It was a cold Saturday morning and I headed towards the ghetto after I had breakfast with Blue Mustang. I drove by a park in the ghetto area and I noticed this family that was praying. What was unusual about this was that they were praying by a King Soopers grocery cart. I noticed that only one family was praying. My King knew that I was puzzled and I was getting ready to go over and talk to them. God said, “Sonny, just wait to see what happens.”
I was beginning to think that wasn’t the family because God always has been bringing two families to me. So I continued to wait as my King instructed. The weather was still cold outside and I checked the time and it was 10:45 AM. I then noticed a van pull up by the family. A family of four got out of the van. They too started walking towards the grocery cart. The wife began reaching into her purse and pulled out this little bottle. I focused in on the bottle and finally made out that it was anointing oil. I began to realize that family went back to get a bottle of anointing oil. It appeared to me that the other family was waiting for someone to show up. They took that bottle of anointing oil and began to anoint that King Soopers grocery cart. Both families were looking for a miracle and that was the reason why they anointed that cart. They were then going to push that cart all the way back to King Soopers which was two blocks away.
I begin to think to myself who in the world would ever anoint a grocery cart unless you were really desperate. They would definitely have to be seeking a miracle from God. I found out later that God asked them to anoint that cart. I am sure that they did not go to the store and bring the cart to the park. Many times people who do not have cars will take the cart to deliver their groceries directly to their home. It is work to take them back so they just abandon them in the neighborhood. That cart was left near where they lived. I also know that whenever you anoint something that it will affect anybody who will happen to use that grocery cart.
After they finished anointing the cart, both families circled around the cart and began praying. My curiosity got the best of me. I said to myself that I want to hear what they are praying. So I quickly got out of my pickup with my Bible in hand and I walked towards them. God sometimes tells me to wait and let them finished praying but he was silent on this one. When I was close enough to hear, I slowed my pace to listen to what they were praying. They were thanking God for the meat and the bread. A little girl then spoke up and thanked God for the milk and cookies. They were thanking God for everything that was going into that empty cart. These guys had strong hearts and they definitely know how to pray. When I couldn’t get any closer, I just stood there to finish listening. They finally said “Amen” then the little girl looks toward me and said, “Well, Hi there stranger.” I responded back then she said, “My name is Sylvia.” I told her my name is Sonny. Sylvia then replied, “Are you a preacher?”
I said, “Only when I am awake. When I am asleep I have to rest.” Everyone in the families began laughing. I then asked, “How did this all come about?”
They replied, “In order for us to receive a miracle, we had to anoint everything about it. We anointed the prayer we made and we anointed the cart. We even anointed the food that’s not even in there yet.” These families were strong believers but they were waiting for a miracle.
They then asked, “How can we help you?”
I said, “Actually, I am here to help you. I noticed that you were standing around this grocery cart. I also notice that when the van pulled up with the anointing oil that you used on the grocery cart then you prayed over it. Why did you guys anoint that cart?”
One of the mom’s said, “So you been watching us for a while.”
I said, “Yes, I came here because of Blue Mustang wanting to bless two families.”
Before I could finish my thought, their six-year-old boy said, “But that’s a car! You came here just because of a car.”
I said, “No, Blue Mustang is a man. He got that nickname from the “Latino” gang from San Jose, California. They call him that because he drives a Blue Mustang.”
The six-year-old then exclaimed, “Well, that makes sense!”
I then continued, “God give him a heart to bless families like you. He gives $140 per family. God chooses two families every time. You guys are the two families. You prayed that God would fill this grocery cart up with groceries. He has answered your prayer.” I then handed each family $140.
Boy, you should hear them shout out “Glory to God” in that African-American style. They also said “Hallelujah” and began dancing. They did not pay any attention to who was looking as they were praising and giving Glory to God. This celebration went on for several minutes. When they finally stopped, I said, “God gave Blue Mustang a heart for this ministry for families who are hurting and need food. He has a heart for God’s Kingdom.”
When I said that one of the husband exclaimed, “That is my daily prayer that God would give me a heart for his Kingdom while I am still in this world.”
