God sent me to the ghetto in Denver again where I have been before. The reason why they call it a ghetto is because it is not a normal part of being in Denver. It’s like you either belong here or you don’t. The people either except you or they may hurt you. You definitely do not want to be here at night. The only reason why I’m even here is because God sent me here. He heard the prayers of needy families. When you are obeying God, he will always protect you especially if he has more work for you to do in the future. I’ve never seen God use dead people to accomplish his will. So I am learning to trust in my King’s ability to protect me in all situations.
I pulled into the King Soopers parking lot and I could hear some people that just started singing. They were singing the words to “Amazing Grace”. Their voices were beautiful. At this moment God said, “Sonny, play ‘Amazing Grace’ on your speakers.”
I found the song on my phone. This happens to be one of my favorite songs. I turned the external speakers on my pickup on and began playing “Amazing Grace”. As the music began to play, the people heard it and just stopped singing. They immediately started over from the beginning. They were excited to have music to be able to sing with. With the music playing, they even sang louder. The people there just began to worship God just like they would if they were in church. They all raised their hands praising God to the words of the song. As I watched them sing I noticed that they begin to circle around two families with their kids. They all began laying hands on both families. God then said, “Sonny, those are the families that I want to bless today. They need help.”
I was about ready to get out of my pickup but God said, “Wait! Just continue to watch.” After the song finished playing, one of the guys asked me if I could play that song again. I confirmed that I would and started playing it again. Everyone again started worshiping God to the song “Amazing Grace”. I played the song three more times. I silenced my stereo and all the families began hugging each other. I turned off my pickup and went out to meet them. Everyone there assumed that God had sent me there today for them.
They said, “You know what our King is – a way maker. He can shift things anytime he feels like it. We are believing in a miracle. Like all of us are hurting in this neighborhood. But God sent you here for us to receive a miracle.” They paused for a moment then said, “That sound system you have on your pickup is amazing. Could you tell us about you?”
I said, “I have a ministry but I am not the only one who’s in it. I minister to the gangs in the city and all over the United States. My King also has me minister to people on the streets. But God has given us a new ministry which also is getting huge. Both Blue Mustang and I are involved with this one.”
At that moment I was interrupted by the little girl Savannah who exclaimed, “Blue Mustang, that’s a car! So you have a ministry with a car.” At that moment everybody started roaring with laughter.
I said, “No, that’s his nickname the Latinos gave him. He’s from San Jose California. They gave him that name because he drives a Blue Mustang just like the leader does.”
Savanna replied, “That makes sense.” She then came towards me and asked, “Can I hold your hand Mister?” I confirmed that it would be okay for her do that.
Her parents then looked at her and asked, “Why do you want to hold his hand?”
She replied, “He just loves Jesus. I want to be next to him at this moment.” I was about ready to cry but I kept my composure.
Leroy said, “What is the miracle? Why did Blue Mustang send you here?”
I said, “Actually God brought me here. But Blue Mustang provided money for two families so they could buy groceries.” At this moment I heard the loudest hallelujah I’ve ever heard. The whole crowd began shouting “Praise you, Jesus”. The crowd has a certain style when they praised the Lord that is encouraging. They continued praising Jesus as loudly as they could. They kept thanking him for answering their prayer.
I found out that they were here worshiping God 45 minutes even before I arrived. As we continued talking about the goodness of our King, the neighborhood began taking notice. Everyone tries to watch out for each other in this area. That is one thing that makes living here special. How many people do you know that look out for other people. I notice a lot of this goes on with these families whom God blesses.
People started coming over to us. One family said, “We were here two weeks ago. When we saw that red pickup sitting here by this crowd, we knew that another miracle was taking place today. We had to come over and see what it is. We know that God brings you here.” The family then said, ” Sonny, this is my mom and my dad. They want to accept Jesus Christ. We were listening to you playing “Amazing Grace” from your pickup.” They paused then said, “Dad you tell him!”
The dad then took over and said, “It is time for me now to give my heart to Jesus Christ. I noticed that you were having a prayer meeting over here and I told my family that we should go over there. I want to turn my life over to Jesus Christ. ” At this moment he gave his heart to Jesus Christ.
Leroy still was not sure if I was serious. He looked directly at me, then asked, “You brought money so we could buy groceries?”
I confirmed that I did.
Samuel the other dad said, “God is faithful. God told us to come here and worship him first then we could ask for a prayer request. That is the reason why we came. We did it in front of the grocery store because we had to be specific with what we wanted. It’s just like if we wanted a cheeseburger, we would have to go to Burger King because they grill them there.”
(I started laughing when he gave the analogy of the cheeseburger. I told Blue Mustang to meet me at one of the other fast food restaurants for a burger. He mentioned that we could go across the street to have it flame broiled. Blue Mustang’s famous words were, “I bet you would rather have a flame broiled burger over a fried one” as he pointed towards the Burger King restaurant across the street where they do flame broil burgers.)
Samuel continued speaking and said, “If you want something, you gotta go to the source. Then ask God to not only help you but to bless you too. If it’s his will, he will do it. If it does not happen today, he will definitely do it another day. We came here because we needed groceries. So we faithfully came here. When you pulled up Sonny and began playing that music for Amazing Grace for us to worship, we knew that God was behind it.”
I was thinking about how well they could hold a tune without music. They did an amazing job praising God with the music to that song.
Leroy then said, “Even if it’s five dollars we will still be able to buy some bread. It doesn’t matter how much it is.”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my wallet and said, “Here’s $140 for each one of you.”
Both families started crying as I laid the money into their hands. These families were very appreciative. They firmly believed that this was a tremendous amount of money.
Leroy who was all choked up said, “This is definitely enough to get what we need to get by.”
