Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Well, I hope ya had great day in the Lord.  I had a good day on campus, though I only got to talk to 4 Students.  The first 3,  Ben, Keith and Brian, all prayed to receive Christ today.  

Ben was sitting outside the PE building on a concrete & stone half-wall bordering the landscaping.  He was a nice, soft-spoken guy with a short beard and shortish curly-brown hair that matched.  He was tall, wearing jeans with torn knees and a cardigan sweater.  I had walked past him but felt pressed to turn back and he looked up at me as I approached and said he’d answer some questions.  He had attended Catholic Church.  When I asked Him what he would say to God if God asked him why He should let him into Heaven he said, “Because I always tried to help other people, and help other people be happy.”  He hadn’t understood the Gospel as I went through it with him, not knowing how Christ had taken away his sin.  It seems what many students pick up from the Catholic Church is that their “original sin” is taken away by their baptism.  At the same time, they don’t really know how to define what original sin is or what the implications for them might be now, were it at one time eradicated.  He patiently listened to the Gospel and wanted to be forgiven.  I showed him the prayer, explaining it and asking if it was the desire of his heart and said, when he agreed it was, “You could pray this then, asking God to forgive you, trusting in what Jesus had done and He could live inside you.  You know what you really want in a relationship with another person is you want them to be able to believe you and for you to be able to believe them, so faith.  That is what God wants.  So you think you might want to do that?”  “Yeah,” was all he said and prayed to receive Christ.  He took a copy of The Case for a Creator and a Bible study.  I explained the Holy Spirit to him and transformation inside by the Spirit leading to living for God, by His power, and a symbolic view of the Mass to suggest it was a time to be grateful for His forgiveness through the Cross.  I said I’d pray for him and walked into the PE Building after we said goodbye.

Keith was an African American football player at COD, sitting in the PE lounge downstairs.  He was wearing some kind of NFL official gear black sweat jacket and red sweats, red socks, with his shoes off.  I kidded him about being so color-coordinated as I sat down at his feet.  He was a nice guy and wore sunglasses (though we were inside, old school look) until the very end when he took them off to pray and we talked more.   Keith had a short, nappy afro – straight up the sides and was a clean shaven, good-looking kid.  When I asked him why God should let him into Heaven he said, “Because I always believed in God and to my friends who didn’t believe in God, I didn’t follow them but still believed.”  (It reminded me of the verse in 1Pet. 4:4 “And in all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excess of dissipation, and they malign you;”)  He was trying to be a good guy, but when I asked him how likely it was that he’d go to Heaven he only gave himself 70%, just a C in college.   But he tuned into the Gospel and knew Christ had died to take away his sin.  But he had not been trusting in it somehow, but was instead hoping he was good enough.  In the end he decided to pray to receive Christ and did.  I explained the Christian life by the Spirit to him and he asked, “What about people who say they believe but don’t live like it?”  I said, “It depends.  They could be lying and don’t really love God and are not saved.  But they might be struggling with things you didn’t struggle as much with because God gave you more grace or they are just in a down time where they are having a hard time living for God.”  I explained we could not see inside others to know, but that he should try to remember to pray for his friends that were like that so God would help them and he agreed he would.  He took a copy of Playing with Purpose to read as he was into the NBA and it seemed like having a few spiritual heroes would do him some good.  I got his email to send him some stuff and gave him a Bible study and told him I would see him in Heaven.  He has football practice when we have Bible study.  Maybe next semester we’ll have it earlier and he could come.

I found Brian in the Science Building, sitting in a chair against the windows in a black, long sleeve shirt and black shorts.  He had curly brown hair, curly beard mustache with the ends turned out.  Brian had to be the most laid back person I talked to all year.  He did lean forward to listen as I was sitting on the floor at his feet.  When I asked him what he would say to God, he paused for a minute and said, “Because I love Him.”  He seemed pretty content and was self-described as lazy.  He gave himself a 75% shot at Heaven.  But he listened patiently to the Gospel.  He wanted to be forgiven and I asked, “So when something goes sideways and you feel like you should ask for forgiveness, are you thinking God will forgive you because Christ has died for you or because you are a good person and have been somewhat religious.”  “I don’t know,” he replied.  “I guess I never thought about that before.”  I suggested that if he had never thought about what Christ had done for him then he was not trusting in it and he agreed.  I explained the prayer to him and said again as I had to Ben, “So you think you might want to do that?” and again I got “Yeah.”  He did not want anything more than the booklet to read.  But I did give him a card for a church since he had not been going.  So I hope he will begin to get plugged in and that the Spirit will move him.

The last guy I talked to, Zak, was being forced by his parents to attend a Lutheran church.  He had some criticisms of the New Testament that I cleared up for him and I think I made some headway past his pride, explaining away some of the “Synoptic Problem” and some seemed contradictions he thought he’d read of.  Many of these, with a bit of perspective, are easily dismissed.   He was a bearded guy wearing plaid shorts.  So I’ll pray for him in the hope he might turn and I pointed him in the direction of SED physics which answers some Biblical science questions.  I think we had a good rapport by the end.

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

In Him,

Bob
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