“I get it!”

Holes family October '09 photo taken while visiting Eliza at school

As I write this, we have just completed a wonderful week of visiting and staying with my folks in a suburb in Chicago, Illinois.  It was beautiful. I did get the opportunity to hand out tracts and preach throughout the week, so that was surely a bonus.  We got to see my brother Brad and his daughter Christa, my 73 year old mother who has a great career as a hospice nurse and took some days off to spend with Lisa, Will, and myself, and my brother Todd who is a stay at home son, taking care of my dear father who has Alzheimers.  He is 82 years old and doesn’t know his surroundings nor does he recognize people, including his wife, (my mom) of 53 years.  He is a shell of the man he once was and it is painful to see him fade away with this disease.  My mother and my brother Todd continue to care for his needs and really who knows how much longer he will live.  We had some laughs and great meals together.  It was a much needed time to slow down a bit and just relax.  We were able to stay in the Walmart parking lot with our RV the entire time we stayed and that was a real blessing.  It was flat, and quiet. And looking out our windows was a pond, which Lisa liked.

You know, that question, “when will I die?”, continued to pound at me while we visited my parents for the week.  I talk about death daily while going out and witnessing, but it was even more profoundly impacting me this last week with the condition of my sweet Dad.  I could die in my sleep, or while driving my car, while eating, or even while preaching.  It could happen at any time.  Additionally I now think, what am I going to do with the time that God has given me?  I heard a man talking to some young people at church during a children’s message and wouldn’t you know it, he was asking them about what they are going to do with the time that God has given them.  We all have the same amount in terms of minutes in a day.  But really, what are we going to do with that precious time?  Will we build up our kingdom on this earth? Will we be lazy or self centered with our time?  Will we esteem others better than ourselves with our time?  Will we share the Good News of Jesus Christ with our time?  What will we do with our time?  Time is ticking away and it surely cannot be slowed down or taken back.  In fact, now that I am 47 years old I have to truly declare that time seems to be going faster and faster all the time!  So, really, who knows how much longer any of us will live. But what are we doing with the time that God has given us.  I suppose to a certain extent we all live as though we have a million more tomorrows.  I suppose we all live as though we have plenty of time.  But I really wonder how many of us are truly right with God.  Will God say to you on that day when we face Him in all His glory, “well done good and faithful servant?  Or, will He say to you, “away from me you doer of iniquity, I never knew you?”  You can either bow your knee now in brokenness and belief, or bow you knee later in judgment and condemnation.  Please don’t waste your time on this earth.  Please don’t squander your life away for worldly pleasures!  You have one life to live, what will you do with it?   Will you live as though you have a million tomorrows on earth and selfishly and proudly live for yourself?  Or, will you live for the King of Kings?  The name that is above all names, Jesus Christ, the Messiah who came to take away the sins of the world.  What will you do?  Are you ready to meet your maker?  Are you justifying your sin and playing russian roulette with your eternity?  Are you ready to die?  Here’s a GREAT question to ask: Are you looking forward to Judgment Day? If you are in Christ, you can look forward to that day! Eternity lasts a really long time…the Bible says you will spend it in either one of two places and God has a place ready for you in either heaven or in hell.  “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9. What will you do?

Walmart in Mankato Minnesota. A brother in Christ has allowed us to use his travel trailer this year. It is warm, large and comfy. October 12th, yes that is snow!

I am about to go out today and preach at Mankato State University here in southern Minnesota in freezing temperatures and…it is snowing.  The rest of the week doesn’t look like it will be much warmer.  And next week we pray we will be in South Dakota and again, it is cold weather.  I just pray that the Gospel will go forth.  I am praying for a great awakening on these campuses and in this country.  I pray that if we encounter cultural christians that they will become broken before the Lord and they will be born again by His grace.  I am praying for the Holy Spirit to move in a measurable and tangible way.  Lord, may you be glorified, for you deserve all the glory, and all the praise, and all the honor.  Let us praise His Holy Name and exalt Him. I pray for revival.

Schedule for the next two weeks looks something like this, Lord willing:

Monday Mankato MN

Tuesday Marshall MN

Wednesday Winona MN

Thursday St. Cloud MN

Friday U of MN

Saturday streets of Minneapolis

Monday Vermillion SD

Tuesday Vermillion SD

Wednesday Brookings SD

Thursday Sioux Falls SD

Friday Lincoln NE

William and his friend Kyle Fisher horsing around on Kyle's pint pony in Richland Center Wisconsin October 11th.

