When I got off work on Friday, my King asked me to go to the bank and get $140. I did as he asked and I placed the money in my wallet. He knew that I had volunteered to go to a children’s walkathon the next day. I was thinking that I was going back to that one King Soopers store where my King is constantly blessing people there. I left the next morning early to arrive there before the walkathon started. While I was there, I prayed with people as they began showing up. By late morning, there was a lot of people participating in the event.
After I finished here, my King had me go to the east side of Denver. He led me to a park where there was five basketball courts. I have never been to this park before. There were cars everywhere. My King said stop and watch the basketball games. I determined that there was some kind a tournament going on here. I kept looking around to see who I was to pray for. As I continue to look on, a beat-up van showed up. Inside the van there was the coach and 11 Hispanic boys. They were there for the tournament. There was a total of 10 teams present; all dressed up in their color of uniform. Then I looked at them as they got out the van. I noticed that their tennis shoes were all duct taped up. Plus they just wore any old t-shirt and shorts to participate in this tournament. My King said, “Sonny, I want you to buy these guys some shoes.” I walked up to them and asked, “Can I pray for you guys?” They all said, “Yes.” I prayed for the whole team. After I finished praying, I asked, “What time do you play?” The coach replied, “We are scheduled to play in an one and a half hours. We are just going to watch them play until it’s our turn.”
I said, “We have time. You guys get in your van and let’s go down to that Payless Shoe store so I can buy your team some new shoes. God said for me to go and bless you.” The coach was not sure what to think. He replied, “You want to buy my boys shoes. My boys don’t have a lot of money. Neither do I; but we have been invited to this tournament.” Before we left for the store, the officials came up and told them that there has been a delay that it would be two and a half hours before your team would be able to play. The coach still in shock verified, “Are you really going to buy my boys new shoes?” I confirmed my answer to him again as we left the park. When we arrived at the Payless shoes, the entire team entered the store and began looking for their size of shoe that they needed. The manager noticed what was going on. He came up to me and asked, “What is going on?” Before I could answer, he then asked, “Are you a basketball team?” The manager then look down at the boys shoes and began crying when he saw the condition of their shoes and immediately was helpful in making sure they got a good fit and the same color. He got the boys all sized up with nice black tennis shoes.
I said, “Give me the bill. I am going to buy their shoes.” The manager replied, “No you’re not. I am going to pitch in half.” When I got through I paid $138 and the manager matched me. There was a family in the store that was bringing breakfast to the manager when we arrived. They were listening and watching what was going on. The Holy Spirit moved in their hearts by what was going on. They came to us and said, “We want to buy uniforms for your boys. We know of a store that specializes in uniforms.” We still had time to spare and they took the boys to something that looks like a Nike store. The family said, “Boys, give them your numbers and they will put them on your jerseys right away.” They picked out black jerseys with white lettering. I asked, “What is the name of your team?” The boys replied, “God Is Faithful.” I replied, “Now, that is a real cool team name.” Both the coach and his team really believe in their team name. It was getting closer to the time that we should head back to the tournament. I said, “I will pitch in what I have left to help pay for the uniforms. The family exclaimed, “We are going to pay for the uniforms. God said bless these boys with new uniforms.” The family began paying for the uniforms. The guys in the back began printing everyone’s uniforms out with their team numbers. The boys began dressing up as soon as their uniform finished printing.
They all looked sharp in their new uniforms and new tennis shoes.
After the boys saw what they look like decked out, they began to hug me and the family. They were grinning ear-to-ear with what God just did for them. I anointed them with oil and prayed over them as they stood there in their uniforms. The boys said, “We have been embarrassed playing in the tournaments because we could not afford uniforms but we have been winning and that is the reason why we’ve been invited to be here at this tournament today. This is totally cool what has just happened to us.” The coach revealed to me that they have been praying for shoes and uniforms for three years. God is always on time when he does something. I am sure he tested that team out. God looks for greatful hearts in people who trust him by giving him their very best even if circumstances are not good. These boys always stand tall and apply everything they have when they play the game.
God gave us enough time to get all this accomplished. We still had 25 minutes before the boys were ready to play. When their bracket came up, it sounded so cool when the announcer said, “The Eastside Rockets are now playing against God Is Faithful.” As the boys were beginning to line up to play, the weather changed from cloudy to mostly sunny. Ideal playing conditions were on their side. They huddled together and signaled for me to come over and pray with them. I said, “I am going to pray for victory. I want you to go out there and play for the Kingdom of God.”
It was interesting to watch the families of this Hispanic team when they showed up. They kept looking for their kids and were having difficulty spotting them because they did not recognize them in their new uniforms. Some of them finally recognize them and came up and asked, “Where did you get the uniforms?” The boys pointed at me and said, “This guy took us down to the Payless Shoe store. He and the owner paid for our shoes.” Meanwhile the the couple that paid for the uniforms had already showed up to watch and film the game. The boys pointed towards where that family sat down. They then said, “Those people over there bought our uniforms.” The families loved the new uniforms they picked out.
