Dice and bullet shells

When I first started the ministry with the young adult guys, God gave me a way to keep hope about them coming and reaching their lives. One of the big things they do is play dice games on the sidewalks, especially in the summer. On mornings that I prayer walked, I would often see dice laying on the sidewalks in random places. I usually would just pass by these dice, but one day God put it on my heart to begin picking up the dice that I found and that each dice represented a guy that I was believing to come each week. At that time I was only cooking 6 hamburgers a week, so I collected 6 dice to represent 6 guys. I set them up on my desk so I could see them every day to help me to stay in faith that the ministry would grow and that guys would want to come. From summer 2008, until Spring 2009 God built a bond between me and about 6 of the 71 guys who came through in that whole year. There were about 6 guys that came on a regular basis, and the others were ones that came once or twice a month. Since Spring 2009, these guys don't come anymore. Three of them are doing something better with their life and not just hanging out on the streets and three of them are in jail and one of them died in a car crash. There were also a few more that I jsut don't see "hanging out" anymore. Lately I have been wondering why I haven't had a strong burden for the guys I serve on Wednesdays, but then I realized that the ones who came at the beginning aren't coming anymore. So, I began to ask God to build a bond between me and the guys who are currently coming. Also, lately I have been getting more aggravated at them because almost every night for the past month or more they have been shooting. Most of these shots have been into the air, but it is still very disturbing because I get woken up at least twice each night. I know that these shots effect the people in the neighborhood and it's peace. I needed HOPE again to stir my heart for them. So, today when I was prayer walking I saw 3 different bullet shells along my walk. The Holy Spirit prompted me to go back and pick up the bullet shells. He showed me that these bullet shells represent the lives of the guys I am currently serving. I now cook 10 hamburgers each Wednesday, so I plan on collecting 10 bullet shells, to represent 10 guys. This is a new season and I believe the other guys had to move on, some of them had to be put in jail because they were doing wrong things. But, I KNOW and have seen how JESUS can get a hold of someone when they are in prison. Some of this new group of guys may have to go to prison for the past they have been running from and a new group of guys will come again. But, I believe that when they leave, they will leave being served with the LOVE of Jesus. You know, now I rarely find dice laying on the sidewalks, I believe this is a picture of what God did. He ihas picked up their lives. Soon, I believe I will rarely find bullet shells and it will be a picture of God picking up their lives as well.