It is another Saturday with the gangs and I still cannot get used seeing gangs facing each other in the parking lot. They are all looking at each other with their pistols raised and ready to fire. That declaration of war is a difficult thing to get used to. Almost everybody would run away from this situation. Most of the time law enforcement won’t even get involved in a situation like this because it is so dangerous. But my King had other plans for me. He said, “Sonny, I want you to drive your pickup right in the middle of the park on the grass. You need to separate them.”
I always get in trouble afterwards doing this but never during the commotion. The park rangers always confide in me and say, “I want to go over there and tell you to get off the grass but every time I see them pistols I say to myself that no way am I going to bother him. I always start to pray for you. I know it can be touch and go with what might happen. The Park Ranger even called the police last time you did this but they told me we are not going to go there. We have quit going there because of the danger. We just let them take care of business and we go clean up the bodies later. So I don’t even bother to call the police anymore.”
I stopped my pickup right in the middle of them and got out. The right gang leader I did not know. He said, “If you do not move this truck we are going to shoot it.”
I said, “Before you shoot my truck or me, why don’t we have breakfast.”
The gang leader said, “What the heck are you talking about?”
I said , “I brought breakfast burritos for all of you guys. Don’t shoot anybody. Let’s eat breakfast.”
All the gang leaders then replied, “Are you serious?”
I then told them what I had with me and they repeated, “Are you serious?”
I was not sure if they still believed me so I began putting my tailgate down and laying out all the food and drinks I had. The drink of choice for gangs is Dr. Pepper. I then reached into my cooler and asked, “Who wants a Dr. Pepper?” I began to think that everybody thought they were in heaven. They all began asking for one. Some even asked if they could have two. I began passing out the pop and water.
The guys began looking at each other and exclaimed, “Just a minute ago, we were about ready to shoot each other and now we are having breakfast together. This is not what I came here to do today!”
I then replied, “Hey man, God said for me to prepare a meal before your enemies. Here is the food that he asked me to make for you.” I then reiterated, “Let’s eat together, then you can either shoot each other or shoot me.”
The gangs then asked, “What do you mean? How can you be at such peace knowing that you could be shot?”
I said, “You do not understand. If I get shot I am going to be with Jesus Christ. I am going to be able to see him face-to-face. Then I will begin praying for you guys from up there.”
They were not sure how to respond to that so they started saying, “I’ll take two burritos. I am hungry.”
I began passing out the burritos while I was talking to them about Jesus Christ. When they came for food they put their pistols away. The gang on the left knew me and put their pistols away first. The other two gangs were more hesitant at putting their guns away. When they determined it was safe after watching the other gang put their pistols away, they began to put theirs down also. I began thinking to myself about the time Blue Mustang prayed for this to happen. He prayed that when I approach them with the word of God that they would quickly put their pistols away. Only God and the power of prayer could make this happen. I’ve been doing this ministry for five years and this has never happened before. I know for sure it is God.
I was listening to the conversations as they were eating. They were talking about baseball with each other. They mentioned the Colorado Rockies baseball team a lot. Just 15 minutes ago they were ready to shoot each other to claim their territory in the park and now they are talking about baseball. Only the Holy Spirit can transform the heart in such a short period of time. I have learned the gangs are just kids who are broken. There was a total of 98 men here today eating breakfast.
After they finished eating breakfast I then said, “Let me pray for you guys before you do anything. I would like to know if any of you have a prayer request I want to pray over that also.”
Frankie one of the leaders said, “How can God forgive all of our sins? I have a lot of sins. I have been on the naughty list for a long time. I am never going to get any gifts from Santa Claus.”
I said, “Jesus Christ has a gift for you and it is the Holy Spirit. That is free because he came here and died for us. Do you believe that?”
Frankie replied, “Yeah, I do. I have heard the story about John 3:16.” He began quoting the Scripture in front of all the gangs. One of the guys, whose name was Rudy, asked him, “Were you a Christian before? You knew that Scripture well.”
Frankie said, “I was a Christian before and I walked away from God. My dad and mom got killed in a car wreck and I have been mad at God ever since.”
I said, “It wasn’t God’s fault that they died. He does not just plot to take people out.” I paused for a moment then asked, “Were your mom and dad organ donors?”
Frankie replied, “Yes, they were.”
