|
|
A Tennessee Tale A Seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. One morning, they were having breakfast in a little restaurant. While they were waiting for their food, they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man moving from table to table, visiting with 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," the man replied. "Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I've got a good story for you." And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down at their table. The professor groaned and thought to himself, "Great, just what I need--another preacher story!” The man began, "See that mountain over there?" pointing out the 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 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 into stores because that question hurt him When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church. The boy 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 very quiet. He could feel every eye in the church looking at him. Now everyone would finally know the answer to the dreaded 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, "Now, isn't that a great story?" The professor responded that it certainly was. 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 The seminary professor and his wife were 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 smiled and said, "Of course. Everybody here knows him. That's Ben Hooper. He's the former governor of |
|
|