Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and you were warm somewhere, it’s really unseasonably cold west of Chicago. I had a good day on campus today and went through the Gospel with 8 people and Alec and Mia each prayed to receive Jesus. I think David and Diana were close but both had to run for different reasons today.

Alec was sitting in a third floor lounge of the BIC by the vending machines and said he’d do a survey. He had sandy hair and fair skin, wore a light green t-shirt and jeans. He had a beard on his chin up half his jaw line, sharp features and a mustache that was thin, like Anonymous (but other than the width of his mustache he bore no resemblance to that guy). He was kind of in “just the facts mode” it seemed. He said he wanted to run for president some day. He said he hadn’t gone to church at all but might have meant lately. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into heaven he said without missing a beat, “I’ve lived an honest life.” He thought he had about a 75% chance of going to Heaven. He listened patiently to the story of sin and the death and resurrection of Christ to atone for his sins. I did not think he was interested at all so I began to pray for him as I spoke the verses and explained the righteousness of Christ to his credit. When I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in what Christ had done on the cross and have God live inside or thought something else he said, “I’d want a life entrusted to Jesus.” (This to my pleasant surprise.) Which sounded like something a guy who had been to Church or heard some of the good news before in a Church setting might say. So I said if he wanted to place his trust in Jesus there was a prayer he could pray and after explaining it I read, “Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?” He acknowledged it did and so I said if he’d like he could pray it right now silently so only God would hear and I asked if he’d like to do so and he said, “Yes.” “Just pretend I’m not here,” I said looking away and he whispered the words of the prayer praying to accept Christ’s forgiveness. When he finished I explained the Christian life living Inside Out and “by the Spirit’s power” writing that in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do and gave it to him. He did not have a Bible so I gave him one and showed him the “Where to Turn” and “Messianic Prophecies Fulfilled” sections. I wrote his name and the date and forgiven in the front. I also gave him a Bible study and he patiently and gladly took it all and gave me his email. I told him I would pray for him. He was grateful and gave me a firm stiff handshake and I said I’d look for him if he ran for president and promised to vote for him. He grinned at that and I wished him a good Christmas and headed out.

Mia is Roman Catholic, goes to church, was a bit on the short side, a very pretty girl with brown curly hair down past her shoulders, round face and a small thin mouth. She had on black tight slacks and a black t-shirt with a long, gray, thigh length cardigan sweater and high heal, tan half boots. She said she was a musician. I asked her what she would say to God if He asked why He should let her into Heaven and she said, “Because I pray each night to you… Because I love you.” She thought she had about a 90% chance of going to Heaven when she died. I asked her what the big thing was that Jesus had done to take away her sins and she guessed, “Baptism?” I said, “If Augustine was right that took away your original sin from Adam (this is the original use of infant Baptism in the western Church) but what took away the sins you committed after that?” She was not sure so I explained it was Jesus. I think that started to come back to her and she listed the the story of His sacrifice for sins, His blood that washed her clean (“Ohhhh,” she responded when I told her that) and His imputed righteousness she would be clothed with in Heaven. She wanted to be forgiven when I asked her if she did. So I said there was a prayer she could pray to trust in what Jesus had done and said she could pray it silently. “Right now in front of you?” she said a bit surprised. “I’ll go around the corner I said with a smile and walked 10 feet away to sit on a bench out of sight in the seating area, around the corner near us, in the MAC Arts building lounge. I peaked around at her after a bit and she was finishing and I walked back and told her she could keep the booklet. She had a Bible but I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do writing her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. “That’s cute,” she said to that liking it. I also wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. I told her I would pray for her. Getting up to go I said, “Thanks for talking to me.” “No problem,” she replied. “God bless you,” I said. “God bless you too,” she 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.

In Him,

Bob