I attended college back in the ’90s.  It was at a religious institution on the outskirts of Lansing proper.  It’s where I met my wife and many of the friends I still have today.  Such an interesting time.  Here I was, at a place supposed to be for the training of ministers and missionaries during the time of life when people traditionally reject rules and authority while learning by experience lessons of why there are rules in the first place.  Personally, I broke every rule that I thought was dumb, and there were many of those.  Paybacks were that 5 years after graduating, I came back and took the job enforcing many of those same rules.

During the time when I was a student, we began to see opportunities to advance the Kingdom in a nearby secular university, MSU.  We would go over to the campus and pray for students.  One time a friend of mine lead us to pray over a “coming-out of the closet” party.  Another time we came and picked a spot to find someone to tell about Jesus.  Mine was with a guy that worked at one of the student stores. At the time, he was an atheist/Buddhist/etc.  We continued to meet, he asked me to come back, and we talked about Jesus.  His eyes began to open to God’s goodness.  He didn’t claim Jesus as Lord that I know of, but the foolishness of atheism became apparent to him, Psalm 14:1, he no longer claimed to be an atheist, amen.

Another time, when Betsy and I went together, we came across a long line of students waiting to head into a bar.  They were talking and laughing and the Spirit told me to interrupt them, so I did.  In a loud voice, I shouted, “Excuse me, excuse me!  Would anyone like prayer for anything?”  The whole line instantly quieted and looked at me.  Boy, you could write books describing each of those looks.  I purposely didn’t pay it any mind and stuck to my guns.  “Anything?”  I’d been getting requests for sick relatives, upcoming exams, and travel when I would ask individuals, but this time before the line I was surprised by the wisdom of one of the students when he meekly said, “Please pray that we all make it back to our dorms safely.”  So Betsy and I stepped to the side and prayed.

It didn’t cost me any money, it didn’t cost them any money.  I wasn’t judgmental and didn’t ridicule them, I truly only wanted to show them His love.  I rarely know of any results from anything I’ve ever done, but I imagine that at least that one guy had it in his mind to be wise with his consumption.

I only share these stories to hopefully reveal during these dark times that God continues to work and provides strength to do even the ridiculous.  Among some of the most hardened sinners, God’s love is so beautiful and life-giving that its goodness protects while it advances.  Trust in Him, now this hasn’t always been my thought and daily I get tested over it, but He never fails, Deuteronomy 31:8.