The Unwanted Boy

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 and 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 !'

Someone in your life today needs a reminder that
they're one of God's children!

'The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the
word of God stands forever.' ~~Isaiah

YOU'RE ONE OF GOD'S CHILDREN!!!
HAVE A GREAT DAY

Ben W. Hooper
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search Ben Walter Hooper
(1870–1957) was governor of the U.S. State of
Tennessee from 1911 to 1915.

[edit] Biography: Hooper, who was of illegitimate
birth, spent part of his childhood in an orphanage,
was unofficially "adopted" by members of his rural
Baptist church, and was belatedly acknowledged by
his natural father, a prominent physician. He was a
native of Newport in Cocke County, Tennessee.

He was admitted to the bar in 1894, and served in the
state legislature. He was a captain of the 6th U.S.
Volunteer Infantry in the Spanish-American War of
1898, and nominated by the Republicans for governor
in 1910 over Alfred A. Taylor. His initial Democratic
opponent, incumbent Governor Malcolm R. Patterson,
despite winning the nomination withdrew from race
due to differences among Democrats, which in turn led
to the nomination of United States Senator and three-
term former governor) Robert Love Taylor, younger
brother of Alf Taylor.

Then the Prohibition issue badly split the Democrats and
a faction of them called "Independents" endorsed Hooper,
the challenger for governor, leading to his election. During
legislative sessions Hooper's administration employed
armed guards. Nonetheless, he was reelected in 1912, but
was subsequently defeated for a third term in 1914 by
Democrat Thomas C. Rye, a Prohibition advocate.

During his terms, early child labor laws were enacted
and school attendance was made compulsory for young
children provided that they lived within a realistic
walking distance of a school. The method of the death
penalty was changed from hanging to electrocution.

Hooper continued the practice of law after his time as
governor and maintained a keen interest in public affairs
and Republican politics until just before his death in 1957.
He wrote an autobiography, The Unwanted Boy, and was
widely regarded in East Tennessee as an inspirational
figure.


*Contribution by Story Teller from Teaching Hands. Thank you Cindy, love ya lots.