A Seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in
Gatlinburg,Tennessee. One morning, they were eating breakfast in a
little restaurant, hoping to enjoy a quiet, family meal. While they
were waiting for their food, they noticed a distinguished looking,
white haired man moving from table to table visiting with the guests.
The professor leaned over and whispered to his wife, "I hope he doesn't
come over here."
But sure enough, the man did come over to their table. "Where are you
folks from?" he asked in a friendly voice.
"Oklahoma," they answered. "Great to have you here in Tennessee," the
stranger said. "What do you
do for a living?"
"I teach at a seminary," he replied.
"Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I've got a
really good story for you." And with that, the gentleman pulled up a
chair and sat down at the table with the couple.
The professor groaned and thought to himself, "Great . Just what I
need--another preacher story!
The man started, "See that mountain over there?" (pointing out a
restaurant window). "Not far from the base of that mountain, there was
a boy born to an unwed mother. He had a hard time growing up, because
every place he went, he was always asked the same, "Hey boy, who's your
daddy?"
Whether he was at school, in the grocery store or drug store,people
would ask the same question. "Who's your daddy?"
He would hide at recess and lunchtime from other students. He would
avoid going in to stores because that question hurt him so bad.
When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his
church. He would always go in late and slip out early to avoid
hearing the question, "Who's your daddy?"
But one day, the new preacher said the benediction so fast, he got
caught and had to walk out with the crowd. Just about the time he got
to the back door the new preacher, not knowing anything about him, put
his hand on his shoulder and asked him, "Son, who's your daddy?"
The whole church got deathly quiet. He could feel every eye in the
church looking at him. Now everyone would finally know the answer to
the question, "Who's your daddy?"
The new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using
discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said the following to
the scared little boy.
"Wait a minute!" he said. "I know who you are. I see the family
resemblance now. You are a child of God." With that, He patted the boy
on his shoulder and said, "Boy, you've got a great inheritance. Go and
claim it."
With that, the boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked
out the door a changed person. He was never the same again. Whenever
anybody asked him, "Who's your Daddy?" he'd just tell them, "I'm a
child of God."
The distinguished gentleman got up from the table and said, "Isn't that
a great story?"
The professor responded that it really was a great story!
As the man turned to leave, he said, "You know, if that new preacher
hadn't told me that I was one of God's children, I probably would never
have amounted to anything! " And he walked away.
The seminary professor and his wife was stunned. He called the
waitress over and asked her, "Do you know that man who just left that
was sitting at our table?"
The waitress grinned and said, "Of course. Everybody here knows him.
That's Ben Hooper. He's the former governor of Tennessee!"
Someone in your life today needs a reminder they are one of God's
children.
"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of God stands
forever.... Isaiah 40:8