Hey Brothers & Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed. I had a good day on campus and  Michael,  Juana & Aislinn [IceLeen] each prayed to receive Jesus today. And then Aislinn came to Bible study tonight so that was great.

Micheal was at school to take his GED it turns out he is 17. He forgot some kind of ID and so could only take the reading portion today and they told him he was above the averages he needed. He was sitting in the big lounge where we had bible study tonight against the glass wall. He had a short, plain afro and 3 large scars (one pencil size of 3 inches) on his forehead running down toward his eyebrows. It turned out he had gotten them when he was 12. He and a 13 year old friend had stolen a minivan, lost control of it and crashed in an alley into a pole. The resulting flying glass cut him. He had a good looking face for all the wear he showed. He’d been living in the city and had a lot of run-ins with the law and had been kicked out of Willowbrook (after moving to the suburbs) for fighting a cop, he claimed by protecting his brother. As we talked he had said he was a “man of God” and I could probably sense something in him but when I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I’m not going to Heaven there’s stuff God don’t forgive.” I explained there was nothing He could not forgive and gave him illustrations of biblical characters who had sinned worse than him in David and Paul. Finally taking my point he said, “I’d tell Him forgive me for all my sins, plead the blood of Jesus.” It turned out that was what his grandfather, a pastor, had always told him. He thought he had a 20% chance of going to Heaven. I went through the Gospel with him calling his mind back to pay attention, repeatedly, he was easily distracted. Finally showing him the prayer to be forgiven and talking it through with him more than once I asked if he had ever prayed anything like that before. He shook his head no. I said then that he could do so and be forgiven and he prayed to receive Jesus. I talked with him a lot and prayed over him asking God to lift the influences off him and remove any powers affecting him. He was easily distracted by any girl that walked by. He seemed to be having a hard time getting an Uber so I offered him a ride home and he said, “Well, you have taken up a lot of my time.” So he accepted the ride to Lombard. I gave him Bible Promises for You which he liked a lot and explained living by the Spirit’s power writing that and his name and the date and “Forgiven” in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do showing him the Bible verses in the back. He was enthusiastic about it in the truck saying he liked that the books had short stuff to read like individual verses in them. As we drove him said he was going to get a job, there were a lot of places hiring at Yorktown mall not far from him. He wanted to get some work history and turn things around in his life. He said had quit smoking. He was now living at his Grandmother’s house (one not related to his pastor Grandfather). He said he wanted to show me something in his bible as the language was hard to understand. A theological word he did not understand so I offered him a HCSB bible then with more clear English and he thought that would be better. I wrote his name and the date and forgiven in the front of that as well. He said he’d look for me tomorrow after taking the next part of his test. He had a long tough story and as he got out of the truck said he was going to work at change. I said he should instead ask God to change him by His Spirit as I had repeated to him a few times already. So I’ll be praying for him that that would be true and he can move in God’s Power from here.

Juana was sitting in the hall of the BIC at the Northeast corner looking at her phone. I had washed my hands in the bathroom after returning to school from my short road trip and felt like I was supposed to head toward the PE building. Drying my hands I almost heard the word “Hurry” so I headed quickly out and then thought I was supposed to turn the other way to go down stairs. So I reversed course and just around the corner and saw Juana on the corner of a bench outside the lounge checking her phone. She only had a few minutes before class it turned out. She was taking classes to get into the nursing program and wanted to eventually get an MA in Nursing. She was bundled up in a wine colored parka and had aqua colored sweat pants on, no makeup and her hair pulled back into a light brown pony tail. She had a round face and a cute pointed little nose and black plastic framed glasses. Kinda looked like she had just rolled out of bed. But she agreed to do a survey. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “I really don’t know.” I asked if she had gone to church ever, and she had gone to a “Christian” church when she was a bit younger. I asked what they would have said it was that got you into Heaven and she said, “I don’t know, believe in Him–I’m not sure.” She thought she had about a 75% chance of going to Heaven. I went through things quickly with her right to the point as I felt there was little time. She looked me in the eye and was very attentive and at one point said, “Oh.” as if understanding part of the Gospel for the first time, but she had known He had died to take away our sins. As I finished everything I asked if she would want to be forgiven or thought something else and she silently pointed at the circle with God inside on the throne of your life. So I asked if she believed it was true that Jesus was God had died for her sins and rose from the dead, “Yes,” she replied. So I said if she’d like to trust in that to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray. I walked her through it and told her she could pray it silently and God would hear and forgive her and live inside her. “Wanna do it?” I asked. “Yep.” she replied and prayed to receive Jesus. I gave her the booklet explaining a life in Christ quickly explaining living by the Spirit and asking for God’s help. I told her if she would trust in the righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. She had a Bible so I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do and “By the Spirit’s Power” inside the cover giving it to her I told her I would pray for her through the spring and for a year after. “Thank you,” she replied. I gave her a Bible study as she got up to go to run to class that was beginning in 5 minutes. “Thank you so much,” she said and I nodded and she headed off.

Down the hallway at the other end of the building back in the lounge where we have Bible Study I came across Aislinn. Since she pronounces her name Ice-leen. I said she could be a character in Frozen and she grinned at that. She was really nice. She is on the short side and has naturally curly hair that was tucked under a cap with ear caps and tassels coming down to her shoulders. She has a friendly warm face, cute kid, had a blue shirt on with a black parka and boots. She goes to the Catholic Church and hoped one day to buy her mom a house. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she said, “‘Cause… um… I feel like I’m a good person. I don’t know. He’ll see, He reads our thoughts so He’ll know if I’m on the good side of things, if you care about other people and are not self centered.” She listened closely to the Gospel really being interactive and telling me her brother did not believe in God because there was so much evil in the world. I suggested to her she could tell her brother that if God got rid of all the evil immediately He would have to kill all of us and put us in Hell since we are all a little evil. “How would he like it if God began with him?” I explained God was doing something about evil but not as fast as some people wanted him to act but He did not want to break us in the process of helping us. “Baby steps.” she replied. I smiled and said, “Right, Jesus said to become as a child.” She really understood how the Gospel fit together for the first time and exclaimed, “I love Jesus!” as I explained God forgave us by what Jesus had done to take away our sins and his imputed righteousness. “In the Catholic Church you have to ask for forgiveness,” she said. I said, that was right and then explained how we receive Jesus buy faith. “Oh it’s just faith,” she said. And I said yes, in what Jesus had done for her.  We talked about how love is rules and everyone lives by rules even if they don’t know it. She wanted to be forgiven for her sins when I asked as I finished and I told her there was a prayer she could pray and walked her through it. And she took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life to her too by the Spirit and gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front and her name and the date. I explained a symbolic view of the mass and  gave her a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ which she liked. “Oh I gotta go!’ she said suddenly looking at her phone and quickly gathering everything and standing up. But she had said she could probably come to the Bible Study so I said, “See ya later.” She gave me a thumbs up and said, “See ya later, Bye!” and ran off. Later when she came to the study I made sure she understood how we had to trust in Jesus righteousness not our own.

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

Love ya,

Bob