Day 85: On the bus or in the class . . .

Today was an all around super sharing day!!!

God is AWESOME :-)

God bless and goodnight kids

P.S. I may start up pictures and stories again but then again, who knows.

Day 83 and 84: Headache

Sharing is good. Headache is bad.

Just want more time.

God's what will last.

God bless and goodnight kids.

Day 81 and 82: Things are going well

So it's been pretty crazy lately and if you want to pray for me go for it :-)

The sharing is going well and by well I mean I get to do it EVERY DAY in one way or another :-)

If you like maybe we can talk about it all sometime.

I've been learning a lot lately by the way. A ton about myself and a TON about how much I really do need God. Getting stagnant is terrible.
It makes you stupid.

God as always has been totally blessing me recently and I have, not breaking with reality, been soooo unworthy.

Note: I know for a fact that making statements like that can reek of false humility but believe me . . . I know what's up. The blood of Christ all over me is the only thing I can count on. The only thing that makes life worth living. It makes it so I can appreciate and worship like I was meant to. It gives me hope. It gives me life. Sorry if this all sounds super spiritual or something but I can't help it. My life does depend on Him and there is no way to get around it. I wouldn't want it any other way.

For now I must away. More reality is calling and all that means is that life is starting up once again. This time I want to do more . . . I want to be more like He wants me to be. Like the Erik He can see far off and away modeling His Son and my savior Jesus who was, is, and always will be . . . perfect.

God bless and goodnight :-)

Day 80: On the Oval

I got to share Jesus love on the Oval today!!!

That is all.

God bless and goodnight kids :-)

Day 78 and 79: Time is sooo precious :-)

The last two days I got to talk to two people both of which were Christians.

I'm on two hours of sleep and it's been crazy so I wont go into details but be sure that God is working out there and I'm getting the feeling that more is yet to come.

God bless and goodnight :-)

Lesson learned

Things have been working out in the most weird and miraculous ways recently. I feel like I've just gotten a taste of what I'm supposed to learn about sharing Jesus. Life. Is. Beautiful.

Day 77: Another day, another person . . . PRAISE JESUS!!!

A C-State person was the share of the day and with that I'm out.

This is officially the shortest post.

God bless and goodnight :-)

Day 76: Toledo people

I'm going to bed now because I have to work at 12:15A.M.

This will be short :-)

I got to share Jesus with a Toledo bud today.

Told you it would be short.

Share God and love your world.

God bless and goodnight :-)

Day 75: A friends friend

While talking to one of my good buds I got the idea to share Jesus with one of his friends from high school that goes to Ohio State.

It was pretty cool I think and my bud and I got to talk about sharing with people in our sphere of influence a little bit.

Wild how we can know people for years and forget how important it is to share Jesus with them.

How easy it is to forget that they need Him as much as we do.

I'm trying to do something about that these days and for the moment . . . I'm feeling like things are happening.

Call me a wishful thinker but God is good and always working.

I want to be good and always working too.

Of all days today had it's moments when I didn't exactly feel like I was being the man God wants me to be but there is grace, thank the Lord, and I will learn.

I must learn. I love Him.

My prayer is that all of us continue to seek and love God and those people who He has put and will continue to put in our lives as long as there is life to live.

God bless and goodnight. Praise Jesus :-)

Day 74: Even on a long day . . .

Today was sort of a looooong day . . .

but God is good :-)

I got to share Jesus with someone from Columbus State today.

Your prayers matter.

God bless and goodnight kids :-)

Day 73: Great talks tonight :-)

It's really way too late for me to go into anything too deep but I got to talk to someone in my fam tonight about Jesus and it was really sweet.

I encourage you and yes I mean YOU to go talk to someone in your family about Jesus. It can really be sweet and I just love it. I'm sure some of you kids out there have never done this or find it hard and I have to admit that before I brought up Jesus to some people in my family I wasn't sure how it was going to go.

