Kyler Receives Christ
Justin Crawford | Cru Lifelines
As the spring semester came to a close, we had the amazing privilege of seeing Kyler’s life changed forever. Here’s a bit of the back-story: Kyler and Ethan are roommates at Oregon State University. Ethan is one of our student leaders, who has such a heart for the lost. Every week, it seems, at least one new student shows up to Cru Connect because Ethan has invited them. Kyler showed up to two consecutive weeks of Cru Connect. During our small group breakout discussion time he expressed his unfamiliarity with God, the Bible, and Christianity. And yet he also told us how much he thoroughly enjoyed being there and learning. “I feel so welcomed here and think this is just where I’m supposed to be,” said Kyler.
Ethan pulled me aside one day and told me how much he’d love for us to sit down with Kyler and share the gospel with him and give him an opportunity to respond. That is exactly what we did. We grabbed coffee and breakfast one morning and simply shared our backgrounds and stories. Kyler mentioned he had little to no exposure to Christianity growing up and the little that he did have he thought to be quite skewed and insignificant. He then shared about his recent past and how it had been quite difficult. Just last summer, he had been in a wilderness accident with his friends and watched his close buddy pass away. Since then, he had been dealing with all the things you might imagine that come with witnessing a traumatic death. In his attempts to deal with this, Kyler turned to things that the world commonly says will fulfill you or help you heal, but he found no solace. In fact, these things had the opposite effect: they robbed him of life and stole his joy away from him.
If I’m being honest I felt pretty speechless upon Kyler sharing this with us. I had never experienced anything like that . . . what could I possibly say or do that would be helpful? In those moments, the Lord filled me with compassion for Kyler. And so I shared with him the most glorious truth I know; the only news that is capable of changing everything. It was in the midst of this weighty dialogue, where Ethan and I shared the gospel with Kyler, that he prayed to receive Jesus! Who else meets us in our darkest times? Who else could possibly be so gentle with us in our waywardness? Who else can offer us a fresh start, freedom from our worst thoughts, and redemption right there on the spot? Who else sees our inept attempts to fix ourselves and still chooses to have compassion for us—to pursue us? Who else understands our troubled affairs, yet decides to give His very life to save and rescue our sinful souls? Jesus Christ, the very God man Himself does! He chooses us! The Lord clothes us with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience that we might share Him with others so that they’d experience this same clothing that our amazing God offers (Colossians 3:12).
Now of course, Kyler still works through his struggles and deals with many challenging things, but he no longer has to carry around the weight of his own sin. He also never has to experience the loneliness and depravity that he had before God moved into his life. There is nothing better than being intimately known and dearly loved by the Creator of all things. He connects us and clothes us with Himself—Who is the source of life, joy, and all good things. Kyler is now experiencing exactly that!
The Lord continues to amaze us as He draws more and more college students to Himself! In fact, this past year we saw more students come to faith in Jesus than any year before. In addition, we have also had more students than ever being built up and discipled. As we embark on another school year please pray with us that these student leaders would continue to learn and grow in sharing their faith and begin to disciple others themselves. The Lord has been so faithful and we are eager to see Him do far more abundantly than we could ever ask or imagine!
Lifelines is the outdoor ministry of Cru. Our heart is to reach students who are lost, confused, and don't yet know Jesus, to build them and disciple them in the faith, and to send them out to their campuses and to the workforce to live a life on mission of making multiplying disciples. We use experiential learning and the outdoors as a way to connect and build initial relationships with students, but also strategically in helping students to grow in their understanding of themselves, others, and the Creator of all things.
