Hi, my name is Mario, and this is my story. At the age of 12, I ran away from home and started living on the streets, using drugs and selling drugs. I lived under bridges and on bus benches and slept in parks. I was initiated into a gang and started living the gangster lifestyle. Every day of my life from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep, I was using drugs and selling drugs. I dropped out of school and had absolutely no relationship with my parents for the next seven years. My life was going from bad to worse.
At the age of 19, my girlfriend met the Lord and started attending a small church in Miami. I didn’t believe in God, and I never went to church with her, but I thought it was a good thing for her to do. After a while, I started to see changes taking place in her life. I was becoming a little concerned, so I decided to go to the church and figure out what was going on. I visited the service two or three times and came to the conclusion that she was probably in love with somebody at the church. I figured it might even be the pastor, so I told her she wasn’t allowed to go back any more, and if she did I was going to kill her. For the next two or three months, I forced her to use drugs with me, sell drugs with me, and do everything that she hadn’t done for all those years. I was emotionally and physically abusive, and she didn’t know what to do or where to turn, so she started going to the service behind my back early in the morning on Sundays.
One Sunday morning I woke up and she wasn’t there. I found out she was at the church service, so I decided to go to the church, kill her, and kill the pastor. I drove my car as fast as I could. I took every stop sign, every light, at about 100 miles per hour. I drove into the parking lot. I didn’t know this part, but the pastor had given a prophetic word as I was driving over there and said that in a few minutes someone was going to walk into the service and try to hurt them, so he had the whole congregation stand by the door and start praying.
When I arrived and tried to go inside, I felt a force physically restraining me. I was very confused because I didn’t believe in God, so instead of going in—obviously I couldn’t go in—I went back to my car. I sat there thinking for a little while, and then I started listening to the radio. I came across a pastor who was talking about everything I’d been through in my life. I listened for a while, and at the end he said, “If you want to receive the Lord into your heart, say this prayer right now wherever you’re at.” Right there, I said the prayer out loud and received Jesus Christ into my life. Instantly, I felt peace, and I felt joy. I knew I was going to be able to accomplish the things in my life that I had dreamed about as a little boy.
My relationship with my girlfriend was restored. We’ve been married for 17 years now and have three children and our own home. God has been so good to me. I’m involved in outreach to young people in gangs and helping churches learn how to reach out to kids who are involved in gangs. My life has been a complete turnaround.
I want to tell you that if you’re involved in a gang, a lot of times you’ll feel like no one understands you or cares about you. But Christ understands you. He was born in a small city many people considered a ghetto. He was born to a very young mother. He was the oldest of many siblings. He had to work in order to make a living. He was a carpenter. He was betrayed by His friends. He was sentenced, incarcerated, and received the death penalty. In other words, He understands what you’re going through. The Bible says that we have a High Priest who can sympathize with us. He’s been there, He’s done that, and He’s the answer for you. The Bible also says that he who has the Son has life, he who doesn’t have the Son has no life. Christ is the answer for you. God bless.
