90 minutes to 100% certain

Think of a diagram ranging from -10 to 0 to +10 ......you could imagine that the numbers represent where a person is along their spiritual journey. -10 might represent someone who is a declared atheist, believing there is no God. -7 may represent someone who believes there is a God, but does not know who that is and how they relate to Him. -2 represents someone who agrees Jesus is the Son of God, but has not given their life over to Him. 0 represents the point where someone surrenders their life to Christ, and +1 and on signifies a life of growth and maturity in your faith.

During the evangelism training at Big Break, students were challenged to ask God for +1 experiences. This meant that our focus was on asking good questions, listening well and connecting the stories of others to the gospel and to their own personal stories of redemption. For some, hearing the gospel may move them from a -10 to -9. For others, these conversations on the beach transitioned them from a -10 to a +1 as they heard and understood the gospel, placing their trust in Christ.

Two of our students, Kelli and Cedrick, experienced this -10 to +1 scenario on the last day of our trip. We spread out along the beaches of La Vela, one of the craziest stretches in Panama City Beach, where MTV films, condoms advertise, and fraternities mark their party zone with flags. After being approached four different times by Campus Crusade members, a group of young men told Kelli and Cedrick they were atheists, and not interested in talking. Cedrick explains how the conversation unfolded after that: “I just sort of asked them if they would let me show how they could be 100% certain they were going to Heaven. He started out as an atheist and was held by the belief that basically everything was evolved from nothing. I turned his attention to one of the buildings in the background and explained how it was evident that whoever built the building had a design in place for it. You could tell that there was intelligence behind it which was the result of some architect. I then asked him that if it took intelligence to plan a building, how much more intelligence does it take to design the complexity of the earth, stars, moon, and all the life that comes with it. Then I talked to him about our God and how He revealed His truth through Jesus Christ... and proved it by resurrecting Him from the dead. One of the things God led me to say was how at the time Jesus was crucified, he was alone, all of his disciples had fled and one even denied Him. Jesus himself said he'd raise from the dead, and if this were not true, wouldn't He have been proven to be a liar? I asked him, ‘would you be persecuted, jailed, imprisoned, and crucified in the name of faith for a proven liar?’ That really got to him." 

What Cedrick explained struck a chord with them. They looked out at the vast ocean and admitted that it did make sense that there was a God who created it. Cedrick led them through the gospel, and two of them prayed and asked Christ in their life right there on the beach! Kelli shared in a separate conversation with the third guy, and he too accepted Christ!

 

UNT group heads out for our 15 hour roadtrip!!

 

 Karl, Cedrick and Moises

Lillian and I before the main meeting

 Proof that being Greek starts spiritual conversations! :)

 Students used picture surveys to begin spiritual conversations on the beach. Spring breakers were so interested to talk, they used their beer cans to keep the pictures from flying away

Lillian and Sam sharing


News story that followed two DFW students on the beach:
http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/Campus_Crusade_for_Christ_members_talk_to_spring_breakers_about_faith_118341064.html

Remind me.

More than ever I feel the weight of my circumstances pressing in on me, yet simultaneously I feel so covered by God's grace. I am overwhelmed by how many prayers He has been faithful to answer, even though His answer may not be what I wanted to hear. There is a sense of God's ultimate protection in the midst of consistent rejection -- and something about that is just comforting. 

In His kindness God called you to His eternal glory by means of Jesus Christ. After you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you and He will place you on a firm foundation. 

1 Peter 5:10

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1

God truly is my only refuge, my solid foundation. He knows me intimately, knows my desires, my fears and my hopes for the future. He knows them all and loves me relentlessly, with a jealous love that will not stop until He has my whole heart. God is crazy about me. And about you. The reality is this: the future will always be unknown, scary, unsure -- but God comforts in the midst of uncertainty. God calms the anxious heart and reminds me He has graciously called me from death to life. There is a fullness in this life that He already has prepared for me to experience and to walk through. I will tell you, this place that I'm in, it feels like a crawl. It feels like I am crawling through the mud and clinging so hard to Jesus so I don't sink. And it is so good. He is faithful to remind me that I have been called, justified, rescued from the fire, from the depths of my sinful nature. The Holy Spirit tapping on my heart convicting and calling me to repentance to refine me again. 

God's grace is amazing, because it's undeserved. So even in this moment when I feel myself sinking and I cry out to God for help -- the sheer fact that He hears and even cares to respond is remarkable. I don't deserve to be pulled out of the mud. Nothing in me deserves to be abundantly blessed by those who have little but love much. But this is the love of Jesus. We don't deserve it, yet because of His relentless pursuit of our hearts, He offers it -- free of charge to us, but at an incredible cost for Him. Has anyone ever saved you from drowning, throwing himself into the raging sea to drown on your behalf? On a larger scale, Jesus did that on the cross. He humbled Himself to come in front of us, bear our sin, let Himself be nailed to a cross, brutally killing Him, to take the full punishment for our sin. 

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 

2 Peter: 3-9

Jesus, remind me, you never give up -- your patience is unlimited. Your sacrifice was too costly, and you love us too much to even allow one sheep to stray away from you. You will not stop until we are yours.