Inside Out”. “Nice to meet ya,” I said getting up to go. “Nice to meet you too,” he replied and I headed out.

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

In Him,

Bob