Читать книгу Inspirational Short Stories - Donald Ray "Butch" Smith - Страница 14

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, you’re right. Ricky, you should invite him into your life as your Lord and Savior.”

“Coach, Jesus probably won’t accept me as his Lord and Savior because I’ve never prayed, nor have I ever been to church in my life.”

“Ricky, the Bible says in Romans 10:13, ‘For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”

“Coach, what do I say to God to be saved whenever I’m praying?”

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

“Coach, since you are into Jesus. How about allowing me to be on the team?”

“No, Ricky, I can’t do that. It wouldn’t be fair to the other players. Ricky, you have to earn it, most of the time in life, you have to give up something to get something. Jesus had to give his life that we could be saved. Ricky, faith without works is dead. Ricky, do you have a basketball goal at your house so that you can practice?”

“No, sir coach, I don’t. My parents can’t afford to buy me a goal.”

“Ricky, I’m going to buy you a goal.”

“Thank you, coach,” he said smiling.

Every day, Ricky would practice hard three hours a day. He also had given his life to Jesus and started coming to church, as well as his parents.

The following year, while in the ninth grade, Ricky not only started on the freshman team. He also started on the varsity team, scoring an average of forty points a game while playing on the varsity squad. On twenty different occasions, Ricky scored the game winning shot.

Ricky was a high school all-American for all four years as he became one of the most sought-after high school player in the United States.