“World's Most Complete Neighborpedia”
Sponsor a Community — What is Localism? | Register or Sign In
Explore:   What's happening in your neck of the woods?
Home

A Tennessee Tale

I found this little story years ago

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 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," 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
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 into stores because that question hurt him
so much.
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
walked away.
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
Tennessee!"
Posted Tuesday Feb 24