If you want my advice here it is:

Pray about it and go. You have nothing to lose and they have EVERYTHING to gain, seriously. If this special someone or multiple someones aren't ready for a straight on talk about Jesus let them tell you that they aren't and don't go assuming things. If it goes bad love them like they have never been loved before and try to find ways to share the gospel without words until they are ready.

Prayer is HUGE!!!

Don't forget to do it. God after all is the One who is doing the real work in peoples hearts.

Still, this doesn't mean you don't have a part in His work as a person who has been saved.

God bless and goodnight kids.

You could have probably guessed it but I'm not some hotshot share the gospel guy I'm just a boy who has seen the light and can't handle thinking too long about people ending up where I was before I found God. It's wild how He was there the whole time.

Day 72: Wild Sweetness!!!

I should really go to bed around . . . now.

First though I just want to say that I got to share Jesus with a friend I use to go to school with and it was really sweet.

Sometimes things just take off you know and before I knew it I was just feeling that "wow" feeling. That feeling were you know that this is what life is all about. Just loving people and telling them about what God has to offer.

Jesus is real and God loves you ya know?

Talking is something I can do, believe me, but tonight I'm just gonna encourage anyone who reads this to share Jesus and love people.

The world needs it.

God bless and goodnight kids :-)

Day 68-71: Do "we" ever have "it"?

The past few days have been a real trip and I'm really glad with what came out of it. Most of the time was spent attending the Chi Alpha Fall breakaway.

Friday night I was talking to a friend and I mentioned how I hadn't shared Jesus with anyone and it was bugging me. Maybe a half hour later a campus pastor came up to me with an international student and he told him to stick with me.

While talking to this guy I found out he wasn't yet a believer and we had a pretty sweet talk. Isn't it wild how God works people into our lives like that?

Blogger no longer supports audio blogging and since I haven't hooked up with a service who will let me do that on my blog yet, nothing is what you got for the first time since this Go-365 deal started 68 days prior to that moment. It was sort of hard for me. I knew I could have been ready for it.

Saturday came and yet another first happened. For the first time since Go-365 started not only did I not post something but I didn't share Jesus with anyone who didn't already know Him and know for sure whether or not they were going to Heaven.

This got to me.

I know this is more than just something I have to do and I have to remember why I'm doing any of this in the first place but still . . . something in me made me feel like I messed up a "no-hitter."

Some pride perhaps?

It's possible.

I think it was the knowledge again that I could have talked to someone and I just didn't try hard enough. Something like that.

Someone who was on the retreat told me that if this Go-365 deal is all about sharing Jesus than I've been doing nothing but that during the entire retreat. I have to admit, it made me feel good.

Still, the truth is I know what this is all about and I want to share Jesus with people who don't know Him and/or aren't sure about how to live for Him yet.

This is why I'm doing this.

Sunday came around and after coming back from the retreat I pretty much just passed out a little after doing some stuff at home.

Night settled in and I went to meet up with someone before going to prayer.

Wow.

I was about to write about how I didn't share Jesus with someone on Sunday and how I know I could have made more of an effort when it hit me that I totally did share Jesus with someone and just didn't see it until now.

PRAISE THE LORD!!!

So let's recap a little.

Friday I got to have a stellar talk with a cool international student.

Saturday I got to pray with someone and something really sweet happened during that. I won't mention what exactly happened on here because it was special and I don't want any sort of pride to come in and jack what God so awesomely let me be a part of.

PRAISE THE LORD AGAIN!!!

Sunday without any clue of what I was really doing and the clarity to see the whole picture God totally worked through my dorkiness to share a very real Jesus with someone.

Then, Monday arrives. Today.

I woke up and had one of the best God times ever!!!

Work followed and it would have been harder had the morning not been so sweet.

After jetting home I attempted to get a lot of things done and realized I had more things to do than I thought I did on my plate.

Fast forward to me walking back to work because I had to turn in some evaluations.

I was praying that God would give me a super sweet conversation on the way back from work.

Feeling sort of down and like a time management failure I made my way to my job to drop off a manila folder filled with the forms I had to drop off.

All of sudden there I am.

