A
seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg, TN.
One
morning, they were eating breakfast at 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 great 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
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 that
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?'
'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! 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 anp; asked
her,
'Do you know who that man was -- the one 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 governor of
Tennessee!'
(As
jy by die Afrikaanse groep aansluit, sal jy outomaties ook die Engelse
e-posse ontvang. Dit is nie nodig om by albei aan te sluit nie)
Thank you Henk for sharing.
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