"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," the Professor replied.
"Oh, you teach preachers how to preach? Well, I've got a really great story
for you." And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at the
table with the couple.
"See that mountain over there? (pointing out the 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 question: '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 lunch time 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. By now everyone knew the answer to the question, 'Who's your
daddy.' This new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using
discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said the following to that
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 never would have
amounted to anything!" And he walked away.
The seminary Professor and his wife were stunned. He called the waitress
over and asked her, "Do you know who that man was 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!"
Author Unknown, Forwarded by Keith Murphy
