Geronimo Aguilar’s story isn’t a story that starts off very pretty. Geronimo
Aguilar’s own father was a Hell’s Angel. He also was involved in a life
of drug addiction, heroin addiction. Unfortunately Geronimo Aguilar’s dad
left him when he was three years old. He sat him on his motorcycle one
day and said, “Son, I love you. I love your mom. But I want to go
ride with my brothers. I want to do my thing.”
Geronimo Aguilar mother was a young mom but she was doing the best she
could to raise him on her own. Unfortunately one day when he was eight
years old, someone came into their home and shot and murdered Geronimo Aguilar’s
mother right in front of him.
So he loses his mother to a violent death. Geronimo Aguilar’s dad left
when he was 3 years old. The rest of Geronimo Aguilar’s family was off
doing their own thing so he took to the streets. By twelve years old he was already running the streets. At fifteen
years old he dropped out of high school. By the time he was sixteen he
joined a gang. By the time he was seventeen years old he was strung out
on drugs.
He couldn’t eat. He couldn’t sleep. He didn’t care if he brushed his
teeth, combed his hair, or took a shower. The only thing he cared about
was getting high. He would use heroin, PCP, crack cocaine, anything he
could get his hands on to try and hide the pain, to try and take away the hurt he
felt inside of me, to try and fill that void that he had.
He was just walking the streets just thinking about ending his life. And as he
was walking down the street he looked across the street and he saw a church.
He’d never been to church before he didn’t know anything about church but
he figured, “You know, I’ve tried everything else in life let me go see if this
church thing has an answer for me.”
So he walked into the church and he met the doorman there and he asked him
what he could do for him and he said, “Probably nuthin, but let me tell you
what I’m going through.” And he told this man at the door what was on his heart
and if this church doesn’t have some answer for him, he is going to go home,
grab his gun, and end his life.
All of a sudden the man at the door said, “Would you come meet our pastor?
Would you come tell him some of the things you’re going through?” So he
walked to the back with him and he met his pastor. This pastor didn’t
look like what he thought a pastor would look like. He was kind of just a
regular looking guy wearing jeans and a tee shirt; had tattoos and long hair
and he really didn’t understand how you could be a pastor and look like that.
And he started talking to this pastor and started telling him some of the
things he was going through in his life. Then this pastor stared sharing
his life story. He grew up without a father. He was involved in gangs and
drugs and in and out of jail and prison his whole life.
This pastor blew Geronimo Aguilar mind. He just couldn’t believe that
somebody as successful as him could have a background like his. And then he
shared how one day he was locked up in State Prison and someone came and told
him about Jesus. And how Jesus would change his life and how Jesus would give
him peace, joy, and happiness. Three words that he knew nothing about at
seventeen years old. And he shared with him how he gave his life to the
Lord and his life was never the same.
So he told this pastor, he said, “You know I don’t understand everything
about this God or this Jesus you’re talking about, but whatever he did for you
I need him to do that for me.” And he prayed and he received the Lord as his
Savior. First time anybody ever shared the gospel with him, he got saved.
But that’s not it. That’s not where the story ends.
The pastor said, “Geronimo, I want to share something else with you.” And
then he reached into his wallet and pulled out a picture. And he showed
me a picture of a 3-year-old boy. And he said, “Geronimo, that boy is you.
You’re Geronimo Aguilar son. Geronimo Aguilar son who I haven’t seen for almost
fourteen years.” It’s impossible to describe how he felt at that
moment. That was Geronimo Aguilar father who left when he was 3 years old; who he
hasn’t seen for many years. God walked me in, off of the streets, right into
his church, and he led me to Christ. And since that day, he and his father
became best friends.
He never used drugs again. But now he serves the Lord each
and every day and he has learned one very important thing: if you take care of
God’s business, He’ll always take care of yours.
Shared by
Carolyn Thomas
Nothing could separate that child from her parent’s love — not tragedy
or disaster, not the fall or the flames that followed, not height nor
depth, not life nor death.This is the kind of love our heavenly
Father has for us. We are secure in the fact that he will do whatever
is necessary to keep us near his heart. He will wrap himself around us
and never let go. We are safe in him. 
