October 29. Keith C. Smith. Single moms and fatherless sons live with a gaping hole. Stand by them. This is the burden that drove Keith’s passion and shaped his life.
Single moms and fatherless sons live with a gaping hole. Stand by them.
Twenty-three-year old Keith tapped on the driver’s-side window of his sister Sandy’s car. He shivered; night-time temperatures dropped quickly in Cortez, Colorado.
His sister rolled down her window. Tears streaked her face, and it was too dark to see who was in the car with her. Keith told Sandy their mom had sent him to say Sandy needed to get home.
After Sandy slipped into the house and went straight to her bedroom, Keith knocked on her door. Sandy let him in and explained that she’d told her boyfriend she was pregnant. Keith pulled Sandy into a hug, held her while she cried, and promised to help her tell their parents.
Their mother was angry, but their father said, “I knew what it was like not to be loved. Not to be wanted. I’m not going to do that. Sandy is my daughter … I’m going to stand by my daughter and the baby.”
Keith cried. He would stand by Sandy too.
“Little Man” was born in July. That fall Keith started law school at Arizona State University. The next spring Sandy and Little Man needed housing, so Keith and his new wife invited them to share their apartment.
Having a child there was a big adjustment. Sometimes it was hard to study, and Keith got frustrated. But Little Man brought joy; he laughed, ran around the coffee table in time to his favorite song, and cuddled to watch movies. Keith loved him.
Sandy took classes in the evenings, so Keith helped with Little Man. He would often take the two-year-old for a walk. During one of their walks, Little Man asked, “Are you my daddy?”
Keith didn’t know how to respond. Finally he said, “No, Little Man, I am your uncle. Your mother is my sister. Do you understand?”
Little Man nodded.
Keith didn’t want to upset Sandy, so he didn’t tell her. But he worried about Little Man. Would the subject would come up again?
Months passed. Little Man was almost three when he again asked Keith, “Are you my daddy?” Keith explained once more that he was Little Man’s uncle, and he loved him very much.
About a month later Keith tucked Little Man into bed. He looked at Keith with sad eyes, “Uncle, where is my daddy?”
Keith couldn’t tell the boy that his birth father had never contacted them. Finally Keith said, “I don’t know, Little Man. Maybe he hasn’t shown up yet, but God will send him along soon.”
Little Man flashed a big smile and fell asleep.
Keith wondered if he had lied to his nephew, or if his words had been inspired.
Two years passed. Sandy fell in love with a good man named Ryan, and soon there was a wedding. Keith, a groomsman, stood with his sister during the ceremony. When Ryan said his vows, he first spoke to Sandy. Then he turned to Little Man. Ryan vowed to love him as his own and be a father to him.
Keith wanted to sob but allowed only one “manly” tear to slip down his cheek.
At the reception Little Man, now five, played and laughed with his cousins. Then he suddenly ran to Keith, jumped on his lap, and wrapped his arms around Keith’s neck. Little man pulled Keith’s ear toward his mouth. “I’m so happy,” he whispered.
Keith leaned back and looked into those big, brown eyes. “Me, too.”
“Know why?” Little Man asked. “Because my daddy is here now. God showed him the way. He came for me.”
“Yes, he sure has,” Keith said.
“[God] does what is right and fair for the child without parents and the woman whose husband has died. He shows His love for the stranger by giving him food and clothing” (Deuteronomy 10:18 NLV).
Do you know a single mom or fatherless child who needs you? Single moms and fatherless sons live with a gaping hole. Stand by them.
Based on an interview with Keith C. Smith, 2019.
Story read by: Joel Carpenter
Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter
Audio production: Joel Carpenter
Editor: Teresa Crumpton, https://authorspark.org/
Project manager: Blake Mattocks
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