Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Hope you warmed up a bit today (60 finally in Chicago) wherever you are and walked by faith.  I had a good day of sharing the Gospel with students, and 2 students, Kaitlynn and Ryan, prayed to receive Christ as their Savior.

Kaitlynn was sitting on a couch not far from the bookstore on the 1st floor.  She has strawberry-blonde hair and is a bit heavy set.  She hemmed and hawed when I asked her if she wanted to do a survey but decided to do so.  She attended a church in West Chicago called Ginger Creek and knew some of the people I knew from there.  She thought she’d go to heaven because, “I deserved it,” so not the Biblical notion for sure and she said she did not know how God had taken away her sin.  I think it is possible in her youth group the teaching had not been very clear to her.  The Gospel seemed somewhat new to her and she said she wanted to be forgiven.  I explained how she could pray to do so, she mulled that over a bit and then said, “I’m going to do it.”  And she did and then continued to read the next page, so I wasn’t sure what was up.  So I asked if she had prayed and she said she had.  She did not want a book, saying she knew she wouldn’t read it. I got her e-mail though, to send her some stuff and gave her a Bible Study to go through.  I’ll be praying she grows in the faith.  We talked about the Holy Spirit some and about praying for those you could see had some issue or another, so I think she has a good start in her walk with God in Christ, by the Holy Spirit.

I came across Ryan sitting outside his classroom, listening to some music [I think] waiting for class to start.  He was painfully honest when I asked him why God should let him into heaven saying, “I’d probably say, ‘You shouldn’t.  I’ve been a bastard my whole life.'” I wouldn’t have pegged him for that.  He had glasses and brown hair with an orange Hedly T shirt on, really normal looking.  He was a bit closed, but I began to explain the Gospel to him and it became clear he had been turned off pretty badly by the Catholic Church.  But after hearing Christ had died for his sins, he wanted to be forgiven and so I took out a booklet and showed him a prayer he could pray if he wanted and he did.  He took a Bible study from me and The Case for a Creator, which is a good book, so that heartened me.  I explained the Holy Spirit to him saying, “A lot of people think Christianity is just people who are good at being Good.  But it is more like a bumper sticker I read once that said, Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.  Christianity is about asking for God’s power that we would be better men.”

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