Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you are doing well in the Lord. I managed to make myself sick being outside without a coat (working on Friday) and recent stress did me in and I got a sore throat and aches.  So I have been limping through the weekend and sequestered myself indoors today for the thaw we are having in Illinois.

But on Thursday, Will prayed to receive Christ.  He was sitting down by the Student Activities offices on a couch.  (An area I avoided for a few years until I got a Lawyer to secure my right to free speech.)  I walked up to ask him if he wanted to do a student survey for our Bible study group.  He had a boyish face and a crewcut, jeans on and a black long-sleeved fleece shirt, the sleeve of which he pulled up exposing his bicep in reply.  He began showing me a large cross, each end with 3 curved tips and informed me he was a Catholic and now attended Willow Creek.  Tattoos as evidence of salvation was suggested to me earlier in the year by Ramy who also prayed to receive Jesus.  “Well, the survey is questions about God and stuff like: You’re walking down the road and you get hit by a bus, so you’re dead and you stand before God and He says why should I let you into Heaven?  What would you say?”  “I’ve done some bad things but I have done good things to make up for it,” Will said without hesitation.  I said the Bible said something a bit different and asked him if he wanted to hear some verses. He was ok with that, so I began to go through the Gospel with him.  He listened well and I asked him, “When you pray for forgiveness, are you trusting that Jesus has died for you so you know you will be forgiven? Or have you thought, ‘I’m a good person and God is merciful.'”  “A little of both” he responded.  “Well, you need to put all your trust in Jesus” I said.  It was obvious to me from his first response that he had a view of salvation based on his earning it. “I know you knew the story because it is all over the Catholic Church, and you probably heard it at Willow. But have you ever had a moment where you told God, ‘This is how I am going to roll now.’ Or did you kind of just drift into it?” [And began going to Willow.]  “Just drifted.” he replied.  So I offered him a prayer where he could receive forgiveness based on Jesus when he’d said he wanted to be forgiven and have God live inside him.  I walked him through the prayer and he prayed to receive Christ.  So that was great.  I offered him a book but he said he read his Bible, one verse every night.  I think he had sensed at Willow that there was more life than he had been experiencing in the Catholic Church and now he has understood the Gospel rightly and come in.  He thanked me and shook my hand.

So thanks so much for your prayers for the ministry and for Evangelism last Thursday if you had a chance.  God blessed and I planted some good seeds too with two different guys named Alex.  Each were close to a decision, saying they believed the Gospel but not sure they were ready to commit their lives to following Christ.  Both had good questions. One tall with dark brown hair and a thin mustache, the other kind of an all-American guy look, shorter with sandy hair.

Blessings,

Bob Bollow

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