Thanksgiving Prayer Letter | Third Watch Ministries

Third Watch Ministries, NFP Bob & Ellen Bollow

P.O. Box 1283 Prayer Letter – Thanksgiving 2016

Wheaton, IL 60187-1283

“My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure”

Isaiah 46:10

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you have been blessed with a pleasant fall. We are happy, though bracing for payback for what seemed to be a warmer than usual autumn in Chicago. Things go in cycles and it is difficult to know which way the world has turned—for or against the Good. But the scripture teaches if God be for us who can be against us, and that nothing can separate us from His love. I try to remember that on campus when I feel blown around for a few hours, only to land in just the right place to talk to someone who comes to Christ.

Last Tuesday, after going through the Gospel with a boy named Isak, I found him hesitant to trust the Lord, though He’d clung to a belief in God through his life in the face of some mocking. He said he had some questions for me. He talked to me about some of the difficulties he’d had in life: bullying and rejection as a kid and one disaster that made him doubt God at the age of 14 that he did not specify. I tried to help him see that these were things God had used to shape his life, even if he could not see it. And that we can not always see the good, as it might be something developed in us we pass on to children or effect a future for those we love, unseen by us. We have to trust God. “To the idea that God is either not all good because He has not helped you as you wished, or is not all powerful and wasn’t able to help, you need to add time. God is helping you and is good, and in the end you will see it when you are with Him in Heaven. Sometimes He dares you to trust Him,” I said. In the end, Isak accepted that he did, in fact, like the person he had become. He recognized how pain had given him empathy and possibly even creativity. After we talked for some time, he prayed to receive Christ and took a couple of books to read: 20 Things God Can’t Do and The Case for Christ. He was hesitant to take them both until I explained that people generously gave me money to buy books for students to help them grow in their faith and then he took them with a smile. Certainly pain and struggle are not to be rejected out of hand, but met with God’s offered help. He offers transformation of the soul, something not offered by any other religion. Sometimes it is simple and immediate; You miss the stoplight but you don’t get hit by the train. You may never realize the train was the real threat, as it never hit you. God protected you by delaying you at the stoplight. But some delays are very painful and can only be taken by asking for the gift of faith.

Tolstoy told a tale once of a wise old man named Nikolai. He had one teenage son who had come to him in old age, his young wife dying shortly after. He was a peasant farmer in the hinterlands of Russia among the Cossacks. He lived just outside a small village. One night there was a lightening storm and the old farmer’s only horse, a spirited stallion, ran off into the dark, headed towards the wilderness. Hearing the news of the disappearance of his horse, some caring villagers came to his house to be supportive, as he was a man who had experienced loss. And there was little new news in the village. “Why are you here?” Nikolai asked them. “We heard your only horse has run off we are here to grieve with you” they replied. “So you think this is a bad thing?” Nikolai asked. “Why do you think this is a bad thing?” “Well yes, this leaves you with no help to bring in the sheaves at harvest” the villagers replied. “How can you be sure this is a bad thing?” he asked them. The villagers pitied him and left. “He is overcome,” they said among themselves. The next day the horse returned, bringing 10 mares with it from the wilds. Seeing this presumed good fortune, the villagers returned to Nikolai’s house. He greeted them politely and asked, “Why are you here?” “We are here to rejoice with you! Your horse has returned and now you have 10 more horses!” they answered. “So you think this is a good thing?” Nikolai mused out loud. “Well, yes of course” they said, taken aback. “Why do you think this is a good thing?” he asked them. The villagers shook their heads, beginning to think him eccentric but admired the beautiful wild horses as they left. The next day his son was breaking the horses to a bit and bridle and one of them threw him off, breaking his leg. The villagers, hearing the news, returned. Nikolai greeted them calmly and asked, “Why are you here?” “We have come to grieve with you concerning your son,” they said. “So you think this is a bad thing? Why do you think this is a bad thing?” Nikolai asked. “Well yes!” the villagers exclaimed. “Now you will have to bring in the sheaves without the lad’s help. You were right about the horses. They have not brought you good fortune.” “I never said the horses were good fortune or bad” Nikolai replied. The villagers left, deciding among themselves not to return but to leave Nikolai to his own musings. The following day, the Tsar’s troops came in to draft the Cossacks into service in the Crimean war, taking with them all the young sons of the village, except for that of Nikolai, for his son had recently broken his leg.

There are many things in life that we may wonder over concerning the goodness of God. The pain makes steel and straw among men, the heroic and the psychotic. But God is at work [Isaiah 46:10] and we must remember what we are told in Philippians 2:13 “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Since He loves us, we know life can bring Joy in the Morning. [Psalm 30:5] So we are of good cheer in our ministry, knowing God will continue the work, which allowed the indwelling Holy Spirit to enter upon the prayer of repentance and belief. God has truly blessed the work of evangelism this semester and 63 people have prayed with me to receive Jesus, among many other seeds that were planted. (An * means they committed to pray, but did not pray with me.)

Matt, Jose, Karrina, Gabriela, Alex, Taranice, Mirna, Berenice, Ada, Victoria, Khyla, Nirali*,

Evelyn*, Dinah, Lashunna, Josh, Oscar, Heidi, Viviana, Jimmy, Daminesha, Peter, Vanessa,

Javier, Xavier, Bee, Mandy, Grant, Malik, Aurelio, Jesse, James, Ydalmy, Crystal, Justin,

Sarah, Trina, Yuanita*, Kristina*, Kamaria, Jeremiah (Jrock), Jessie, Eli, Kevin, Christine,

Aronique, Acarria, Mike, Alivia, Sarah, Paul, Jai, Michelle, Apollonia, Julio,

Julio, Ashley, Nancy, Randy, Dejan, Alex, Julia, Gio, Sue, Katie, Adrian, Isak

Thanks for your prayers & support for us and these students.

In Him,

Bob & Ellen

bob.thirdwatch@sbcglobal.net