Hey sisters and brothers in Christ,

I hope ya had a great day walking with Jesus. I had a good day on campus and Isabelle and McPaul each prayed with me to receive Jesus today. His friend Jared asked for a booklet to think about it. I had a long conversation that I think made some headway with a cute round-faced Islamic girl, Massa with a tiny nose.  She had dyed her hair close to blonde and was from Syria. She was dating and not very committed to Islam. But I gave her scholarly evidence for the Bible in a Rose hand out and pointed out how Islam and the Quran had changed giving her a little pamphlet on Jesus and the Quran.

Isabelle was sitting in the hallway at a counter height table on the ground floor that wraps around more or less westward toward the bookstore. Her hair was dyed blonde, halfway from the ends upward and she had sharp features, tall, thin and pretty. Her nose in profile was kind of a perfect triangular shape. She wore skinny jeans, black with holes in them and a white t-shirt. She was up for doing a survey about God. She said she wanted to travel the country and I talked to her about going to the lodges of the National Parks. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven, she really struggled saying, “Ahh let’s see…” I tried to help, asking her if she went to Church. She was a faithful Catholic in Elmhurst. So I asked her what her church might say would get her into Heaven, but she could not think of anything and in the end had to settle on “I don’t know.” She thought she had a 50/50 chance to go to Heaven saying, “it depends.” But she wasn’t sure what it depended on. I began to go through the Gospel with her, saying some of it would probably come back to her, but literally nothing did. She was happy to find out that Jesus had died to take away her sins and I pointed out that that is what the Mass was about. ‘The wafer is symbolic of Jesus’ body and the wine His blood.” So I suggested when she took it she should say “thank you,” because it commemorates that He had died for her so her sins could be forgiven. She liked that and resonated with the Gospel. I asked her if she would like to be forgiven trusting in Jesus so He could live inside her or thought something else. “This one,” she said convinced, pointing at the circle with Jesus inside. “Well, it seems like you hadn’t ever put all this together to place your trust in it.” She agreed, so I said if she would like to trust in Jesus there was a prayer she could pray. I talked her through it, saying she could, “Pray it silently and God would hear the thoughts of your heart.” “Sure,” she said brightly. And she prayed to receive Jesus as I stood by the table looking down. She crossed herself as she finished and I began to explain the power of the Spirit to live the Christian life. I gave her a copy of 20 Things God Can’t Do writing by the  Spirit’s Power in the front and then writing her name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside of the cover. I gave her a Bible Study on the Deity of Jesus and got her email address to send her some stuff. I explained that if she was trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness, the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. She thanked me and was happy. I said I’d see her in Heaven and she laughed and I headed out.

I was walking through the big lounge were we have Bible Study and 4 black guys were sitting at a table together so I asked, “Anyone here wanna do a student survey on what you think about God and stuff, find out how to go to Heaven?” I explained it was for a Bible study group. McPaul, with his back to the glass wall, said he would do one. They guy next to him, Jared, asked for a booklet when we were finished, saying he’d been listening. I said maybe I’d see him around and we could talk about it more. A big dude walked up and introduced himself and I shook his hand. He went to the other end of the table and a white girl had walked up to the other end of the table too and that got the rest talking, so I focused on having a conversation with McPaul, kneeling on the floor next to where he sat. He wore a blue polo shirt with a white coat he had buttoned up to the top. A bit of chin hair and a pencil thin mustache. He had a mop of short braids on the top of his head and was a doppelgänger for a young Malcolm-Jamal Warner. (The oldest son on the Cosby show.) When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I feel like He would let me into Heaven. I’m a follower of Christ. I do good, give back.” I asked him the % likelihood he would get into Heaven and he said, “75%, only because I have lived my life to the fullest and go to Church.” When I asked him what the big thing was that Jesus had done to take away his sins he though a second and said, “He sacrificed himself.” I said, “Right,” and went on to explain the blood of Christ cleansing us and that the imputed righteousness of Christ could be to our credit as He perfectly fulfilled the Law. He said he would want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus. So I pointed out that his answer suggested he had been trusting in his good works to earn him Heaven and he agreed. I said he could pray a prayer and trust in Jesus and know he was forgiven and said he could do it and no one would know (everyone else was distracted and talking between each other) as we sat there. I asked if he wanted to pray silently. “Yeah,” he said. When he finished he reached out his hand to me to shake mine and said, “Thank you.” as I shook his hand. “Yeah, you’re welcome man,” I replied. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and also and explained the power of living the Christian life, relying on God’s Holy Spirit. He had a Bible so I gave him a Bible Study and explained a couple ways Jesus claimed to be God. “Nice to meet you,” he said as I got up to leave after thanking me a few more times. “Nice to meet you too,” I replied and headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed. I also got to give some follow up books to Danni and Thomas, who prayed to receive Jesus last year.

In Him,

Bob