Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I hope your day was blessed with good things from God’s Grace. I had a good day on campus. Nick prayed to receive Jesus. Also, a girl dressed all in black down to her boots, with dark-brown wavy hair to her shoulders, Marie, was close. Her blouse had small printed designs on it, like dots (which I mention in case I read this later to help me remember her as I pray for her). I had a conversation for 2.5 hours with another girl ‘M’, a very “lost in her sins” Christian girl. Please pray she gets help and counsel at the Church where she goes. I made her promise to me that she would. Her family is blown up over it and that seems to be the catalyst for change. It was hard to tell if she knew the Lord. She’d had little desire to live for Him, very much a “prodigal son,” but she asked if she could come to Bible study as we parted. She was suffering from the absence of all her church friends (away at college) that had helped keep her more focused before. Her agnostic brother was bringing a girl friend in over night without her parents objections for years, and the hypocrisy of it had screwed with her a lot. She started running in bad company. Now her folks’ double standard and her mom’s tears had broken her as she tearfully told me her story. Sad story, but hopefully her life can turn.
Nick was sitting just minutes until his class would begin at 10 minutes before the hour. Sitting on a bench, right outside his classroom in the science building helped me in the end, as he merely had to turn the corner to go in and when we parted, he was seconds from class starting if my watch was right (it actually runs a bit slow). He had a short week’s growth of beard and a bright red and white windbreaker on, jeans and tennis shoes and a short hair cut. He was Roman Catholic and went to St. Johns. He struggled with what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into Heaven, saying uncertainly half to himself, “I haven’t really committed any of those major sins.” As I went through the Gospel with him, he knew Jesus had died to take away his sins, but hadn’t been trusting in it. I went through the Gospel as fast as I could, skipping some stories I like to illumine the verses with and sticking to the Word itself as I saw him glance at his phone. I asked, “Do you believe Jesus is God and has died for your sins and rose from the dead?” “I do,” he replied. So I asked, as I often do, if when he prayed for forgiveness if he thought to himself ‘I haven’t done anything horribly wrong and God is merciful and good so He will forgive me’ or are was he thinking ‘I know God will forgive me because Jesus died for my sins?’ “The first one,” he replied. And so I said if he wanted to he could ask for forgiveness right now, praying the prayer I walked him through. As I finished, he nodded in confirmation of the content. I said he could pray it quietly in his heart and then did as I held the booklet. He seemed glad when I offered it to him as he finished and accepted The Bible Promise Book to take with him, saying he had a Bible. So it went really as well as I could have hoped in the time given and I hope I’ll see him again.
So thanks for your payers for the ministry if you had a chance. My hard-drive failed so I don’t have everyone on the list anymore as I lost many email addresses. Everything is pretty screwed up, but I hope this reaches you. If someone mentions to you they haven’t gotten it, please let me know.
In Him,
Bob
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