Little Fluffy

Little Fluffy

Emily M. 

This is the story of little fluffy. Oh the neighborhood kids gave her that name.  The Bible asks us in the book of Mathew does one little sparrow fall and God not know about it?  Well fluffy was found near a fence having been discarded by its mother. Cold, wet and hungry. She had matted hair and everyone believed she would not make it. My sister found her and I was the natural choice of nurturing her as I love cats and I already have another. Over the three weeks I have seen her grow back into health and fluff out. And she is very playful. It got me thinking, God picks us up from where we are. Sometimes we are lost, discarded and perishing and in a very bad state. But he never gives up. Isn't it the reason He died on the cross...to save those who are lost? To redeem and nature? I am proud to be called a child of His Kingdom.  He will never leave me nor forsake me and under his arm I will grow into what He wants me to be. 

INSPIRE changing communities a book at a time 

Love Endures the Flames

Love Endures the Flames

Rachel V.                   

James stepped out of the door of his wooden house. The hot dry wind rustled his brown hair. He ran to catch up with his Father and sister, Mary, who were going to the city park.

 “Jip!” he called to his dog. Jip trotted up to him. James always loved these walks with his family down the bustling streets of Chicago. He looked around at the brown grass and the withering flowers. As he held Mary’s hand, he thought about how dry the year had been. “Not much rain.” He mumbled.

          Just then, he heard a crackling sound, and heard the cry of “Fire”. “Father, is there fire near?” James asked. His Father glanced around with a worried look. Then he herded them into a crowd of people running to cross the Randolph Street Bridge. Mary started crying, and Father handed her his handkerchief. 

          James looked away for a second only to see a town enfolded with terror. He saw people pouring out of buildings and running down the streets to cross the Randolph Bridge to safety. When he looked back, his Father was no where to be seen.

          “Father!” he cried, “Father, where are you?” He held on tighter to Mary, and guided her deeper into the sea of people. He felt the

heat of the fire getting stronger and he started to worry.

          Just then, he remembered the handkerchief his Father gave Mary. “Mary, may I have the handkerchief?” he asked. He held the piece of fabric up to Jip’s nose. “Jip!” he cried, “find Father!”. Jip ran into the crowd, his nose twitching, with the children close at his heels. While they wandered through it, the crowd took them near the Lincoln Park, a place of refuge for the tired band.

          Just then, Jip ran back into the crowd. A moment later they heard an excited bark, and Jip emerged with Father!

          “Father!” they cried. Mary and James ran to hug him.

“I was so worried,” their Father said. His deep voice was mixed with emotion. “Our house has been burned, everything is lost.”

“But we still have each other!” said James. “That is the most important. And I’m sure Aunt Mabel will let us stay with her in Virginia.”  “You are right, son.”

 Their Father’s small smile gave them hope that even though the Fire of Chicago had destroyed their home, it would never destroy their love.

*(This is an historical fiction story. It is based on the Great Chicago Fire of 1871)                       

Lena's Story

Lena's Story

By Keturah L.

"So, this is life? This is all there is? Why live? What is there to live for?" Lena threw her head into her lap. Sometimes she wondered why she kept living.

So much bad had happened lately. Too much. She couldn't even grasp it. Most of the time she felt unloved, and whether it was true or not, she thought she had no friends.

The only thing that kept her from taking her life at first was fear. And knowing it was wrong. Because she was a Christian, and she knew that taking your own life is wrong. And the knowledge that she might go to hell if she did was enough to force her to live for a time.

But even that fear began to dim.

She fell deeper and deeper into depression.

Dark. Alone. Why can't they just accept me? Why do I feel so empty, so worthless. God, why won't you help me? Give me a friend? Give me something to live for?

Her family never realized the struggles she went through. In fact if you had told her mother that she was contemplating suicide, she would have laughed.

Because Lena was a good girl.

The darkness was getting to be too much for Lena.

And then a hope broke forth. Someone gave Lena a Bible study curriculum. Out of boredom, she started it. At first it would just make her forget her depressing thoughts. She was already a Christian. She had just forgotten.

Over the course of the next few months she learned to pray again and  rededicate her life daily. Soon she realized her depressing thoughts were being replaced by creative ideas.

