It is March 4th, and I went to back to Denver to meet with the undercover police to pick up the food for the gang God want me to meet up with. They have already packed the coolers with drinks. The rest was muffins, Captain Crunch cereal with milk, cookies, and candy bars. Some of the gang members would be ready for lunch, so I also had 4 pizzas with a big bottle of ranch to dip the crust into.
I already knew which park they would be at, so I headed in that direction. I arrived there at 9:45 a.m. Eisenhower’s gang was already there. There are 15 boys in his gang. I said to myself, “I haven’t seen these boys in a long time. Last night one of his boys called me.”
He said, “Sonny, this is Emilio. I am one of the boys in Eisenhower’s gang.” He paused than began crying. He sobbed, “I wanted to go home and accept Jesus. My parents want to lead me to the Lord; but I said to them that I want Sonny, my friend, to lead me to the Lord. He has never given up on me. I am ready for God to transform my heart…”
Emilio was on speaker phone with his parents… I could hear them crying in the background. Emilio’s dad said, “My son said you minister to the gangs, and he wanted you to lead him to the Lord. Thank you for reaching out to them.”
I said, “My King gets all the Glory and the Victory.” I the looked directly at Emilio and asked, “Are you ready to have your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life?”
Emilio replied, “Yes”. He then asked God to forgive him of all his sins and asked Jesus into his heart. Emilio started crying again and thanked me for being there for him. He said, “I asked Eisenhower, and the guys can meet with you tomorrow at the park. I want to be there if any of you give your hearts to Jesus.”
Emilio made arrangements to meet the following day. when I arrived at the park. They started walking towards me when they recognized my pickup. I climbed out of my pickup with my bible. Eisenhower said, “Sonny, it’s nice to see you!”
I said, “I haven’t seen you boys in a while. Are you hungry?”
The entire gang said, “Man, we are starving!”
I replied, “I have food for you guys. Do I have any volunteers?”
Several boys jumped at the opportunity to come with me. Their eyes opened wide when they saw all the muffins and cookies and captain crunch cereal I had. I said, “We will leave the dessert in the truck. Don’t forget to get the pizza, the big bottle of ranch, plates and napkins.”
We walked back and set everything on the picknick tables. I said, “Let pray first before we eat.” The boys took their caps off while I gave thanks to our King. After I finished praying, I realized we had not brought the drinks. I said, “I have coolers with cold drinks in them.” I did not have to say anymore. The boys jumped up and retrieved the coolers.
They began eating and I began reading scriptures to them. I started with John 3:16 then went to Jeremiah 29:11 and followed up with Matthew 6:33. Soon they were done eating. I asked them, “Are you ready for dessert?”
All the boys were so excited when I mentioned dessert. They were like little kid’s and ran back to the truck to get the dessert. When everyone finished, they started helping me clean up. We had some food left so I asked, “Can you open the truck of your car? I want you to take everything that is left home. They eagerly put everything into their trunks. When they were finished with that task, I went to get some note pads. I anointed them before I passed them out. I had pens for each boy. They asked, “Sonny, what are these for?”
I replied, “If you only had 3 days to live what would you say to your dads? Remember in 3 days you are gone from this world. How do you want people to remember you? Do you want to be remembered as a kind forgiving person or a person that was mean and wouldn’t forgive anyone. If you don’t forgive others God won’t forgive you.”
All the boys wrote notes to their mom, brothers and sisters, but when it came to writing a note to their dads. All of them needed help writing a note to their dads.
They asked, “What do we write to our dads?”
I replied, “You can say Dear dad, I hope you are doing well. I need to ask for your forgiveness for what I did and what I said to you before I left. I hope you can forgive me. I want you to know that I forgive you dad.”
All the boys finished their notes. I anointed each one of them with their notes and prayed with each one before they left to deliver their notes.
It is Wednesday 3/6/24. I was scheduled to meet with Eisenhower’s boys at the park at 10:00 am. but some of their fathers couldn’t make it until 1:00 pm. Some of their parents were arriving earlier and I met with them first. One of the things they kept asking about was how did you come up with the idea of having the boys write notes.
I said, “God told me to get note pads and pens for what he had planned. I went to the dollar store and bought a box of notepads and a box of pens before coming to the park. I was not sure what God had planned in the beginning but as they were eating and I was sharing scriptures with them, God said to me to ask them if they only had 3 days to live what would they say to their dads, moms, brothers and sisters because tomorrow is never promised not even for me. Most of the time the boys would say they would ask for forgiveness for the things they said and sometimes they would cry when they were writing their notes.”
Soon everyone was here. All the parents said they loved their notes from their boys. I called all their dads and talked with them. I found out there all Christians and they love the Lord. Three of them are still counseling with their pastors. All of them said, ” This is a dream come true.”
The leaders father said, “I thank God your still alive and that you brought my son back to me. I know how dangerous gangs can be.”
I said, “Some of the gangs are but it’s not up to them when I die. It’s up to my King when that day comes.”
He replied, ” I wish I had your faith.”
I took the dads back to their families and I started reading the scriptures. I read to the boys John 3:16, Jeremiah 29:1, and finished with Matthew 6:33. After that I had the boys come over by my truck and I asked them, “Those of you that are ready to have your names written in the Lambs Book of Life stand over here.”
All eleven boys moved forward After they asked God to forgive them of all their sins and asked Jesus to come into their hearts, they cried and laughed because they were so happy they were going home with a transformed heart.
All their families are now saved. I gave each one a bible and signed them with today’s date. Before they went home the boys said, “We got up early the next day to clean the house. The landlord liked what he saw and came over to return our deposit to us. Sonny, we are moving out this morning and we are all ready to go home. Our brothers and sisters are going to help us to get our GED’s online.”
I could see the excitement in their voices and faces to go home. Their parents kept talking about the notes and how it meant the world to them and how the notes brought healing to them. They shared that was an incredible idea that God gave you for these boys.
I said, “My king gets all the Glory and the Victory. He orchestrated the whole thing.”
Eisenhower’s dad asked, “Sonny, how many gangs do you minister to?”
His son interrupted, “Dad Sonny is out here every day ministering to gangs. He also goes and ministers all over in different states and different countries.”
he said, “Wow! That is truly amazing!
As they started leaving, all the boys thanked me one more time.
I prayed with them one more time before they left.