I then said, “Practice Matthew 6:33. When you seek God’s kingdom just like you are doing, he will give you that heart. He has showed you that He is faithful. Look at what just happened.”
Sylvia was getting impatient and asked, “Can we go buy groceries now because I am hungry? I need some cereal.”
Before they went shopping, they anointed the money and prayed over it. They then prayed over Blue Mustang and his family. Sylvia looked over at me and asked, “Are you going with us?”
I replied, “Yes, I would like to go. We can put that grocery cart in the back of my pickup so that you guys will not have to push it to the store.”
They replied, “That sounds like a good deal to us.” As they lifted the grocery cart into the back of my pickup, they noticed the speakers I had in the box. They asked, “Are those speakers in the back of your truck?”
I said, “Yes, I minister to gangs and the music brings the gangs to me. God knew this and had me set my pickup like this. Blue Mustang supported that to. He also buys the food that I then take to other people who prepare it. I then take the burritos or whatever else God has me pickup to the gangs.”
They then asked me if I worked and I told them I do. They thought it was pretty amazing that I could do this and still work. I told them to remember that God is amazing. Sylvia interjected, “Blue Mustang was amazing too because we are going to eat today.” Her five year old brother then said, “I want to be Blue Mustang because that is so cool.”
Realize that God can make us more efficient. We can still work and serve him. Many times we do things that are not productive and that time could be better used to serve God. Paul, one of the dads, and all four kids wanted to come with me in the monster truck to go to the grocery store. I started playing “Amazing Grace” on the sound system. Paul then said, “I don’t know if you’ve ever listened to Glenn Miller. I just love that type of big band music.” I did not say a word. I just got onto my phone and quickly switched the music to Glenn Miller. He looked at me and said, “You must play this quite a bit.”
I replied, “This is also my kind of music. I love Glenn Miller, Ardis Shaw and all those other big bands. But when I go to the gangs they hear a lot of boom. That is what brings them to me. So my pickup compliments a lot of base with the subwoofers. This all attracts those gang members to come to me. Like I said earlier, God orchestrated all of this on how to set up my pickup.”
Paul said, “You are a brave man. I need to pray for you.” So the families anointed and prayed over me.
Sylvia then asked for a note pad. Her mom gave her one with and pen. It looked like she tried to write something down but paused and said, “I do not know how to write down Blue Mustang.”
Her mom spelled it out for her and she tried to write down the letters. She then drew a car on the paper. She then said, “We need to anoint him. Can we we do it on the paper?” I started to cry as I began to see what she was trying to do. We then anointed Blue Mustang. We then entered King Soopers and began walking the aisles. I looked at Sylvia and asked, “What do you think about all this?”
Sylvia responded, “I have learned that God answers prayer.”
The other little girl asked, “Does God answer prayers every time?”
Her mom answered, “It is all in God’s timing. He answers prayer. It is for His Glory and not for ours.”
Sylvia then took off and immediately ran to the cereal aisle. She selected a box of Captain Crunch cereal. Sylvia said, “I love Captain Crunch cereal.” We continued shopping and went through the entire store but I never saw Jerome the store manager. The employees told me that he was on vacation. The girls working at the store secretly came up to me and and said that they were going to give each family $100 gift cards for food. The girls at work here are definitely very giving. They have lived in this ghetto area long enough to know what it’s like to be hurting. Finally everybody filled their shopping cart.
As they got into the checkout line to pay, it seemed like the entire staff came together and gave each family a $100 gift card. They said this is from us to bless you. The families began to cry when they experience that wonderful second blessing.
Sylvia fell in love with the girl that handed out the gift cards. She grabbed hold of her and gave her a big hug and started talking with her. She wanted to know her schedule so she could come by and see her again. Before Sylvia let go, she prayed for everybody from that store that was there. The way she prayed I feel someday she’s going to become an evangelist.
This all started when they anointed that grocery cart and having the faith that God would supply the food to put inside it. The anointing did not stop here. They continued by anointing me, the money and Blue Mustang via a sheet of paper. In the end they had enough of a blessing that they could go home and have cheeseburgers tonight. They still have money left over when they checked out.
The assistant manager came out and said, “Before you leave, meet me at the gas pump to fill up your cars.”