And then she realized that she couldn't be happy unless she was happy with herself. She needed to trust God to know what was best in her life. She needed to accept her place in life. Where He put her, how he made her, what he gave her. It was then that another struggle began.

The struggle of wanting to, but of not wanting to.

She would have to forgive so many hurts. She would need to change her mindset. And the next few months were even harder.

During this time she started listening to Christian music more. One song became a great help and encouragement, What Faith Can Do by Kutless.

As Lena tried every day, her thoughts slowly evolved and grew stronger so that she was finally able to forgive inside.

And then came peace. Dark days would come, but those were now easier to manage. For now, she knew the hidden definition of Depression: Selfishness, forgetting others, thinking dark thoughts that aren't necessarily true.

And the cure for it was reading the Bible, praying and helping others.

Now when people hurt Lena it was a little easier to take. She just needed to remember that taking things personally wasn't the way to handle it.

She found herself helping others and being productive in many things. Her name was beginning to be known for what she did.

Now her enemy wasn't fear, but knowledge and self-righteousness. If she didn't stick to doing the three afore mentioned things with humility, all would be lost again.

Amidst the constant battle, Lena heard of others that were committing suicide every day. She heard stories encouraging it. People that had committed suicide were even being looked at as heroes.

It was being made legal. More people were dying, lost. More people were saying they should be allowed to if they wanted to.

But Lena knew better. She had been there. And she felt sad that all these people couldn't know, also.

She felt that the government and all the people out there permitting this were just being lazy. Instead of trying to love these people they were letting them kill themselves.

These people didn't want to die! They had just forgot what was important, or worse yet, never knew. They needed a reason to live! Why give them a reason to die? Why not everyone just kill themselves?

Now even Christians and preachers were standing with the people. Lena couldn't believe it. Murder was against the law and the Bible. How could changing the name or procedure or who did it change the deed? How could one have any more right to take their own life?

But people just laughed at her. Said she didn't really understand. She was told to wake up, it was the 21st century.

"Lena, you have never been truly depressed, otherwise you wouldn't be here."

"Are you saying some people were made to just live dark lives and die alone? There is a way for people to be helped. It's murder to help another die."

"It's not like that. You cant force a person to live. It's their life. If they choose to relieve others of the burden of themselves they should be allowed to."

"That another human would be willing to let someone else die before helping them seems very barbaric to me. Not any man should ever be a 'burden' to us."

At a lost for words, the other person would just shake their head like she was crazy and not even worth talking to.

Filled with righteous anger, it was then she decided to search the Bible for scripture. She would find hard evidence against this. If it was the last thing she did.

Job was the first example she came across. In despair he would not die. His wife even said "Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and Die!"

But he answered "Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil?"

And according to his words, she knew that only foolish people considered taking their own lives or assisting another to die. Deuteronomy 30:19  told the people that when choosing life or death, to choose life.

Other verses she came across spoke of death as an evil thing that would be someday overcome.  Since God had given life, it was only His to take away. No one is as powerful or omnipotent as He is. Who knows what might have been meant to happen if you do take matters into your own hands?

Lena was quick to inform the others of the discoveries she'd made. But to her horror, she was just turned aside with sneering remarks that she did not understand these things.

She was taking verses out of context. It did not mean that anymore, she was told.

It was then that she realized she was in the wrong place talking to the wrong people. She couldn't convince the devil. But maybe she could make things harder on him.

She could never talk these people into believing the truth. But she could love. And by loving everyone she could save countless lives.

So wherever she went she was quick to make all feel important. If someone was alone, she'd go to them. She'd start lively conversations on topics she was normally not interested in.

She would include people in all sorts of activities. Work and games. Laughter. Through this all she helped many heal.

With much help Lena learned to love other people more than herself, and she did save many lives, though she never knew how many. All she knew was that she had peace and was doing the right thing.

And so Lena stubbornly showed the world that selfless love is what kills depression, not suicide.

The Trails of Friendship

The Trials of Friendship

By E. Kay

            Isabella was worried. Today was her first day at a new school. She had just moved to Freedom’s Park a few days ago. Isabella wondered what the school would be like, and the teachers. But most of all, she wondered about the kids.

            “Bella! Hover bus is here!”

