Now that the new year has started I was thinking back about one of the most unusual things that God had me do last year. I do believe that a school bus that brought a gang to accept Jesus Christ was probably the most unusual thing that he did. This all started about mid December when God asked me to go see several gangs. He had me pick up Christmas cards for each gang to fill out. He asked me to have them to write down things that they would like to share with their parents. The gangs accepted their cards and some begin filling them out right away. We had burritos and I talked with them about Jesus Christ while they ate. But they still were not ready to give their hearts to Jesus and I eventually left. My King already has made plans for me to see one of these gangs again next week.
It was Thursday of next week and I was speaking to the highway patrolman that night. After the meeting, which was cut short because of other activities, God had me go speak to that gang with the time that I had left. God said, “Before you go, I want you to get a school bus.”
I began to think maybe God was losing it because I could see nothing coming from this. But I have learned that God usually has some plan that I just cannot see. Of course being this late, where would you pick up a school bus at this time of night. But I remembered that the undercover police had buses in their garage. I asked, “My King needs a school bus.” At first they thought maybe I was losing it it but they knew from past experiences that I was serious. They weren’t sure at first but they finally let me have one. Then they asked, “Have you ever driven a bus before?”
I said, “No, but it can’t be any worse than riding a horse.” They chuckled at my reply. They said, “We we’ll show you how to run one.” They showed me where all the switches and the bus things were just in case I had to stop at a railroad track. They then had me practice in the parking lot driving it forward then backing up just to make sure I felt comfortable. I am sure that I was not that comfortable because I had a lot of fear driving something that big on the street. I told the undercover police to pray for me. I then left the lot and headed towards the gang’s home that God wanted me to see. Eventually, my King told me why I needed to get this bus. When I got to their home, some of the gang members came out to greet me. They looked like they were about ready to start shooting at me. When I open the bus door they saw who was sitting in the bus. The leader said, “Geewiz Sonny, we didn’t know that was you in that bus! We were about ready to start shooting at you! Did you trade your monster truck in for a bus?”
I replied, “No, My King told me to bring this bus. He wants us to go cruising together to view the Christmas lights.”
The other gang members said, “Wow! that sounds like fun.” They were like children and started running towards the bus.
The gang leader standing all alone said, “I guess it looks like we’re going to view Christmas lights tonight.” So he climbed on board with his men and we started heading out to view the lights. Everybody was quiet so I got on the buses microphone and said, “Hey guys, shouldn’t you guys be going ‘ooh’ and ‘aww’ as we see these cool lighting displays.”
They chuckled as I said that. I know that they were thinking about the past before they became gang members about these things they did around Christmas. They we’re beginning to miss all of this. Finally I said, “Let’s go to Parker. I know they’ll have some fancy lights displays.” We headed towards Parker and turned into one of the fancy developments. The people out walking gave us a strange looks. They never have seen a bus here at this time of night.
I turned to the leader and asked, “What Christmas traditions did you do during Christmas?”
He shared, “Mom would make tamales and cookies. She would do all kinds of baking.” He continued to share some of the things that he did and finally confessed, “My folks lived in this area and we are just a few blocks away from them.”
I suggested, “Let’s go and see your parents. They will surely be surprised.”
The leader had not seen his parents in almost 7 years and hesitated. He replied, ” I am not sure that my dad will want to see me. I left on bad terms. He may never forgive me.”
I said, “You will never know unless you try.”
He finally give me directions to his home. When we got there his parents came out to greet us. They were surprised to see a school bus in front of their home. But they were even more surprised when their son came out of the bus. He immediately went and talked privately with his dad. His mom invited all of us to come into the house. Sure enough just as he said, his mom was making tamales and making cookies as their family always did. As the leader was talking to his dad they started apologizing to each other about what happened years ago.
The leader said, “Dad, I really left on a bad foot. I said some pretty nasty things too. I am just asking for your forgiveness.”
His dad replied, “Son, I just want to say I’m sorry for anything that I did to cause this.” His parents already knew the Lord so he understood what he must do. They started crying and hugging each other. Then the leader came to me and said, “Sonny, I want to come home. I want to give my life to Jesus Christ.”
I looked around to see what his men were thinking about this, but I noticed most of them had left the room and they were on their phones. They too were calling home. All of their parents were coming to pick them up. His men too wanted to go home and they too wanted to give their hearts to Jesus Christ. They just wanted to make sure that their hearts were right with God before they went home.
It is interesting that just filling out a Christmas card which the entire gang sent their cards out. This prepared their hearts for what I was doing tonight. God then use that school bus and the Christmas lights to bring this gang to Salvation. God gets the Glory and the Victory.
A lot of healing took place at the leader’s home. We ate everything that his mom had prepared for Christmas but she didn’t care. After praying for everybody and watching the unsaved families give their hearts to Jesus Christ, it was time to go. I needed to let their sons go so they communicate with their families. I then took the bus back to the garage where I got it. I parked it back inside the shed where I found it. As I drove into the buses parking spot, I noticed on the chalkboard that there were names on that board and next to their names were their prediction on how many bullet holes would be in that school bus. One guy said that I would have one bullet hole and one guy was as high as seven bullet holes. But the man there who knew God and talked about Jesus Christ all the time wrote “zero – When God Is Watching Over You nothing will happen.” Of course this man won the bet.
Before I went home I checked the condition of the bus. Even though we had pizza on the bus, the gang members left the bus really clean and they did no damage to the interior at all. I was about ready to go in and sweep up what little there was but the undercover police told me that we will take care of it.
Even though it was supposed to be private, everybody from the undercover police knew that I took out the bus. It was interesting that the captain said, “You guys are not to allow him to take a bus by himself. You should have drove him.”
All his men said, “No way are we were picking up gangs. That could be dangerous. They may even shoot at us.” The captain dropped it knowing they were right and said everything is okay. This reminds me about how much my King protects me as I complete his ministry. But I would not give this up for anything.