The families replied, “We only brought one vehicle the other one is at home.”
The manager then said, “Go home and get it and I will fill it up to.” The manager waited there at the pumps until they got back with the other vehicle to fill it.
Again they replied, “In order for us to receive a miracle we had to anoint everything about it. We anointed the prayer we made and we anointed the cart. We even anointed the food that’s not even in there yet.” These families were strong believers but they were waiting for a miracle.
There is more to this story that happened as we walked out of the store. I was still talking to the families when nine young men walk by carrying two basketballs. They were carrying something else but I could not tell what it was. It looked like it was made out of plastic and duct tape. They recognized the families but had no idea who I was. They felt like I might be harassing these families and began to threaten me. They said, “If this guy is bothering you, we will get rid of him for you even if we have to carry him out and throw him away.”
The families replied, “No, but he is actually blessing us. We did not have anything to eat and he has changed this.”
The families began to explain to me who these boys were and they liked to play basketball. The manager of the store will loan them his basketballs from time to time. If not, they were using newspaper wrapped in duct tape for their ball. They could not afford to buy a basketball of their own. I looked at the boys and asked, “Are you boys hungry?” They confirmed that they were. I then said, “I have breakfast burritos, cookies, and granola bars.” I set up all the food on the picnic tables there at the park and served them.
I then said, “You boys just stay here. I will be right back.” I headed down to the Walmart store to pick up some basketballs. I was going to pick up four basketballs for these guys. The manager of the store when he figured out what I was up to brought out 10 more basketballs. He said I am going to pay for 10 balls and you pay for the other four. I then load them up out in my pickup and I headed back to the park. I had food for them in my pickup. When I met up with these guys I told him that I had food for them to eat. They were excited about getting something to eat. I did not tell him about the balls right away. After they ate I went over to the passenger side of my pickup and opened the door. I said I need some help over here. One of the guys came over and looked inside my pickup and saw all the basketballs. He said man look at all them basketballs. Yeah I need them I said I need you to get them out here they are for you guys. They were so excited I swear they thought I was giving them $1 million dollars. I threw some of them out myself towards them. I was totally amazed on how well they could shoot. They were really excited at being able to play with real basketballs. There was an older couple who was watching while this was all going on and they came out. They shared, “We are on a fixed income and have been trying to save up so that we could get you guys some basketballs. Maybe we can get you some shoes instead.”
The boys were really excited about that. Even though it was cold they said, “Sonny we want to ride in the back of your truck.” So some of them just jumped in the cab with me and the rest of them climbed in the back. We went to one of those Famous Footwear stores and picked them up some shoes. The old couple bought five pairs and I bought the other four. We then went back to the park where are they played with their new basketballs and new shoes. Boy were they having fun.
During the following week the boys called me and thank me for the blessings I gave them. They said, “At first there were only nine of us playing basketball but we got more boys together because of the extra basketballs you gave us. Now there are twenty-four of us. Boy, basketball is fun now that we have teams and real basketballs to play with. Because of what you have done, we are now going back to youth group and getting actively involved in church again.”
Before they met me the nine boys were playing basketball using a branch as a hoop. Somebody went in there and built them a court. I am betting that God had something to do with it. They put in four basketball hoops. Even the surface was replaced with a nice slab of concrete. The boys said, “We came here to play basketball one day and there were 30 guys here working to put all this stuff in.” The boys continued telling me what they’ve been up to. They have been witnessing to other teenagers in the area. The Holy Spirit has given them courage to go out even at night. Because of the danger in the streets at night, they used to be afraid to go out after dark. But now they pray with people and have given 110 homeless people blankets. He then said,” When it was cold that week the homeless were freezing out there. We took them hot cocoa and hot cider to warm them up. We just kept driving around searching for people who were in need.”
It is cool how God has been using these nine boys who rededicated their lives to Jesus Christ. I have learned that any circumstance that happens in my life and here I get a chance to meet different people, I continue to share Jesus Christ with them and love them. Showing love and kindness to people has the potential of changing their world by bringing them into God’s Kingdom. That is one thing that Jesus commanded us to do – is go out to talk about him and bring them into His Kingdom. Boy, it sure is fun watching God work.