I said, “Look at all the people who are living today because of them. You are alive today because they gave you birth. Because they died, it is now possible for other people to live on. God needed them for other families. You will see your family again if you give your heart to Jesus Christ.”
Frankie replied, “I already did that once. But I have sinned and done a lot of bad things.”
I said, ” God will still forgive you but you have to ask.”
Frankie said, “Yeah, I know. If I asked for forgiveness he will forgive me and forget all my sins.”
I replied, “Yeah and you remembered all of that.”
This made Frankie think. He said, “Yes, I do remember all of that.” At this moment God said, “Sonny, you need to play ‘Amazing Grace’ right now.” I immediately walked to my pickup and turned on the outside speakers and played “Amazing Grace”.
Frankie began to cry and said, “Why did you have to play that song?”
I replied, “Because God told me to play it for you.”
Frankie then shared, “That was my mom’s favorite song.”
I said, “You know your mom was probably standing by God and asked him if I could play that song for you.”
Frankie then asked, “How do you hear God’s voice?”
I said, “You have to listen. I have Jesus Christ in my heart. He is my King and I have a relationship with him. It is not a religion, it is a relationship.”
Frankie still crying then replied, “You know what, I am tired of running from God. This is it. When you started playing that song.” His thought was interrupted and he then asked, “Can you play that song again.”
I then hit my remote and began playing the song over again.
He then said, “You playing that song again means a lot to me. I am going to make my life right this day forward.” He then reached for his phone and called his grandma and grandpa. Frankie said, “I am coming home. I have rededicated my heart to Jesus Christ again. I just want to come home. I am done with this gang life.” All of this was being said over the speakerphone so everyone could hear Frankie speak. Everything was totally silent and everyone was listening.
His grandma began shouting “Hallelujah”. He then told her that he was going to be coming home in a little bit.”
His grandpa then spoke up and asked, “Where are you at?”
Frankie then explained to him where he was at. His grandpa then said, “I know exactly where that is at. We are only 25 minutes from there. We want to come and see you now.”
I did not realize what was about to happen. They were going to bring their whole church with them. They immediately began calling the pastor and everybody they knew about the situation. They said, “Sonny needs your help at the Park right now; let’s go.” They then called their friends to come too. Some of the people said that they were not going to go there because of the drive-by shootings. The brave ones said, “We don’t care. We are going anyway.”
While we were waiting I began to pray for Frankie’s whole gang. After he rededicated his heart to Jesus Christ his gang wanted to do the same thing. They began to think about what it would be like to go back home. They did not like the life they were living now. The gang on my left was watching Frankie’s gang give their hearts to Jesus Christ.
That leader asked, “Is it really that easy to give your heart to God and become a new person?”
I replied, “God will transform your heart. But first you have to ask for forgiveness. Then just ask him to come into your heart.”
The leader then said, “I am ready to do that.” As that leader gave his heart to the Lord his men began to follow suit. Men kept coming forward from all the gangs that were left.
Soon a bunch of cars started showing up. They were people from Frankie’s grandparents church. They brought food, water, and more Dr. pepper. Others brought Bibles and started passing them out. Even those that hadn’t given their heart to Jesus Christ yet, took a Bible. They then asked if they could pray for the gang members in any way. The men who had not given their hearts to Jesus Christ started looking at me and said, “Sonny, we’ve got to go. We are not ready for this yet.” They took their Bibles and did not cause any problems. They then said, “We will see you around.”
Everyone else who stayed was being showered with lots of love from the church. Frankie then spoke to his grandparents and said, “I have finally made peace with God for what happened to my mom and dad. I am not mad at God anymore.” Frankie then came over to me and hugged me for nearly 10 minutes in front of everybody. He was not embarrassed at all and continued to cry while God was healing his heart before everybody. It was beautiful how this all came about.
Frankie’s grandpa came up and asked, “I see you supplied breakfast burritos to all these men.”
I explained to him that the food is supplied by Blue Mustang and prepared by my friends. I just bring it to the gangs.
His grandpa then said, “God bless that man.”
I was there several hours. I would continue to pray and talk about the Lord to all these men and parents. When their sons gave their hearts to Jesus Christ, the parents wanted to do the same thing. God gets the Glory and the Victory. I could do none of this without his help.