At this moment the manager Jerome showed up. Jerome said, “I just love it when you guys show up and worship in front of my store. It makes me so happy. I wanted to come out on Friday to meet you guys but I had too much book work to do. I cracked the window in my office just so I could hear you sing ‘Amazing Grace’. It really sounded good when this guy shows up with the music.”
This is the third time that these families have done this. They came yesterday on Friday and a week ago.
Jerome then looked at me and said, “You came here to bless these families here today didn’t you?”
I replied, “Blue Mustang and I were both sent here by God. This is a new ministry to give money to people who need food. God put that in Blue Mustang’s heart to do that for people. God then sends me to where the families are in need. As I drive to Denver, God always guides me to where I need to go. I usually never come to this part of town. I minister to gangs 12 blocks to the east from this area. I didn’t even know that there was a King Soopers here but he is bringing me here again to this same store to bless families.”
The manager reached into his back pocket and pulled out a black booklet. The manager said, “In this booklet are the names of people with how much money they owe me. Some people come to me and say I need to get groceries but I don’t have quite enough to pay for all of them. Could I pay you after Friday? And on Friday or Monday they will come and stop by and pay me. I tell them it is okay for people to do that because I am here to help them.” He then looked back to the families and asked, “Do you guys need groceries too?”
Savanna still holding my hand said, “Blue Mustang gave $140 to us and $140 to the other family. Now we can buy groceries.”
At this moment the manager began crying. He then said, “So somebody gave you money just to bless families?”
I said, “Not just any family but the families that God has chosen.”
So Jerome reached into his own wallet and exclaimed, “I am going to match Blue Mustang.” The manager then handed each family $140. He then said, “I want your names so I can put them in my book. In the future, if you guys need food, come and talk to me. We can get you some groceries to get you by for a week. And then we will go from there.”
A lot of cars started lining up while Jerome was standing outside with us. The people began jumping out of their cars and began paying off their bills that Saturday. Jerome looked at me and said, “This has never happened before. They usually come on Monday to pay up.”
The neighborhood continued handing him money as Jerome began scratching their names off his book for money owed. Jerome then looked at me again and said, “Sonny this is a miracle. Thanks for coming here today and showing me that God is real.”
Savanna tugged on my hand and said, “Do you want to go shopping with us Mr.?”
I said, “Let’s go.” So I locked my pickup up and went into the store with the families. They needed a lot of groceries but they only picked up what they needed. After their list was filled, the families went to the checkout and paid for everything. We then went outside the store back to our vehicles. When I approached my pickup, there was a little boy throwing a big fit and crying as loud as he could. His parents were trying to calm him down as they were standing right next to my pickup. They were trying to pull him away from my front tire. The little boy had his arms wrapped around my tire like it was his.
I continued walking towards my pickup and asked, “What’s going on here?”
The little seven-year-old boy stopped crying and said, “I have always wanted to drive in a monster pickup. I told my dad that I want to drive this pickup.”
His embarrassed dad said, “Ever since I took him to that monster pickup show here in Denver, he has always wanted to be in one of those pickups. My son just loves your pickup.”
While his dad was speaking, God said, “Sonny, take him on a pickup ride and let him drive.”
I immediately said, “Let’s just go for a ride.”
The dad said, “Are you serious?”
I confirmed that I was. His wife and daughter climbed into my backseat while dad sat in the passenger seat. I started the pickup and motioned to the parents to have their son sit on my lap. I put my seat as far back as I could and still reach the pedals to give him room. I then asked him what his name was.
He said that his name was “Billy.”
I asked him what his middle name was and he said, “I’m kind of embarrassed of it but it is Snoopy.”
I then said, “Snoopy, do you want to drive my pickup?” You should’ve seen his eyes get real big when I mentioned that. I then said, “You sit here right on my lap and you will be in charge of the steering wheel. We are going to drive around the park and take a cruise.”
Billy said, “Are you really serious?” I confirmed that I was. I never would’ve done this but God made sure there was no traffic around at all in this area. We did not go real fast as we navigated out of the parking lot and began driving around the park.
The mom in the back was taking pictures of her son driving my pickup. Man you should see the expression on Billy’s face as he was maneuvering my pickup around the park.
I then asked Billy, “What’s your favorite song?”
Billy replied, “You probably don’t have it but it is from the Newsboys that Jesus is not dead.”
I immediately found the song “God Is Not Dead” on my phone and began playing it. I played it on all of my speakers so everyone can hear it even in the park.
As Billy continued driving, he noticed that his friends were playing in the park. I rolled the window down and Billy started making hand signals to his friends.
They yelled back at him and said, “Billy what are you doing?” and they began running towards him as they saw him drive the pickup. We drove around that park three times and headed back to the grocery store.
I then asked, “Billy how does it feel to travel in a monster pickup?”
Billy replied, “One of these days when I get older, I am going to buy me one of these. I would then go pick up my best friends and we will go for a ride.”
I then shared with Billy that God told me to let him drive my pickup. Billy’s parents were Christians and I prayed over Billy’s family. After I finish praying I then asked, “Billy, are those your best friends there at the park?”
He replied, “We used to have a picnic together at the park. We would only have crackers and peanut butter.”
I then asked, “That was your entire picnic. You did not have anything else?”
He confirmed that was it.
I then said, “Why don’t you meet me over here at the park at noon and we will have a picnic. I will bring the food.”
Billy then asked, “Are you going to bring cheeseburgers from Burger King?”
I then confirmed that I would do that.
The dad and mom then asked, “Are you serious?”
I replied, “Yes I am. Tell Billy to have his friends come too.”
Billy was becoming ecstatic just thinking about having cheeseburgers for a picnic at the park with his friends. I met Billy’s family at noon in the park. He and his friends all sat down together to eat cheeseburgers from Burger King. Billy will remember this day forever.