Now I Know that I'm in the Bible Belt...

I woke up this morning with an unsettled heart. Even after talking with the Lord and spending some time in the Word with Him, I still felt a lingering uneasiness in my heart. As I sat in my chair sipping the last of my coffee, I finally figured out what was plaguing my heart. After months of rallying people behind our ministry in support raising, all my heart wanted to do was to go and talk with students on campus. I needed to get out of our apartment, step foot on a campus, and try initiating with students about the Gospel. I grabbed my Bible, some spiritual surveys, and a few Knowing God Personally booklets, packed my backpack, and headed out the door to toward Tyler Junior College (TJC).

Pulling up to campus, I could feel my stomach grow queasy. If you ever have gone out sharing your faith before, you know the feeling. It's an uneasy knot of fear that develops deep inside you and wars with your determined heart. It's the beginning of the battle ground for evangelism...

As I walked toward the student center, I prayed asking God to calm my nerves. Thinking back to the times I had shared my faith on campus as a student, my heart was eager to get back into it. There was always such a need for students to hear the Gospel at MSU...

Walking into the student center, the first thing I saw was a large table set up by two people recruiting summer help for a Christian camp in the area. That's strange. I thought to myself. I'm not used to seeing Christian camp recruitment in a student common area. Hmm...

Setting my thoughts aside, I set off to find a student to talk with. I circled the student center a few times, but didn't really see an opportunity to sit down and get into a conversation with someone. I saw an open cafeteria table, so I sat down and prayed that God would give me courage and provide an opportunity for me to share.

As I looked up, I saw three different students enter the cafeteria area and sit down alone at three different tables. Each of them looked slightly nervous and kept looking around the room anxiously. Could one of these be the person you want me to talk to Lord?

And then it happened. A forth man walked into the cafeteria and was immediately greeted by the three students. They all sat down at the table, simultaneously opened their backpacks, and pulled out their Bibles. "Glad y'all could meet me here," the fourth man said. "I wanted y'all to meet so we could start up a Bible study this semester together. Let's turn to Psalms..."

That's when it hit me. That's when I knew for sure that I'm in the Bible Belt.

I'm used to seeing hostility to the Gospel. I'm used to having students react uncomfortably when spiritual things come up on campus. I'm not used to seeing Christian posters everywhere on campus, recruitment for Christian camps going on in the student center, ministry buildings next to campus, or numerous Bible studies going on openly on campus.

Even though its nice to see these things, I was reminded once again of why I'm headed back to the Northwest. As I got up to leave the table, my heart began to ache once again for the lost students in the North. They haven't heard the Gospel like students have here. Even if they don't always realized it, students in the Northwest are desperate for the Good News.

Even though no major conversations occurred this morning, God did something even greater in my heart. He took me to TJC today to remind me of why I'm going back to the Northwest.