It all happened sort of fast and sort of slow but after walking through the Oval and noticing the rain falling around me I saw a guy and it looked like we were about to cross paths. I sped up to try and catch him but he went by too fast so I just yelled "hey" in his direction . . .

. . . and I asked him my most simple question as humble as can be because of all the times I have asked this question I know now more than ever that it's all God.

For His kingdom.

I love God.

"What's the first thing you think of when you hear the name Jesus?"

He wasn't sure what to say and I wasn't sure what happened all I know is that with the most peace I have felt in a while I shared all I could with that boy in the hoodie and he was listening.

PRAISE JESUS!!!

When it was all finished he had answered questions and I had given him what I hope is the best news and greatest advice any of us can ever get.

The Truth about Jesus Christ that can only come from Him and His Word.

This guy thanked me as he left still carrying the look of shock and something more for his trip to I don't know where.

I thanked God and prayed in the Spirit like you wouldn't believe as I headed home and knew I was blessed to have been a part of something special yet again.

Thanking Him because I know that I don't deserve this because of me. All of this is because of Him.

PRAISE THE LORD!!!

Lesson learned

A friend of mine wrote me this past week and told me to remember that today is just as important as the first day. No matter what number it is, Jesus needs to be shared for real all the time and with the same Truth being told.

God doesn't want just another religious shell of something with no heart. He wants our heart and all and everything else to go with it.

Whatever it is our lives will end up looking like just remember that He has the plans.

All you have to do is . . . He knows the way.

Finally, to answer the question "Do we have it?" as in "Do we have what it takes to get the job done of sharing the gospel?" the answer is not without Him . . .

. . . and that's the best part.

God bless and goodnight kids.

Day 67: It's been somewhat of a wild day :-)

A song just came on and it is so very perfect for this moment right now.

"Everything is gonna be all right

Everything is gonna be all right

Everything is gonna be all right

Be strong believe"

Yellowcard - "Believe"

I've felt a rush of emotion tonight while sharing Jesus that is just . . . man, it's like freedom.

You can all pray that the person I talked to will get what it is to live and be about Jesus just in case they aren't really there yet. It's an old friend I knew back in my St. Mary's days and prayer for some sweet conversations in the future would be much appreciated :-)

Lesson learned

You can't live someones life for them but you can do the best you can to show them Jesus with His Word as a guide and your actions as yet another reflection of His love.

and oh yeah,

have faith.

"Everything is gonna be alright, be strong believe"

God bless and goodnight kids :-)

Day 66: Sweetness. GOD IS AWESOME!!!

"Westward leading still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light"

Barenaked Ladies Feat. Sarah McLachlan - "God rest ye merry gentleman/We three kings" medley

I have to go to bed like . . . now, but first let me tell you that I got to start up a conversation with someone today with a little bit of chatter and one question:

"What's the first thing that you think about when you hear the name Jesus?"

The response was solid and I'm hoping more talking will continue and good things will come from all of this.

Lesson relearned

God has totally let me in on something good today. He is at work ALL the time.

I may not be needed but I am wanted.

What more can I say, I love Him :-)

God bless and goodnight kids.

Day 65: 65 down . . . 300 to go. Whew.

How about I just make this a lifestyle thing and not worry about how many days are left :-)

The pressure of all of this Go-365 stuff has been building on me more and more and I've realized something. All of this pressure is coming from me.

God wants me to love people like He loves me and that always makes me feel super happy whether someone is super excited to talk about Jesus or not.

Loving people is best when it's going both ways and there's that sweet give and take going on. Still, there's something to be said for loving people when you know they won't or can't give you anything back. That's when you know what's really inside of you.

Tonight I shared with this girl who I use to know pretty well and sort of grew up with. Her life is taking off and I brought Jesus up because . . . because no matter how great things are going "great" just isn't truly great without Him in your life.

I'll warn you now, a sappy comment is coming up. I actually heard it from a friend last who I'm pretty sure got it from someone else. How about I just say it and get it over with. "We all have a God shaped hole in our hearts" and unless God fills that hole we will always be trying to fill it with something else and never be truly satisfied.

