Inspirational Short Stories. Donald Ray "Butch" Smith

barely finished high school. During his entire school days, little Archie was laughed at, talked about, and didn’t get a date with the girls.

      Nowadays, that same little Archie has people all over the world buying his clothes.

      Little boys and girls, if someone offer you drugs or alcohol, say no. If your friend offers drugs and alcohol, say no. A true friend will not offer you drugs and alcohol. And if so, they will not pressure you into doing it after they have asked you once. If they do get involved in these things, you need to cut away from them. They will drag you into the same ditch they are in. They also could be selling drugs without you knowing they do. The police will judge you as doing it too, just because you are hanging out with them, and you are just an innocent person.

      Tell them if they want to give you something, give you some money, and then you will soon find out about that person.

      My advice to all people is to be positive. Stay away from negative people. Negativism will bring fear, and with fear comes high blood pressure and other sickness. Feed your adrenalin gland with positive thoughts and see how much better you will feel and your life will be. So quit downgrading a person to make yourself look good, because when in fact you are showing the real vulnerability of yourself.

      chapter 8

      SAM AND LINDSAY

      Once upon a time, there was a guy named Sam and a girl named Lindsay. Lindsay was a very pretty girl with a nice body. Sam took interest in her when he first saw her.

      “Girl, you are the one. Girl, I would give you the moon and stars,” he said smiling.

      Lindsay had never dated anyone, being a fifteen-year-old girl; she had never had anyone to take interest in her. Boys were always intimated by her beautiful looks.

      As time went by, Lindsay had fallen in love with playboy Sam. The next thing to happen in their relationship is that Lindsay became pregnant. Once she gave birth, Sam was nowhere to be found.

      As the baby boy grew, Lindsay would always plead to Sam about taking care of his responsibility and spending time with him whenever she would run into Sam.

      Sam, being the ladies’ man, or “True-Player” they called him, would shout out, “Oh please, girl, I ain’t got time for y’all. I got to go make a reck-effect.” To Sam, reck-effect meant that it was his intent to make another girl pregnant as he has six kids at age seventeen.

      Lindsay would become very hurt by his words as she would break down and cry. To add to insult, Sam would go around bragging to the other guys about the number of kids he has and about the weakness of girls.

      As years passed by, Sam’s other five kids had dropped out of school as teenagers. Lo and behold, Lindsay and her son had persevered through the tough times, as her son became a high school all-American baseball player in the ninth grade. Colleges where sending him letters to invite him to attend their school.

      He was being talked about on ESPN Sports as the best high school player in the United States. Once Sam had heard about his son’s great accomplishment, he started coming around telling his son that he was his real father and if he needed something, he was willing to help him with anything.

      Corey told his daddy that he had already known about him and that he was never around in their life. Corey told him that he remembered from time to time when his mother would run across him pleading for money and for him to take up time with them, but he would always refuse. Corey told him how he remember when he would slap his mother around just to keep her mouth close.

      During Corey’s early years of growing up, it was Lindsay’s boyfriend, David, who spent time with him. He taught him to play basketball, football, and baseball. It was David who helped teach him to say “yes, ma’am” and “no, ma’am.” It was David who helped buy his clothes. It was David who treated him as though he was his real father.

      Once a week, Sam would come over to visit Lindsay and Corey. “Sam, you really do come around often,” Lindsay said, smiling. “Why now?”

      Sam with a puzzled look on his face turned to look at Corey, then took in a deep breath and exhaled. “I think that Corey needs his real father to be there for him,” Sam pleaded.

      “Where were you when Corey was a baby growing up?” Lindsay asked.

      “Wait, Mother. I will handle this,” Corey said. “I respect the fact that you are my biological father, and that will never change. I love you, and I would do anything I can to help you if you were in a desperate situation. I remember being a small boy seeing you around different places, having my mother pulling and tugging on you, begging and pleading with you to come around and spend time with us, but no you would curse her and beat her. You know? Anybody can be a daddy, but anybody can’t be a father. As far as I’m concerned, David is my father,” Corey said.

      “‘Oh please, girl, I ain’t got time for y’all. I got to go make a reck-effect.’ Do you remember those words, Sam, when Corey was a little baby? Sam, it takes two to make a baby, and it takes two to raise it. A special father may fall sometime, but he will always be there for his family. My premonition told me long time ago that this day will come when you would be coming back into me and Corey’s life. I forgive you. No matter how far a real father is away from his family. His love will always stretch through by a letter, phone call, texts, or e-mail. My advice to you is to go and do your reck-effect,” she said.

      “To be real about everything, Dad, it’s best that you move on because neither me nor my mother need you. My mother has a very nice man who she’s engaged to get married to. Despite David being there for me and my mother, it was our Heavenly Father who made the real difference. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Dad, my advice to you that if you don’t know him, get to know him. I forgive you,” Corey said, giving Sam a hug.

      Sam released his embrace from Corey and walked away with tears in his eyes.

      chapter 9

      RICKY

      Ricky is a boy who loves to play basketball. His dream is to someday play in the NBA.

      The only opportunity Ricky would play basketball would be doing PE at school. His father and mother were too poor to buy him a basketball goal. He wasn’t good enough to compete with and against other boys in his neighborhood. Every time when teams were chosen, Ricky would find himself on the sideline looking on with a burning desire in his heart, hoping that he could be out there playing.

      Ricky is a fourteen-year-old boy who possessed slow feet. Being six feet tall in the eighth grade, Ricky had been getting cut from tryouts ever since he had been going out for teams since fourth grade.

      It was basketball tryouts again. It came down to Ricky and another boy making the team. As the other boy’s name was called, Ricky went down to his knees, breaking out in tears. The head coach walked up to Ricky and told him, “You’re in the right position, but you have to turn those tears into joy by telling the Lord what you want.”

      Ricky looked up at the coach with a puzzled look on his face.

      “What do you mean coach?”

      “Stay on your knees and tell Jesus that you want to become a basketball player.”

      Ricky, still with a puzzled look on his face, asked, “Coach, I don’t understand.”

      “Pray to God and tell him what you want.”

      “Coach, I’ve never prayed before.”

      “Ricky, it is very important that you pray every day.”

      “Coach, if I pray to God and tell him that I want to play basketball, will he make it so?”

      “Jesus said have faith in God. Jesus also said If thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believeth.”

      “Coach, I heard about this Jesus. He’s the one who died for the entire world that we may have eternal life in heaven.”

      “Yes,