By David A. Sargent
While lecturing at
Yale University, Fred Craddock told of going back one summer to Gatlinburg,
Tennessee, to take a short vacation with his wife. One night they found a quiet
little restaurant where they looked forward to a private meal — just the two of
them.
While they were
waiting for their meal, they noticed a distinguished looking, white-haired man
moving from table to table, visiting guests. Craddock whispered to his wife, “I
hope he doesn’t come over here.” He didn’t want the man to intrude on their
privacy. But the man did come by his table.
“Where you folks
from?” he asked amicably.
“Oklahoma.”
“Splendid state, I
hear, although I’ve never been there. What do you do for a living?”
“I teach
homiletics at the graduate seminary of Phillips University.”
“Oh, so you teach
preachers, do you? Well, I’ve got a story I want to tell you.” And with that he
pulled up a chair and sat down at the table with Craddock and his wife.
The man stuck out
his hand. “I’m Ben Hooper. I was born not far from here across the mountains.
My mother wasn’t married when I was born so I had a hard time. When I started
to school my classmates had a name for me, and it wasn’t a very nice name. I
used to go off by myself at recess and during lunchtime because the taunts of
my playmates cut so deeply.”
“What was worse
was going downtown on Saturday afternoon and feeling every eye burning a hole
through you. They were all wondering just who my real father was.”
“When I was about
12 years old a new preacher came to our church. I would always go in late and
slip out early. But one day the preacher said the benediction so fast I got
caught and had to walk out with the crowd. I could feel every eye in church on
me. Just about the time I got to the door I felt a big hand on my shoulder. I
looked up and the preacher was looking right at me.”
“‘Who are you,
son? Whose boy are you?’ he asked.”
“I felt the old
weight come on me. It was like a big black cloud. Even the preacher was putting
me down.”
“But as he looked
down at me, studying my face, he began to smile a big smile of recognition.
‘Wait a minute,’ he said, ‘I know who you are. I see the family resemblance.
You are a son of God.’”
The old man looked
across the table at Fred Craddock and said, “That was the single most important
sentence ever said to me.” With that he smiled, shook the hands of Craddock and
his wife, and moved on to another table to greet old friends.
Suddenly, Fred
Craddock remembered. There was a man elected governor for two terms in
Tennessee. His name was Ben Hooper. *
Who are you? Whose are you?
God wants each of
us to be His child. Our sins separate us
from Him, but God loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die on the
cross for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Through Jesus, we can be cleansed from our sins and become a child of
God (Galatians 3:26-27).
God will forgive
and add to His forever family those who place their faith and trust in Jesus
(Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess
Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized into Christ for the
forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). He will
continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to walk in the light of His
Word (1 John 1:7).
Accept God’s offer
on His terms. It will change your life
forever.
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