Please pray for the people on here. I'd like to know I'm not alone in caring about what happens to these kids and everyone else I talk to. Again, it sounds like sappiness but in the end reaching the lost is important. The reality of it all is this is something a lot of us need to take into account more and on a consistent basis, me included.

We all need to wake up more to what's going on and make sure God's will and call in our lives is playing out the way He would like. We only cheat ourselves when we settle for so much less.

God bless and goodnight kid.

Day 64: Getting "On point"

"I just wanna wake up"

Mae - "Someone Else's Arms"


Right now I'm tired and should go to bed.


Seriously, this has been one of the weirdest days of my life but hey, I can't let that stop me from sharing Jesus :-)

Question. Do you ever feel like you're living in some sort of dream state that you can't get out of and all you really want to do is smell a piece of grass or climb up a tree to feel "real" again?

I can't say I understand all of what I'm even talking about but my point with all of this is that even when life is all crazy and you can't seem to get a beat on anything God is still there and He always has a purpose for you.

Reaching out to old friends has been sort of what's been going on lately. At first I was scared about doing it because these are the people that knew me before I got saved but now it's really starting to be more of a peaceful sort of thing so yea . . .

PRAISE JESUS!!!

I had some cool God time today but more is what I need and more of Him is a goal I not only have to set but attain.

The message thrown out today was simple. God is important and not just important in the "Oh,I should think about Him" sort of way but in the "Oh, He is EVERYTHING" way.

I didn't mess around and pretty much laid it out there as plain as day.

My prayer is that this guy listens up and takes some time to talk it out with God.

After it's all said and done getting right with God is more important than all the craziness the world can throw at us good or bad.

Lesson learned

Strive to get closer to God. Frustration may creep up with all of the things on our todo list sometimes but He is all we need to know and all that will get us through.

God bless and goodnight :-)

Day 63: On a mission

I was on a mission today.

Some things on my list were as follows:

1. Get a video tape from a rockin' friend so that my roommate would think I was pretty cool, lol!
2. Meet up with a guy who ended up not being at his dorm. I got to talk a little with his roommate though so that was cool.
3. Go to prayer and get totally powered/healed up with a bunch of my Chi Alpha fam who I totally love.
   
4. Hmmm . . . what am I missing??? OH YEA!!! Share Jesus with someone :-) Whew.

I was walking towards the Oval to start getting down to it when I see this kid coming towards me and I busted out with the question.

"What's the first thing you think of when you hear the name Jesus?"

While still getting a hold of his ipod ear buds he tells me Lord and Savior which is just about the best answer you can get right? :-)

I asked him if he was involved in any of the Christian groups on campus and he told me no so I let him know what was up and he gave me his contact info.

PRAISE JESUS!!!

I'm pretty sure I've said it before but what's the harm in repeating yourself right? Even though I think it would be slick if he came to Chi Alpha I just hope he gets plugged in somewhere and starts (unless he has already started) living for Jesus.

Lesson relearned

God is good and works out things for those people who do His will. He is soooo good He even does great things for those who aren't there yet.

Why go out of your way then?

C.S. Lewis said it sort of like this:

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

In short, God has so much more to offer us than free will for us to try and do the best we can without Him.

We can't forget what happens at the end of our first story either. Living for ourselves doesn't end pretty and if you don't buy it from me just ask Him. Believe me, He will let you know if you ask.

God bless and goodnight.

Day 62: Reaching out

It's been sort of a strange day today but it ended well.

I ended up throwing out a line to one of my best friends, from way back when, to try and see where he's at with Jesus.

So much time has passed since we last chatted that it was sort of weird to come out of nowhere with Jesus. I knew I could though, that's how good of friends we were.

College can be so hard and I've been on every side of it you can think of. I have no room to judge and really the only reason I'm doing this and have gotten where I am is because God came after me and I said yes.

The easy part is to say yes and keep down the road you were going down already. Living for Him is where your real challenge and adventure begin. People won't always like it and it could cost you your "image."

