A Story for Christmas
“Do You Know Who His Daddy Is?”
Brian Harbour, in his book, Rising Above the Crowd, tells the story of Ben Hooper. When Ben was born in the foothills of East Tennessee, little girls and boys like Ben, who were born to unwed mothers, were ostracized and treated terribly. By the time Ben was three years old, the other children would scarcely play with him. Parents would say things like: “What’s a boy like that doing playing with my children?” As if Ben had anything to do with his own birth. Saturday was the toughest day of all. Ben’s mom would take him down to the little general store to buy supplies for the week. Invariably, the other parents in the store would make remarks just loud enough for both mother and child to hear. Comments like, “Did you ever figure out who his daddy is?” What a tough, tough childhood.
In those days there was no kindergarten, so, at age six, little Ben entered the first grade. He was given his own desk and at recess he stayed at his little desk because none of the other children would play with him. At noon, he could be found eating his sack lunch alone. The happy chatter of the children who shunned him was barely audible from where he sat.
It was a big event when anything changed in the foothills of East Tennessee. But when Ben was twelve years old, a new preacher came to pastor the little church in Ben’s town. Almost immediately, Ben started hearing exciting things about him – about how loving and nonjudgmental he was. How he accepted people just as they are. One Sunday, though he had never been to church in his life, little Ben Hooper decided he was going to go and hear the preacher. He got there late and left early so as not to attract any attention, but he liked what he heard. For the first time in his young life, he caught just a glimmer of hope.
Ben was back in church the next Sunday – and the next and the next. He always got there late and left early, but his hope was building. On about the sixth or seventh Sunday, the message was so moving and exciting that Ben became absolutely enthralled. It was almost as if there were a sign behind the preacher’s head that read, “For you, little Ben Hooper, of unknown parentage, there is hope!” He got so wrapped up in the message that he forgot about the time and didn’t notice that a number of people had come in after he had taken his seat.
Suddenly, the service was over and Ben quickly stood up to leave, but the aisles were clogged with people and he couldn’t run out. As he was working his way through the crowd, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and looked up, right into the eyes of the young preacher, who asked him the question that had been on the mind of every person there for the last twelve years: “Whose boy are you?”
Instantly, the church grew deathly quiet. Slowly, a smile started to spread across the face of the young preacher until it broke into a huge grin, and he exclaimed, “Oh, I know whose boy you are! Why, the family resemblance is unmistakable. You are a child of God!” And with that, the young preacher swatted him across the rear and said, “That’s quite an inheritance you’ve got there, boy! Now go and see that you live up to it.”
Many, many years later, Ben Hooper said that was the day he was elected and later re-elected governor of the State of Tennessee. He had gone from being the child of an unknown father to being the child of the King. As governor, Ben Hooper was often seen walking the streets of the cities he visited, speaking with and encouraging homeless little boys and girls. Little Ben’s life changed because the way he looked at himself changed - all because a young preacher took the time to tell him who he really was.