It was Friday the day after Thanksgiving. I had breakfast with Blue Mustang because it is a holiday. After we ate, he said, “I feel our King has two families that are hungry.” Our King had me go to the King Soopers on the west side of Denver where I normally go. I parked my pickup and waited. While I was resting, I started listening to “Kingdom Music”, “Young Bro” and “Holy Ground”. They are Christian rappers who write Christian music strictly for people like the gangs I witness to. It was not very long when God said, “Sonny, I want you to play Amazing Grace.”
I said, “Yes! That is my favorite song.” I started playing it and began worshiping God again. Whenever I worship God, I usually have my eyes closed. I did not see anything going on in my surroundings, but soon I heard this knocking on my door. I opened my eyes and looked out the windows but I could not see a thing. I sat up a little bit more in my seat then I noticed a little girl standing by my door. I opened my door and she said, “Mister, can you play that song a little louder? That is our favorite song at home.”
I said, “Yes, I will start the song over and play it louder. I turned the volume to a much higher level. I got out of my pickup and closed the door. It was definitely loud. The song continued to play as I watched the little girl walked back to her family. Her family began to sing along. They did not have a very good tone but they were just worshiping God. They did not care who was listening. They just continued to worship God. When the song finished, I turned it off. I then went over to speak to them. I said, “That sure is a powerful song.”
The husband said, “Not only is that a powerful song but that really brings peace to us. The grace of God is so faithful, he loves us, and we came here for miracle. God showed up when you started playing that song. That is a miracle. We came here because we are hungry. We do not have very much food. We came here to see if we could talk to the manager. We are going to see if we could buy groceries today and pay them back on Friday.”
I said, “Let me tell you about Blue Mustang and what God is put into his heart for families like you…”
There was only one family present at this time. A second car then pulled up as I was speaking. It was the wife’s sister. Both of the wives of each family were sisters. They too were in the same boat. He lost his job. The company he worked for went under. She said, “We came here today to pray with you. Maybe we can receive a miracle too.”
Her sister said, “Sonny was going to tell us about this guy Blue Mustang: in what God has put in his heart.”
I began to tell them about Blue Mustang and how God uses him to buy groceries for families in need. The little girl, Christina said, “He even walks barefoot even in the winter.”
I said, “Yes and he always wears shorts year-round.”
Christina replied, “That must be one tough dude.”
Christina began telling the other family about my pickup and how it would play “Amazing Grace” from the outside. She said, “He has this sound system that sounds so sick. I just love it.” You know this new generation sick means totally amazing. Christina then asked, “Mister can you play that song again?”
I climbed back in my pickup and restarted the song for them. I played the entire song again. This time it was different. The two sisters were the only ones singing. What came out of their mouths was beautiful. It was the husbands that were bad singers. The families then asked, “So was it Blue Mustang that sent you here to bless us?”
I said, “God gives money to Blue Mustang so I can give it to families who are hungry.”
They then said, “So you guys are a team from God.”
I said, “That is true but God has given Blue Mustang a heart of giving to bless families like you.”
Christina then said, “Not only is he rich here but he is rich in God’s Kingdom.” Everybody just looked at her and asked where she learned that. Christina said, “I learned that in Sunday school.” Her words were so profound that I began crying.
Christina then asked, “Mom, does that mean that we can grill some cheeseburgers?” That was Christina’s favorite meal.
Her mom said, “Yes, we will get some hamburger and cheese to make cheeseburgers.”
Christina then asked, “Can Sonny join us for lunch today to have cheeseburgers?”
Her mom then looked at me and asked, “Sonny, can you come and have lunch with us at our home?”
I said, “Yes, I can come. Give me an address so I can find you.”
It was now time to get the money out. I gave $140 to each family. They were totally blown away as I laid the cash on their hands. Christina then asked, “Are you going to go shopping with us?”
I replied, “Yes, let’s go shopping together.”
The family said, “Before we go shopping, we need to make a list of the things that we need so that we will be careful on how we spend this money.” So they made a list before we went into the store. We then walked into the store and began shopping. Of course the manager was watching us. She signaled with her hands pointing to her eyes and pointing to me that she has been watching what I’ve been doing and she disappeared. We kept shopping and the little kids asked if they could have some cereal. The parents confirmed that we could go get cereal. They waited to get the milk to the very end. They carefully figured out what to buy so that way they would have enough money to pay everything.
We were halfway to the check out when the manager and four kids came over. They started handing out gift cards to the families. The kids said, “These are $50 gift cards that we want to give you.”
The manager said, “The staff did this all on their own. They went out and bought their own gift cards just to give them to you.” There was another $200 that was given to both families. The manager then gave $100 gift cards to each family. They put the cash that I gave them into their pockets and wanted to use the gift cards to buy groceries. The manager wanted to make sure they were blessed and said, “Go buy groceries that you want; not just what you need.”
They went shopping again and bought some more groceries and headed towards the cash registers. Those carts were really full. They now had the money to buy it all. We got into the checkout line and had the bill all tallied. There was this man whose name was Frederick and his wife’s was Edith that came to us. Edith said, “We are the aunt and uncle of the manager. She told us your story. We would like to buy the groceries for both of the families.”