One question demands to be answered if you're on the fence. What's your image worth while standing on the crossroads of life or death?

I hope this guy, who was always the best at everything, lives for Jesus and can bring others with him.

Lesson learned

In sort of the same way we can overlook sharing Jesus with our family our friends sometimes get lost in the shuffle too. My hope is that we would all be more active in sharing Jesus with our friends.

If you don't have any friends who aren't saved there is something extra in there for you. It's easy to be around people that love Jesus a ton and want to live for Him. That's a good thing and totally right out of the Bible it's just that there's more. I figure you just have to remember that the only way to live for Him is to live for others and a lot of people in that category aren't saved.

God bless and goodnight.

Day 61: God helps me :-)

I got to talk about Jesus with two other people I work with and I'm just really happy about it.

Did it go the way I thought it would?

Really, I never know how it's going to go.

The best part of sharing Jesus I think is seeing how the events after you share Him unfold.

I'm pretty sure I got to show Jesus more by my actions at work than when His name was being spoken . . . but it would not have worked out that way had I not spoken His name.

I hope this isn't confusing to you all :-) So yea . . . don't be afraid to talk about Jesus, and while your at it, all of the other cool people in the Bible.

You never know, maybe you have more seeds in your pocket than you thought you did.

Lesson of the day

Stay close to God and never let go. There's no where else I would rather be.

God bless and goodnight/morning kids.

Day 60: Around town

My roommate David and me went to eat at this pizza place today and I got to bring Jesus up with the cashier girl. It was random, fun, and like a minute later I heard her tell her manager that something had made her day.

I can't really say whether or not it was a kid randomly bringing up Jesus that made her day but hey . . . who knows.

I can hope right?

Lesson learned

I need to be more bold. I need to get over this recent fear of sharing Jesus that keeps trying to pop up. God is good and I know if I seek Him all things will work out.

Philippians 4:4-7

4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Feel free to pray for me and for all of the people that have gotten to hear the name of Jesus since the first day this Go-365 thing started. Whether it was a full gospel presentation or a "Jesus bless you" I pray that He is rocking their world and that some would be saved.

God bless and goodnight.

Day 59: What to do, what to do

So what do you do when outwardly you look fine but inside you just want to throw up?

This isn't the I'm nervous I want to throw up either but the I'm seriously not feeling good variety.

Tear.

Let's not forget the whole you still have to share Jesus with someone.

I'll tell you what you do. You get creative.

Today after coming down with I don't know what I was in a tight spot and decided that I had to do something about it.

I ended up jumping onto the welcoming pages of facebook and decided to put Jesus on the front page of someones mind if for only a few minutes.

This kid is in one of my classes and we've had a chance to talk some. It felt really great to open up a conversation about Jesus on facebook because it was just another way that this site could be used for something that meant something.

Perhaps it wasn't as conventional as a face to face conversation and maybe it's not as effective but when faced with a few difficulties, some that I could have planned around better and others that came out of nowhere, this is where I ended up.

I pray that even though it didn't exactly take a lot of courage to do today's sharing on facebook God would still bless my efforts and that this kid would be thinking about Jesus tonight.

How about we all do that.

Lesson of day

I had to force myself to remember that God is the One who is really going to be the factor in someones life. He has been seeking them and I'm just blessed enough to be a part of it all.

My prayer is that I would do my part and that I would trust His Word.

God will do His part and His will is going to be done.

God bless and goodnight :-)

Day 58: Peer review

There is a huge day ahead of me so I hope this post will provide enough details for you to be encouraged and challenged today.

Peer review was the word of the day and while one of my papers was getting sized up I got the opportunity to talk about Jesus.

The kid I talked to wasn't necessarily into it. Every time she would say something she kept making a point to try to get across that maybe Jesus wasn't the only way and I kept trying to explain that just because someone is a Christian that doesn't mean that you don't recognize what part of the world you're from.

We chatted for a little bit and I found out that her brother doesn't believe in anything so I can see how she would want to find comfort in an argument that made for another way other than Jesus Christ.