The teams that were about to play was undefeated just as they were. “God Is Faithful” and the team from Parker are exact opposites. You could tell every one of the parents from the Parker team drove high-end cars. Their boys appeared to have the latest and greatest of everything for training to get to where they were today. “God Is Faithful” only had their love for each other and the power of God on their side. Those who have the power of God on their side will always be a match to any opponent. When “God Is Faithful” started playing, you should have seen them go. You swear that some of them played for the Harlem Globetrotters. Some of the stunts they could do with the ball was incredible. They passed and/or bounced balls through the legs of their opponents. That is frustrating to their opponents mentally. Four of them were three point shooters. Everybody on the team was accurate in their shooting. They used teamwork to their advantage to get to where they are today. Most basketball teams send men into basket for a rebound when a team member shoots the ball. Not these guys; they immediately head down toward their opponent’s goal post because of the shooting accuracy of each team member. Every time “God Is Faithful” scores, they point up giving credit to God. They won this undefeated team by 32 points.
What is really amazing about this team is their desire to live like Jesus Christ. Almost no fouling occurs when you live for him. This also prevents free points going to the other team. Their love shown the whole game. A referee was trying to catch up with the speed of the game being played. He made a bad twist on his ankle and went down hard. It looked very bad. The “God Is Faithful” coach gave his team anointing oil. The team immediately went over and surrounded the referee as he laid on the floor. They put their hands on his ankle and body and immediately started praying for him. After they finish praying, the referee just stood up. The referee too was surprised that he could stand up. He thought he was done for for the rest of the game. He thought to himself, “Man, I think I broke my ankle. It really hurt when I went down.” What the boys did was about to change the referee’s life forever. He was really pumped. He looked at the boys and said, “I feel great. Thank you boys for what you did for me.” The boys made sure he knew it was our King who did the miracle. They were only being obedient. The whole crowd was amazed at the boys sportsmanship. They went over to the other team and complimented them whenever they made a great shot. If someone tumbled, they would go and help pick them up. When the game was finally over with, they went over and prayed with the other team who weren’t even Christians. The coach from the opposing team asked the boys that they were welcome to play for them. The captain of the team said, “No, we have grown up in the same new neighborhood for years. We played basketball together since we were little. This team belongs to our King. We are our own team.” The coach said, “You are amazing basketball players.”
The healed referee came over to the boys and asked, “Are you Christians?” They acknowledged they were. The referee then said, “What must I do to accept Jesus Christ?” The captain of the team said, “It is easy to accept Jesus Christ. But it is not an easy walk. It’s a relationship and not a religion as Sonny told us.” The referee said, “I have my family here but we don’t know where to go to church.” The team captain said, “You’re welcome to come to our church.” Right there at the court, he along with his wife and two little children gave their hearts to Jesus Christ. The rest of the teams have already gone home but these men stayed to share Jesus Christ with the referee. The referee complimented them on their uniforms. They said, “We were blessed today. We did not have any uniforms.” They then turned and pointed towards me and said, “You see that guy there and Blue Mustang. They made it possible for us to get uniforms today.” They went into more detail on how it all unfolded. They all gave credit to our King for what happened to them today. One of the team members came up to me and said, “You know, today is the first day that I played a game and my feet have not been killing me. We just could not afford to buy new shoes.”
When we left the basketball courts and headed back to our van, the referee asked, “Is that your van there?” The coach nodded. The referee looked over the condition of their van then said, “We have a 15 passenger van that we purchased at an auction. We thought about doing some coaching but we do not have enough time to do that. I want to give this van to you.” More blessings came to this team today. This is going to be a day this team will always remember. I believe they will use the events that happened today to bring many people into God’s Kingdom. I am excited just writing it down.
The couple that bought their uniform have the game recorded on video. They were so impressed on how they played that they are trying to find a way to submit their playing skills to a university or college so that these boys can be recognized for their talent. Whenever I give support to someone, my King brings people like this family and the Payless manager into the picture. My blessing is always being multipled by others. This shows you how much our God truly loves us.
The coach now has a good van to drive the team in. He decided to go to section of Colfax and park his old van there. He put a sign on it saying “free van”. Another youth pastor was looking for a van. He was from a new church. The youth ministry was needing some transportation. The coach was not trying to hang anything on him and told him about the condition of the van. But it does have a new motor and tires. Free definitely intrigued the youth pastor. He greatfully took the van home. God works in many ways. I have no idea what I will be doing next but it will not be boring. My King gets the Glory and the Victory.