It is Thanksgiving day and I am going to see three gangs today. My King has scheduled me to see the first gang about 10 o’clock this morning. The second gang around lunchtime and the third gang about 2 pm. What is interesting about the gangs that my King chose, he did three weeks ago. Most of the time it’s within the week that I go. My King always has me do it on Thanksgiving day because it is more powerful when it’s done on that day. The undercover police that I work with arranged not only to prepare the food for the gangs but found families who would cook the gangs meals along with their families. And I do mean these guys know how to cook great food.
You will begin to see the power of God as I talked to each gang. When I went to the first gang, I was carrying one of the turkeys. I knocked on the door and they seemed more curious than they were anxious. But they asked, “What do you want?
I said, “I have a Turkey meal for you.”
They were shocked when I said that and asked, “You really brought a turkey dinner for us.”
I said, “Yes, Jesus Christ said that you guys would be hungry.” They invited me in with the the turkey. They were excited like little kids in a candy store when they realized that they were going to get to eat. I asked some of the guys to help me go out and get the rest of the pies and drinks. The leader immediately sent some of the men to help me. Some of the gang members were just getting out bed and they were shocked to see a stranger in the house. This is something that gangs do not do.
As we set down the down to eat, I begin carving the turkey and handing out the meat. Everybody grabbed a plate and beginning to self-serve on the mashed potatoes, dressing, gravy and the other fixings that they provided. As everybody continued to eat, I read the scriptures Jeremiah 29:11 and John 3:16 to them. All of the gangs that I fed today had some men who had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ before. I was surprised on how many of the men could quote John 3:16 and Jeremiah 29:11 to me. Abusive fathers made these boys run away from God. When the gangs began seeing and tasting all the good food they began talking amongst themselves about traditions they had at home. As each gang member shared, they became more homesick. Soon the leader began to question why he was here and was thinking about going back home. Almost everybody in the gang had what they call a poor relationship with their dad’s. Most of them were abusive because of alcoholism and drugs. So many of them ran away. This leader was gone from home for over five years. He began to call home and his dad answered the phone. He began talking with his dad for a while. Meanwhile the rest of the gang were having the same thoughts about going home and they too began calling home. But they all said, “You know Sonny, we want our hearts right with Jesus Christ before we go home. We don’t want to go back with angry hearts.”
So the gang started giving their lives to Jesus Christ as I prayed for them. The leader came back out and said, “Sonny, when I was talking to my dad he was an entirely different person. I’ve decided that I want to go home. I don’t want this life anymore. He started to share what he was about to do with his men, but they said, “We already are starting to give our lives over to Jesus Christ now.”
So I pray for all of them as they asked for forgiveness of
their sins and God began transforming their hearts. Some of them began to cry and others began to shake and asked, “What’s happening to me?”
I said, “Jesus Christ is transforming your hearts as you asked him to.”
Soon family members started showing up and picking up their sons. I could not stay long because I had to go to the next gang.
The second gang was exactly the same as the first. They were more curious than they were anxious and they were wondering what I was up to. They were a carbon copy of the first gang. Again while they were eating they started sharing things about what they did on Thanksgiving day and they all began to want to go home but they too wanted to transform their hearts for Jesus Christ before they went back.
The third gang had the most men in it. The leader was a little bit more cautious but he was still was excited when I brought a turkey dinner up to the door. He was anxious to let me in but said, “You can come in but do not try anything funny.”
I said, “I have a turkey in my hands and I am here all by myself what could I really do. I did bring the Kingdom of God with me though.” That gave them something to think about.
They too like the first two gangs as I served them and they begin eating they too began thinking about family traditions and going home. What was so unusual about this third gang was there were some Mexicanos in this gang. One of the men shared, “I remember when my mom made these tamales for us on Thanksgiving growing up. I sure do miss those things.”
I said, “I don’t think I have any of those but let me check to see what else I’ve got.” I started checking and was digging down in the box and I picked up something that was wrapped in aluminum foil. He looked inside and began smiling. He said, “These are tamales. Thank you Sonny.”
I remember that this family asked me what kind of people were in these gangs. I told him that there were some Mexicanos in this last gang. They totally understood the culture and immediately made some tamales for those men.
All three gangs gave their lives to Jesus Christ that day. Almost every one of the Dad’s that abused their sons began to change their lives the minute their sons left. They all quit drinking and taking drugs and they had a special place for Jesus Christ in their hearts. I was thinking what it must be like for their sons to be sleeping in their own beds tonight. Many of these bedrooms were left exactly the way they were when their sons ran away. The mature Christian parents of their sons helped the other parents to find places to go to church and youth groups to develop their personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
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