Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Hope ya had a great day today walking with Jesus.  I had a good day on campus and Larry prayed to receive Christ today.  His father is a pastor, but Larry did not know the Gospel, or how God took away his sins.  When I explained that Christ’s righteousness was his he said, “That’s great.” never having understood this before.  He is an African American guy from out of the area, here to play football.  He was standing on the second floor balcony, overlooking the stairs next to the elevator by the bookstore, dressed in a College of Dupage hoody.  Just a regular looking guy, kind of a round face, maybe 5′ 10″, 2 inch afro.  He said he prayed every day and had a Bible at home (many of the athletes from out of COD’s area live in Apartments across the street from school as he does).  I talked, as I sometimes do, about meeting Derrick Rose at a club we were at and we both have Bulls caps on.  “Turns out Rose has extra tickets for his sky box, and we look like fans.  He wants to know if we want to go that night, so we say we do and he takes our names saying he will leave them at the gate.  So we show up and we say our names and that there are tickets left for us.  The girl at the gate asks, “Who left you the tickets?” I say, “Hey I’m Bob don’t you have a ticket for Bob in there?”  She says, “I could have 15 Bobs in here, you have to say the name of who left you the ticket.”  So finally I say, “Derrick Rose,” and she finds the tickets and we go in.  That is like our salvation.  We have to claim the name of who provided it for us by His death on the Cross, or we can’t pick up our ticket to Heaven.  We have to trust in Him and His righteousness and death for us.” I also said, “Good works are like if you know a guy who owns a train line and he gives you a ticket to ride anywhere.  You get to the train station and see some garbage laying around and think of your friend who owns the line and figure he’d appreciate it if you would pick it up.  So you spend 20 minutes picking garbage up.  But you are not trying to earn your ticket, the owner already gave you a free one.  You are just trying to show you appreciate the ticket and you love your friend.”  Larry liked the analogies and we talked a bit after I explained to him that, not knowing the Gospel, he had never asked for his sins to be forgiven in faith.  So he read the prayer through again after I explained it, and then prayed it when he agreed that was what he believed.  When I said many people attend Church but are not trusting in Christ’s work on the Cross to forgive them, he said, “I was just telling my roommate that going to church did not mean you were a Christian.”  “Yes,” I said “but you meant that he also needed to be moral and live to please God.  And I agree.  If a guy does not live to please his master, it probably shows he does not really believe he has a master or love him.  But it is Christ’s righteousness, not yours, that gets you to Heaven,” explaining this by ‘extra credit in a class’ as I sometimes do.  I got his e-mail and gave him a Bible study on the Deity of Christ.  I gave him the book, Playing with Purpose, as many athletes have told me they liked it this year.  I gave him an extra booklet to talk to his roommate with as well.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance.  God used them.  Please pray Larry will grow in his faith.

In Him,
Bob Bollow

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