Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and the bad weather has missed ya if you’re near me, Ice storm tonight. If it’s warm and sunny by you–well God bless ya. I had a good day on campus and Sam prayed with me to receive Jesus.

Sam was on the second floor where I felt nudged to go when I first got to school. He was just killing time on his phone waiting for his class to begin directly across the hall. He was wearing running clothes, heavy nylon sweats and a Jacket and a red and blue winter hat pulled down so I could not see his hair. Had a boyish face with skin like a kid. He had been to a Lutheran Church growing up and now had begun to get back into Church and go with some couples he found at school. I warned him there were cults at school, since I did not know who his new friends were. I asked him what he would say to God if he died and God asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” He said, “I don’t know to be honest. I don’t think there is a right answer I could give that would be good enough. It’s really in God’s hands. It would just be begging at that point.” He was nonetheless certain he would go to Heaven. I began to go through the Gospel with him and he knew Jesus had died to save us from the consequences of our sin. He understood the Gospel better as I went through it and really liked the illustrations I used and related to them. I asked him in the end if he would want to be forgiven for his sins and have God live inside him. “I would want to be forgiven.” So I began to ask if he had been trusting in what Jesus had done for him to be forgiven. It turned out he had not really been thinking about it at all. “I really just pray a lot,” he explained. I explained the difference in having a relationship with God as his Creator and being in a relationship with God as his Savior. He talked about his friend who was engaged at the age of 20 to a girl of the same age. He said his friend had said the first thing he did when he got up in the morning was to text her. His friend went on to say that he should be doing that with God, the first thing in the morning he should talk to Him. I said that was great, but getting back to their relationship; the reason he could text her was because they were engaged. If I started texting her first thing in the morning that would be creepy. Their relationship made that texting meaningful. I said he had not been sure there was anything he could say to God that would get him into Heaven. But God had told him what he could trust in to do just that. I said he could not have been trusting in that truth, that Jesus was God, had died for his sins and rose from the dead, if he did not believe there was such a truth. He agreed and so I said if he wanted to trust in Christ there was a prayer he could pray. I finished explaining it and asked if he thought he’d like to pray it. “I like it,” he replied. Then checking to see if it was OK to do so silently, Sam prayed to receive Jesus. We talked some more about providence and I quoted Ephesians 2:10 to him. I explained the Christian life was walking by the Spirit. I gave him a Bible study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I also wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” and explained asking for help in all things. He thanked me and asked about the Bible study again, so I am hopeful he will come. We had a great talk right up to the minute before his class began and then he took 6 steps across the hall and went in.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed. I also directed the faith of some Christians who seemed to change to be trusting in Christ instead of their own righteousness once I left them.

In Him,

Bob