My goal was to share a message of love and a focus on Jesus Christ. I did that even though it felt like the conversation was close to getting sour.

This is when the bright side came. Before we left the class she asked me if I thought she was mean and I told her no and that it was all good. We backed and forthed for a second more and that was that.

PRAISE JESUS!!!

Lesson of the day

No matter how you think things are going to go remember that if you are doing His will God will make a way.

God bless and goodnight :-)

Day 57: After the Boys & Girls Club . . .

Thanks to an invite from a friend I got the chance to help out at a Boys & Girls club near downtown Columbus and I know what you're thinking. Isn't he a giver, lol!

All joking aside it was sort of a blast from the past and it got me thinking about were a lot of kids I knew while growing up ended up over the years.

Right when you think the story is going somewhere I'm taking a turn.

There were three of us helping out with these kids and running a few stations to get these kids active. Bethany had invited me and this other girl to help her out and what I found out in the car was that this other girl didn't even know B.

We got somewhat acquainted in the car and had a chance to talk some more once we got to the club .

I'm gonna skip some more because this isn't supposed to be the blog of esm.

The kids were . . . energetic to say the least, hah, but it was good and I think everyone involved got something from the experience.

After rounding up all of our supplies we left

This is where the magic happens.

While riding back to the campus area I got to chatting with my new chum when Jesus comes up :-)

It turns out this girl went to Catholic School for a little while and believed in Jesus but there was still something about having a relationship with Him that was missing.

There was a moment when she said that all things have to end sometime in regards to the feeling you get during retreats and I responded by saying that even though retreats end a relationship with Jesus and God should never end.

Earlier on she had asked me how old I was and when I told her she said that her boyfriend back home was the same age. All this happened in like two seconds and without much fanfare because we were about to get started with all the Boys & Girls club fun.

Now, after all of this time, it came together for me.

I told her to think about a great time with her boyfriend back home. Than I asked her to imagine coming back home and never calling him on the phone or even sending so much as an email his way. What would become of that relationship and what sort of things could get in the way.

She was stunned!

I was stunned

PRAISE JESUS!!!

After that she was kind of excited about our talk and seemed to really open up some more.

I'm hoping B will be able to talk to her some more but for now . . . I just know it was good.

Anytime God gets in the picture it's good.

Lesson learned

I'm sure God loves it when we do His will. I pray we don't get so scarred that we miss out on all the wonderful ways this life can play out if we were only brave enough to give God a chance.

A chance for what you ask?

A chance to work through us for something more than just waking up and going to sleep with dead air in between.

Day 56: Back to scared

"I do not exist," we faithfully insist
while watching sink the heavy ship of everything we knew
if ever You come near I'll hold up high a mirror
Lord, I could never show you anything as beautiful as You

MewithoutYou - "Messes of Men"

Fear crept in today in the strangest way.

Going on 56 days of sharing Jesus and after seeing sooo many cool things happen it felt like I had reached this place where I wasn't sure how to get going.

What if I can't talk to someone?

What if everyone just blows me off?

Early on I knew all of this was bigger than me but today sort of brought that back up.

I felt that vibe that even though no one is making me do this and I want to share Jesus I had to remember how important it is to be saved.

What's on the line?

Salvation.

What was my life like before Jesus came in?

In the end I prayed hard and God helped me :-)

I had one of the best conversations a guy could have with someone who wasn't sure if they were going to heaven.

He was an older kid who knew about Jesus but just needed someone to talk to ya know?

We walked across campus talking about quite a few things until it was time to part ways and just like that it was over.

I pray he gets so much closer to God then he has ever been.

I think one of the best things about the meeting was how it happened.

God just sort of guided the entire deal and it was, I must say, one of the best run-ins ever.

Lesson for the day

Go to God and don't be afraid to ask for help in EVERYTHING!

i need Him and so do you. Once we get over that hump life becomes a whole lot easier.

Praise Jesus!!!

God bless and goodnight kids :-)