It is Saturday morning and my King had me head to a King Soopers on the east side of Denver. When I arrived at the store, I headed to the parking lot like I normally do. But God said, “No, you need to go to the back of the store.”
That caught me off guard because of the habit of doing it the way he had always had me do it. I have learned that my King has sent me to many different places. This is no different. I drove around to the back of the store where the dumpsters were located. I noticed that there were two families in the back. One family with three kids worked on one dumpster. Another family with two kids worked on the other dumpster. It looked like one dumpster contained their old produce. The other dumpster contained the rest of the trash. They knew the schedule of the store and they were waiting for them to bring the outdated meat outside. As I continued to watch them work the dumpsters, God said, “Sonny, those are the families I want you to bless. Go get them.”
I just started crying because this was so sad to see what was happening here. I parked a short distance from them and I walked up to them with my Bible in one hand. When I got near them, they said, “Good morning.” They were somewhat embarrassed but I feel they encountered other people before so they are are starting to get used to this. I didn’t ask them how they were doing but I asked, “Are you guys hungry?”
They replied, “Yes, we’re waiting for them to throw stuff away so that way we can get some more groceries.”
I then said, “If somebody would come to you and tell you that someone gave them money to buy groceries, how would that make you feel?”
One wife replied, “That would be an answer to prayer. We are really hurting. My husband has been laid off because they closed his business down again because of Covid. People are panicking way too much. This is preventing him from going to work.”
She then pointed me to the other family and said, “They only moved here two weeks ago. He gets paid monthly not weekly so he has to wait a full 30 days to get a paycheck.”
I said, “Yikes! That sure does have to hurt.” I paused a Moment then said, “Let me tell you about Blue mustang and how God…”
Julie, her daughter interrupted and said “That’s a car!”
The little kids just don’t get it. I continued explaining to the family who Blue Mustang is and they exclaimed, “Wow! Does God really tell him to give money to families like us to buy groceries?” The 11 year old son chimed in and said, “He is like a Christian Santa Clause!”
I said, “Yes, God has given him a heart for his Kingdom.” It is now time to bless the families. I then said, “Everyone come by my pickup. I have some hand sanitizer in my pickup and I will get your hands all cleaned up.”
After messing in the dumpsters their hands were getting pretty dirty. I then prayed with them that God would bless them and encourage them. I finished up saying, “God never abandons us. You will never walk alone. God knows that you are hungry and he will always provide.”
Then Julie said, “Let us not forget about the Christian Santa Claus, Blue Mustang. Bless him and his family and do not let him get hungry like us.”
I began to cry. What she said just penetrated my heart. Both families were crying also. After I collected myself, I said, “Let’s get ready to go inside.”
Before they went back to their vehicles, God said, “Sonny, it is now time to give them their money.”
I was thinking about giving the money to them in the store. But God said, “Give it to them now! What are you waiting for!”
I handed each family $140. They said, “Man, that is a lot of money.” They were so grateful for what they received. Julie looked at her Dad and said, “Remember Dad, Mom said that it is a blessing.”
Her Dad said, “Yes, you are right. It is a blessing.”
Both families hugged me again and they moved their vehicles to the front of the store. I was getting ready to leave and let them do their own shopping when the kids all asked me to go shopping with them. I acknowledged to them that I would love to go shopping with them. We all walked into the store together and each family grabbed a cart. Both families were careful with what they bought. They were only getting the things that they needed.
The manager then comes up. I had no idea who he was. He asked, “I see that you guys are doing some shopping.” As he said that, I could see tears coming down his eyes.
I then asked him how he was doing and of course he said he was doing okay. He paused for a minute as he continued looking at me. He then said, “I listened to everything you said outside. I heard every word that you said. I also listened to every word that the children said. I have seen these families here three times this week. I have actually put red tags on good meat just to help them out. I knew that they were hungry. God brought conviction to my heart when I heard what they were saying and what you said about Blue Mustang.”
Julie then stepped in and said, “He is not a car. He is a real person.”
The manager then asked the families if they had a place to live and they confirmed that they did. He then said, “Continue to enjoy your shopping. My wife is coming in about 20 minutes to meet you. Don’t worry about what it’s going to cost. You both get what you want and what you need.”
The kids exclaimed, “Does that mean that we can get cookies and ice cream? Maybe we can even get cereal.” For kids all this stuff is huge.
The manager then reiterated what he said before, “Just get what you want and get what you need. I will meet you up front when you are ready to check out.”
I wanted to pray with the manager and Julie said, “Let’s hold hands.”
We all got in a circle and began praying with all the people shopping around us in the store. We just did not care what other people might have thought. Julie said, “You know this is just like celebrating Christmas. Everyone is giving gifts to us. This is just so awesome.”
The parents were becoming emotional with the scope of miracles that were occurring. Two employees also came up with some extra gift cards. They had one for each family. They too, overheard everything that I said.
It was interesting how God orchestrated all this. At the appointed time that I arrived to talk to the families, the manager was getting ready to take something outside. That is when he heard me talking to the families. He just stood there with the door cracked listening to everything. At the same time the employees were curious what the manager was up to and they started moving towards him. They too started listening. Almost every employee in the back of the store was listening to what was going on outside.
The manager was flabbergasted when the employees did that. Most of them were young and mostly high school age. To sacrifice that money that they make for these families was totally amazing. Most young people want everything that they make for themselves. The manager then said, “May God bless you guys for what you’ve done.”
The kids went back and they brought two more grocery carts. The kids said, “We want you to fill these two carts up too. We will pay for these also.”
In the meantime the manager’s wife showed up. And she said that she wanted to pray for the families. She then paid for all the carts of the families. One cart was a little over $300 and the other was just a little less than $300. Next, more of the younger employees all started showing up. They all pitched in and said, “We just got you some more gift cards. This is just in case you need gas.”
That ended up being another $150 in gift cards for each family. The manager then looked at the families and said, “Do not ever go back there again! You come and look for me.” At that moment he handed them his business cards. He then said, “You always call and make sure that I’m here. I want to make sure that you never have to go back there again.”
By now both families are crying at such a wonderful miracle they received from God. Julie asked, “Does that mean that we do not have to eat from the trash can anymore?”
When she brought that up, I lost it again as I began thinking about her rummaging through the dumpster. She then said, “We are celebrating Christmas in October. It is so awesome.” She then looked at her Dad and said, “I remember you telling me that we should always pray and thank God for our blessings. I know that we have thanked these people but we have not thanked our God. I understand that God sent these people to us.”
I was amazed how well Julie spoke of spiritual things. I asked her how old she was. She said, “I am seven years old. Can’t you tell!”
I said, “You sure know a lot about God.
Julie then said, “I learned it all from my Mom and Dad. I learned more from my Dad because my Mom is shy when she prays in front of other people.”
Her Mom verified that Julie was correct. She then said, “Not anymore. Let us thank God right now.”
The mom started praying thanking God for everything. She prayed boldly to our King.
It was so cool seeing each family taking two carts of food to each one of their vans. You know what is amazing about all this is when God told me to go to the back of the store, it started a chain reaction of events. As I was telling the families about how God sent me here, the manager happened to be coming outside. He heard the message that God sent me to the families. That in turn as he was listening, the employees began wondering what he was doing. They moved in closer until they heard what was going on. That inspired them to bless the families with gift cards. So the lesson learned is to be obedient to God. He knows how to bring a plan together to orchestrate a bigger blessing. I know, I see my King do this for his families all the time. I can only deliver his blessing. It is his and he gets the Glory and Victory.