            Mom’s voice cut through Isabella’s thoughts like a knife. She grabbed her stellar pad and ran down the stairs. There she  strapped on her jet pack boots and rushed out the door. She climbed into the hover bus and looked around. All the cool kids up front didn’t want to sit near her, so she sat in the back with the unpopular kids.

            At school, everyone was flying around with their boots, except for Isabella. She got many looks, some of which were will-you-look-at-her-clothes, oh-look-it’s-the-newbie and bubble-gum-on-shoe. She dodged air currents and feet on her way to class. Isabella arrived just before the tardy bell rang. More bubble-gum-on-shoe looks. Ms. Starr, the teacher, got everyone’s attention and class began.

            “Class, listen up. We have a new student with us today. Please try to make her welcome here. Isabella Moon, will you please stand up.”

            Isabella stood. All of the students seemed to be judging her. What would they think of her old red and gray stellar suit? Her ratty black hair? Her plain brown eyes? Isabella attempted a smile and tried to appear friendly. The class wasn’t fooled.

            “Isabella, would you please tell us what planet or moon you came from?” Ms. Starr asked. “And the colony, please.”

            “Friendship Plaza on Mars.” Isabella whispered.

            “Those losers!” hollered one kid near her.

            The kids roared with laughter as Isabella sat down. Her face was a brighter red than her suit.

            “Class!” barked Ms. Starr. “Get to your blank screen and zip it!” There was an audible snap. “Type your name, 2050, and then type a three page essay about why we don’t tease others at school. I expect it to be turned in by lunch.”

            The students whined and groaned. There was a chorus of “But Ms. Starr…”

            Ms. Starr cut them off. “I don’t want to hear it. Get to work, all of you. Isabella, you can type a paragraph about yourself.”

            The only sound after that was the sound of fingers on stellar-pads. As she typed, she thought of how her day had been. She liked the teachers. They were nice. She didn’t like the kids who teased her and gave her mean and weird looks. She realized she was dreading school tomorrow. She shook her head and got to work.

            ‘My name is Isabella Moon and I moved here from Friendship Plaza on Mars. My favorite thing to do is read and I live with my mom. My mom is an author and she works from home. My favorite thing to do with her is go to the movies. My favorite movie is Earthbound, the one about when humans could only live on earth. My best friend lives in Friendship Plaza. Her name is Kelly and we used to tinker and improve our stellar wear. I want to make friends here, but everyone is so mean and I’m too shy.’

            Isabella sent her teacher the paragraph and lined up for lunch. At lunch, Isabella tried to sit with the other kids, but they would move whenever she sat at their table. At recess she played alone. The whole school seemed to have something against her. On the hover bus she sat alone. Even the unpopular kids didn’t want to risk being caught with her.

            At last she stepped off the bus and trudged into her house. She tried to avoid her mother and crept into her room. She dropped her stuff and crawled into bed. Her mother knocked on the door and came in. The bed creaked as she sat on it. Isabella felt her hand running along her back. They sat there for half an hour like that. Finally Mom spoke.

            “How was school sugarcane?”

            Those gentle words were all it took. Isabella broke into tears and her whole story came out between sobs. Mom sat and listened to the whole thing. When Isabella was done, she sat and held her for another ten minutes. Finally, when Isabella stopped crying, Mom spoke.

            “Bella, honey, don’t worry about what they think. Just do your best to make friends. You’re you, not them. You can’t make them like you, you can’t make them be your friends. But you have someone you can always count on. God is always going to be your friend. Others will fail you, but He will never fail you. You can rely on Him.”

            Isabella nodded and rolled over. Mom left her room and she went to sleep. The next day, she got on the hoverbus and everyone avoided her like they did the day before. The only thing that had changed was Isabella’s attitude. She smiled at everyone and ignored their jibes. She went through the day with a smile on her face and a spring in her step. She did the same the day after that and the day after that. Slowly, the kids warmed up to her. First, the unpopular kids became her friends. Then, the popular kids.

            By the end of the year, Isabella had broken through the walls that had separated outcast, unpopular, and popular kids. And in everything, she always turned people to God, not herself. She is a godly example to us all. Our trials may be different. Our trials may take longer. But in our trials we too can lead others to God.