Here is a brief update of some of the campuses that I visited over the last couple of weeks.  Most of the campuses I have preached on lately I have gone to by myself.  I have to be surrendered to our Lord in prayer and trust that He will not only bring the people to hear, but also allow me in love to share this Good News.  He protects me and directs me.  I just preached at Northern Illinois University where one man spit a huge gob of spit on me.  The crowd even objected when the man did this.  It was down right dirty. One young Catholic man stayed almost the entire time and at the end he said that I never shared about Jesus!  Well, I said that is just not true.  In fact as I go to these campuses I record what I say because so many false claims are made about what I have said.  I explained to this young man that if he wanted he could contact my email and I would download the 5 ½ hours of preaching to him and he could listen for himself as to how many times I actually shared the Good News of Christ, His precious blood, the forgiveness, the joy, the absolute surrender that he commands.  I haven’t heard from him though. Strangely many times I am confronted in lies and when I have evidence to prove the contrary to what people are saying, then all those falsehoods are seemingly no longer such strong arguments. So, I record messages and often times record by video as well.

At Buffalo University in Western NY state, I met up with a wonderful Christian student of which I met last year.  His name is Lijo.  He was there almost the entire day while I preached, witnessing and handing out tracts.  At one point a student that was there listening for quite some time approached me and said, “I GET IT!”  I get it.  It is absolutely wonderful to see students understand the Gospel on a not only mental level but also on a spiritual level.  What a blessing.   Many students stuck around at the end of the day and asked really great questions.  I preached on this campus in front of the student union building where a walking bridge crosses from one building to the next.  The crowd in front and behind was hostile and angry at times but twice as I preached I noticed that a real calm a quite attentive crowd was gathered above in the enclosed walking bridge overhead.  You never really know who might be listening.  Recently on one campus, I heard a shout from one of the dorm rooms close to where I was preaching.  The student yelled, “shut up nobody is listening to you!”  Hmmm, I thought, this student is listening to me otherwise they wouldn’t tell me to shut up.

Cortland State was an exciting campus to preach on mostly because I had been preaching for quite some time and a police officer came over to me and asked if I had permission to preach.  I replied that no I didn’t but I didn’t believe that it should be necessary for me to get any type of permit.  She asked if I would at least go and tell the administration that I was there, so I did so.  I met up with a man in administration that appeared to be very opposed to me being there and he explained some of the policies of the campus.  At any rate, he wasn’t very supportive it seemed, but I went out and continued to preach. A nice sized crowd gathered. My throat was getting very dry and I was thirsty and wouldn’t you know it, that same man that seemed so opposed to me came out with a bottle of water and set it at my feet.  I was very humbled and thankful for that, mostly because it came from this man.  I guess you never really know who is and isn’t listening, or supportive, or thankful… but I do know that we must press on.  It seems like lots of questions are coming up lately that have to do with sex. Young people have so many questions and so few answers.  If a preacher wanted, he could dwell on these discussions for hours and hours, but in reality we need to go to the root of the problem and that is the wickedness of man.  Our hearts are corrupt.  WE ARE NOT GOOD.  We need new hearts and new thoughts and new desires.  Lasciviousness is rampant here in the U.S. but so is wicked heart disease (and frankly, so is foul mouth disease).  We can treat the symptoms or we can treat the cause.  We need to treat the cause!  Man’s sin is hated by God.  He is giving us a way to be forgiven, and He demands a response.  We must obey Him when He commands all men everywhere to repent and to trust in Jesus.  God can make us born again but we must respond in repentance and faith.  Frankly, I don’t meet a lot of people that want to respond to the Good News in the way that the Bible commands us to.  Christianity is NOT an “attach this Christian religion to your already sinful life” system or program.  God wants us to be broken before Him and be willing to lay our lives down for Him.  His love is so immense and broad.  It is a deep love that compares to nothing this earth can offer.  The joy in knowing Him and believing Him is indescribable.  I thank the Lord for his kindness and mercy.  I thank Him for allowing me, a sinner, to die to myself and carry my cross daily.  Amazing grace! Thank you, Lord.  I pray more people can know Him! I pray for revival on campuses here in the United States.

Encountering a brave soldier at Northern Illinois University

As I walked up to preach on a rainy cool day at Northern Illinois University, I saw a man in the middle of the courtyard handing out Gospel tracts and witnessing boldly to students as they were walking from class to class.  We had a conversation prior to me beginning to preach, and he became very concerned to hear that I was going to be lifting up my voice to preach the Gospel.  I explained that I had come to this campus to have possibly hundreds of people hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Well, as I preached from 11 a.m. to almost 5 p.m., I could see him in the midst speaking to individuals in the crowd and sharing!  God, as always, brought people to hear the Good News.  Hundreds!  It was a great day.  I even thanked the crowd that stood there most of the day in spite of the rain and cold weather.  One young man that professed to be an atheist came back after having gone to class with a muffin and a nice hot drink for me!  His name was JP.  There were so many questions and lots of opposition.  Later the young man that I met that was witnessing to students when I walked up actually called and apologized for thinking that what I was doing was not going to be “effective”.  He was so humble and kind and eager to serve Jesus Christ.  What a nice thing for him to do by contacting me.  I know that Lord is using this young man and I hope to meet him again as souls will be saved from his bold witness.

