Hello friends and family, Catherine here. Part of my job is reading stories of the ministries of our staff across the country. And I confess, stories of how God changes peoples lives move me to tears. Recently, two stories caused emotion to flow down my face.
This story is from Jonathan Ruch, a staff guy at West Chester University:
“A student named Al had been adamantly rejecting me for three years. I saw him weekly in the rec center, and I asked him to come to a Cru meeting more than twenty times. I don’t know what changed, but he finally said yes. Not only did he show up to our Thursday night meeting, he brought his friend Duane along. After the meeting Al texted me: ‘I loved Cru. I even teared up when the girl shared her testimony. Thanks for inviting me.’
“The next day was our Fall Retreat . . . We had more than 100 college students signed up to attend, but I really wanted Al and Duane to come. When I offered that they could come for free, they packed their bags. Al and Duane spent the weekend wrestling with the messages they heard. At different times, each of them pulled me aside to process what they were learning from the Bible. Duane said, ‘I’d never heard that Jesus died on the cross because He loves me.’ I am so happy to share that both Al and Duane believed the gospel message that weekend and gave their lives to Christ! It’s been truly miraculous to see the transformation in these two men. They’re hungry to grow in their knowledge of God and regularly meet with me to study the Bible. They show up to every Cru event and have even brought more of their friends.”
God was pursuing Al. God kept Jonathan asking Al to come to Cru meeting so he could understand God’s love and plan for him. And then Al brought Duane and more friends along. How cool is that? That is persistence on God’s part, faithfulness on Jonathan’s part, and now faithfulness on Al and Duane’s part.
The next story is from Mark August (name changed), Cru staff at Southern Methodist Univ. in Texas. He received a text message from a fellow staff member who serves in Dallas:
“Hey Mark, a friend of one of our student leaders is interested in Jesus and he goes to SMU. Can you reach out to him? His name is Ethan.”
“Of course!” I respond. Reality? I know that nine times out of ten, those students are NOT interested in meeting with me. Yet, I shot him a text:
M: “Hey, is this Ethan? This is Mark.”
E: “Sure is. How is it going, man?”
M: “It’s going pretty good. Are you interested in meeting with me?
…Eight years on the mission field and I’ve never gotten this text before:
E: “I am!”
We made plans to meet in the student union later that week. It turns out that Ethan is a third-year law student and is ethnically Jewish. He had never believed in Jesus, but over the last two months, Ethan has gone through a break up. Through all of the heartache, Ethan has been keenly aware that Jesus has been actively trying to reveal Himself to him. A Bible verse on Instagram. A group of Christians loving one another in a way Ethan had not seen before. A burst of sunlight from behind a cloud, illuminating Ethan’s room.
“Ethan, I want to share a verse with you. Revelation 3:20 says, ‘Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in . . . ‘ Ethan, Jesus is standing at the door of your heart. Will you let Him in?”
Ethan shared that there were some heart-level obstacles to truly following Jesus. Then, five minutes before I finalized this letter, Ethan told me that a few days ago he fully decided to follow Jesus. Hallelujah.
Again, God was pursuing Ethan. And through the faithfulness of a Cru staff guy, who asked the right questions, Ethan has been able to start a new relationship with God through Jesus.
God is always moving. It seems like, in the last two years, He has been moving in the lives of college students, and business people, and those serving in the military, and college professors, and more. I hope these stories brought you encouragement.
God has also been moving here in Mint Hill — Andy and I have put in an offer on a house and it has been accepted. That means that sometime this spring we will move about a mile from where the three of us are living, to our new home! We will share more next month. It was so fun to meet the older couple who are selling the house. We learned that they love the Lord, and that they are only moving a mile down the road.
Because He is living and moving,
The Kelloggs 