I was beginning to get emotional as I began seeing how many times God has been working in these families lives today. Edith said, “You can use that money and those gift cards at another time. But we are buying your groceries today.” One of the wives spoke up and said, “We will do that. It would be nice to have some money in the bank.” Edith paid for the groceries then reached into her purse and pulled out her checkbook and began writing. I had no idea what she was doing and I did not try to figure it out. The manager and I walked out with the families and we went out to their vehicles to help unload the groceries.
Before I made it to the vehicle, I noticed that the kids were whispering to each other. Soon they came and tackled me and had me rolling on the grass. I sure was having fun with their kids. I then brought the kids together and prayed over them. Frederick who I think was a retired pastor then prayed over me. Edith meanwhile folded up the two checks and gave one to each family. It was getting late and I needed to go. So before anyone left, everybody was giving each other a hug. Even the manager was hugging everyone. The manager and the four employees went back into the store to get back to work. I then looked at the families and said, “God heard your prayer. You came here praying and God heard every word you said. So in your obedience, by coming here, you can see what happened.”
Each one of the sisters unfolded their check and discovered that they were made out for $1000. Again I started crying. I seem to always get emotional when God is blessing families. Later I found out that Frederick and his wife every year always bless a family around Christmas time. They always give them $1000. Now it was time for me to leave the store and head to my first gang that I was going to meet. I was about to find out I was still not finished here.
As I was pulling out of the parking lot I noticed an old couple trying to get across the street. No one would let them cross. They were physically stranded on the crosswalk. Cars were driving in front and behind them. They were old enough they could not walk very fast. The walk sign did not give them enough time to cross the double street and the cars were not courteous to them. I decided to drive my pickup parallel to the crosswalk to block the whole street so nobody could get through. It did work. It forced people to stop so the old couple continued on. I continued to drive across the center barrier to block the other side of traffic so they could finish walking across the entire intersection. A police officer saw what I was doing and did not like it. He was a young police officer and we had not met yet. He stopped me and called my license plate in to the office. When the old couple saw what was going on, she said, “You can’t give him a ticket! If it wouldn’t have been for him, we never would’ve made it across the street. Are you crazy or something?”
The officer said, “Mam, we cannot let anyone do this. Driving sideways on the street is illegal.”
She angrily said, “I don’t care. He was being a gentleman. If you are giving him a ticket I want your name and badge because I am going to turn you in.”
I looked at her and said, “It is okay. It was worth the ticket.”
So the officer went back to the car his car with my license and registration and submitted my information. He was sitting in his patrol car a few moments. He then came back to my pickup. He apologized and said, “I am sorry Sonny. The people at the office told me who you are and what you do for this community. They told me to leave you alone.” He really felt bad. The fact that he was just a rookie, he has not learned everything yet. He then said, “I was with a partner for six months but this is my first time going solo.”
I said, “It is okay. You are forgiven. I did break the law and I wasn’t supposed to do that.”
He said, “Yeah man! You are one of those guys that can break the law and we will let it go.”
We signed off and I began to leave. The old couple signaled me to pull over. They wanted to talk to me to see what happened. I found a safe place to pull over and turn on my hazard lights. I then asked them what they wanted. She said, “Did he give you a ticket?” So I told her what happened and she said, “Wow! That is pretty awesome.”
I asked, “Where you guys going?”
They responded, “We are going to the King Soopers. It’s just down the road.”
I said, “That’s about eight blocks from here.”
She said, “Yes, that’s our exercise for the day.”
I said, “I can take you there. Even though my pickup is tall, I can still help you get inside.”
She again confirmed, “No, this is our walk for the day. It’s okay; but thanks anyway. That intersection is the hardest part of our walk.”
They then prayed for me and started walking again. They had shared with me that they always stop for coffee on the way to the store. I noticed that there was a Starbucks close by just ahead of them. I stopped there to get each one of them a cup of black coffee. I remember them telling me about liking black coffee. I walked into the store and asked the girl behind the counter for two cups of black coffee. I am buying coffee for an older couple. They are coming this way on the sidewalk. The girl behind the counter said, “An older couple? Are they very tall?”
I said, “No, they are fairly short.”
She knew who I was talking about. She then said, “They always stop here for coffee before they make their walk to the store.” She then handed me two black coffees and said “No charge.”
I then pulled into a parking lot that was pretty close to where they were walking. I walked up to them and handed them the coffee. They said, “You got us two cups of coffee!” I nodded my head. She then asked, “How much do we owe you?”
I said, “When I told the girl at the coffee shop who they were for, she would not charge me anything.”
She then said, “Yeah that’s Maggie. She never charges us for coffee. She just never lets us pay for coffee.”
They continued walking down the sidewalk to the store drinking their coffees. I thanked God for what happened today and headed back to my pickup. It is time to pray with some gang leaders who gave their hearts to Jesus Christ. I just love it when our King blesses families as they pray to him. Just remember you are just as valuable to our King as these families. If you are financially strapped because of circumstances that you did not create, do as they do by asking our King and expect a miracle.