Rehoboth Christian Fellowship in Pennsylvania is the church that gave us the motorhome last year. They invited me to preach there a couple of Sundays ago.  I preached on prayer and exhorted the brethren to be on their knees and used many historical and biblical references to encourage these wonderful saints during this Lord’s day message.  This church has been so kind to us and supportive and I am humbled by their amazing hospitality and support.  It is beautiful to worship with these brothers who are so broken before God and display His grace in their lives through their family lives and willingness to reach out to sinners.  Pennsylvania is a beautiful state to drive through.  It is in many ways like going back in time, so to speak.  Farms that are a couple hundred years old, rolling hills, winding roads, Amish folks driving horse drawn buggies…

University of Cincinnati was a wonderful campus to preach on – great acoustics and extremely large crowds.  The students are pretty used to preachers visiting their campus, but still want more it seemed.  Huge crowds gathered as I preached on this campus for two days preaching the wickedness of man, the holiness of God, and the love of Jesus Christ.  A film crew was there, and as it is at most colleges I was interviewed by one of the reporters.  He seemed curious that I don’t seem to be too concerned while the students push and spit and shout obscenities at me.  I explained that by the grace of God, I am allowed to share this message and the people’s response does not affect what I say or how I share it. I do not have to “earn” the right to speak to these people.  The right was established when Christ poured out His blood for us on the Cross and commanded us to tell all the world.  I am not making the students stay, but thankfully, hundreds choose to stay and listen. I believe the Lord is protecting me and is giving me discernment as I preach.  I explained to the reporter that I just trust the Lord! At one point on this campus I thought “wow, this crowd is getting enormous!”  I was thinking this while only looking forward.  I turned to look around to see if I had some room to move around, and as I turned I was stunned to see all the people standing and sitting listening to the Gospel of Jesus Christ behind me as well.  When I see large crowds like this, I try to make sure that I share the Gospel message as often as possible so they will hear the truth before leaving.  In a day on a campus I would estimate that the Gospel is shared at least twenty times to hundreds of people. Sometimes I will hear students say that they have already heard this and that I need to stop repeating myself!  At least I know they are listening.

Sinclair University is a college in downtown Dayton, Ohio that evidently overreacted quite a bit to a group of preachers last spring.  I had no idea prior to going to the campus to preach with a good brother named Judah Marx that three young preachers were arrested and one of them was even tackled in the process of these arrests by a police officer for preaching the Gospel!  Most of the charges were dropped from these arrests it turns out, but a couple still remain and will soon be hopefully resolved.  So I got to this campus prior to Judah arriving and began to preach and not having any idea of the arrests from last year.  It was so interesting.  People were looking at me like they were looking at a ghost.  They seemed shocked, but I kept preaching… a police officer approached me and tried to explain what the policies were that I was breaking but contradicted himself several times.  I listened intently but really felt bad for him.  He was trying so hard to be official and intimidating.  I obeyed what he asked me to do and went inside the administration building and registered with the administration but afterwards asked him if I could go back out and preach and he said yes.  So it was very strange but good that we all got our way. Judah evidently will go back to this campus several times in the future, Lord willing, and so he was thankful that we ended up getting the green light to share Good News.  At the end of the day while wrapping things up I had a wonderful conversation with a young girl who is getting baptized in a couple of weeks. She was really excited, but in conversation she said that her pastor knew that she is fornicating with a young man, and he is still going to baptize her. I asked her why she wasn’t willing to be born again,  She said, “I have been born again four times.”  I explained to her that you cannot be born again, again, again, again. Jesus only said that you must be born again!  Well, too many sins were being admitted to while we talked about her walk with her so called Saviour Jesus Christ.  This young girl is being told that she was on her way to heaven by her pastor but in reality she is on the highway to HELL unless she repents and is born again.  Sad, but this is really a message that is central to the theme that is rampant in the American church.  Easy believe-ism is the mantra and the drums of time are beating while sinner after sinner will stand before the just judge of the universe when they die to the surprise that their eternity will be spent in HELL.  I confronted this young girl in love and brought her through the Scriptures.  After we finished, she thanked me for everything we talked about.  A young man listened as we talked so I pray that he will get saved as well.  At one point though, he admitted that he looks at porn, has sex outside of marriage, he lies, he smokes pot, he is a thief because he downloads internet music and doesn’t pay for it, and he gets drunk, etc… He also said that he is a Christian.  I leave all of this in the Lord’s hands. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed”. John 8:36

May the Lord bless you as you read your Bible and pray.  I pray that you can boldly share the Good News of Christ with someone in your life today.  I pray that that person you share with will turn from their sins and trust Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.  Please continue to pray for our family as we travel to campuses.  The Lord has provided for all our needs but as usual we are trusting that He will burden your hearts with continuing to support us financially as we serve our King.

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