Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I hope you had a good day today and took in some sunshine somewhere feeling God’s love. I had a good day on Campus and Cory and Robert prayed to receive Christ.
Cory was sitting in the cafeteria on the counter looking outside and said she would answer some questions about God. She’s an African American, kind of a fresh-faced kid. She just looked like a good person. Her features looked more Latino, straight hair pulled back no make-up. She was very quiet. She grew up in Elgin where her family had been going to church and they just hadn’t found a new one around here yet. But they went back once in a while to a Baptist church there, and must have some Catholicism in the family because she said she went to Christmas mass. She patiently listened to the Gospel and though she seemed to have familiarity and nodded in agreement with each point, she hadn’t seemed to understand how God had taken away her sin and had said why she might go to Heaven, “Because I tried to live my life the best I could.” When I was finished she decided to pray to accept the forgiveness of God based on what Jesus had done for her. She asked about Christian groups on campus. I’d told her about our Bible study and I told her of some other ones I knew of. She is so quiet and shy I doubt she’ll look for one if she does not happen on to ours. But I got her e-mail to send her some stuff and gave her the Student edition of The Case for Christ to read and a Bible study and told her I would keep her in my prayers.
I had a couple long conversations with some students I run into who seem to like to talk and ask questions about the faith. In the MAC arts building I saw Maggie who committed to Christ. We talked about purgatory and I read through the end of Romans 8 and talked to her about that as opposed to what the Catholic Encyclopedia says, and about society and movies. And Kwanai, a strong Christian Black girl had some questions about the Christian life and discipling others..
I was pretty tired at the end of the day and thought I’d walk down one more hall to the locker I’d gotten. Two-thirds of the way down the hall no one seemed to be in, I had this strong sense I was supposed to go back to the PE building the opposite direction where I’d talked to Kwanai about 2 and a half hours before. I plopped down on a chair across from the locker, sat for a few moments. I couldn’t shake off the feeling, so I said alright to the Spirit and marched to the other end of the school. No one was free on the ground floor lounge and there was a coach there in the middle chatting up some guys. Talking to students in front of him would violate my “don’t let any potential bureaucrats know you exist on campus” rule. So I went upstairs and Robert was playing around with his phone on some of the new circle bench couches and said he’d answer some questions. He is on the football team, plays offense. He had a smattering of a beard here and there and an afro, pretty big guy. He was really into his family. His folks were divorced and he was the default “man of the house” somewhat. He’d been to church more when he was younger. But he knew about the sacrifice of Christ. He agreed with the Gospel all the way through, so I asked him if he wanted to be forgiven and he said he did but said, “To be honest I haven’t trusted in that [the work of Christ on the Cross] but in that I was a good person [for forgiveness].” So I showed him a prayer he might pray, but after I read the prayer through he said that wasn’t where he was at. I questioned him more as I could tell he believed (he was saying he didn’t think he had the power to live for God) and asked something like, “Would you want to begin to live asking for God’s power to help you to follow Him?” I explained how we are not to live the Christian life in our own strength but God will help us live it through the Holy Spirit. “Sometimes they tell you something in Church and you don’t really want to do it, so you have to pray for God to make you even want to pray to pray to change.” He laughed at that and said he would like to have God living inside him and helping him live the Christian life and he prayed to receive Christ. I gave him a Bible (he did not have one of his own) and Playing with Purpose on the NBA stars testimonies, a Bible study on the deity of Christ and got his e-mail. It had taken about 45 minutes from when I’d first gone to leave. When I went downstairs again the lounge was empty and I figured it was time to head home.
So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a moment. God blessed. Please say a prayer for Cory and Robert, that they might grow.
In Him,
Bob Bollow
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