When Ben Hooper was born many years ago in the foothills of East Tennessee, little boys and girls 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 were saying idiotic things like, \u201cWhat\u2019s a boy like that doing playing with our children?\u201d as if the child had anything at all to do with his own birth. Saturday was the toughest day of all. Ben\u2019s mom would take him down to the general store to buy supplies for the week. Invariably, the other parents in the store would make snide comments just loudly enough for mother and child to hear, comments like, \u201cDid you ever figure out who his daddy is?\u201d
\nWhat a tough, tough childhood! It was a big event when anything changed in the foothills of East Tennessee, and when little Ben was twelve-years-old, a new preacher came to pastor the little church in Ben\u2019s town. Almost immediately, little Ben started hearing exciting things about him \u2013 about how loving and nonjudgmental he was. How he accepted people just as they were, and when he was with them, he made them feel like the most important people in the world. One Sunday, though he had never been in church a day in his life, little Ben Hooper decided he was going to go and hear the preacher. He got there late and he left early because he didn\u2019t want to attract attention, but he liked what he heard. For the first time in that boy\u2019s life, he caught a glimpse of hope. Ben was back in the church the next Sunday \u2013 and the next and the next. He always got there late and always left early, but his hope was building each Sunday.
\nOn about the sixth or seventh Sunday the message was so moving and exciting that Ben became absolutely enthralled with it. It was almost as if there was a sign behind the preacher\u2019s head that read, \u201cFor you, little Ben Hooper of unknown parentage, there is hope!\u201d Ben got so wrapped up in the message, he forgot about the time and didn\u2019t notice that a number of people had come in after he had taken his seat. Suddenly, the service was over. Ben very quickly stood up to leave as he had in all the Sundays past, but the aisles were clogged with people and he couldn\u2019t 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 a question that had been on the mind of every person there for the last twelve years: \u201cWhose boy are you?\u201d 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, \u201cOh, I know whose boy you are! Why, the family resemblance is unmistakable. You are a child of God!\u201d And with that the young preacher swatted him across the rear and said, \u201cThat\u2019s quite an inheritance you\u2019ve got there, boy! Now, go and see to it that you live up to it.\u201d Many years later, Ben Hooper said that was the day he was elected and later re-elected Governor of the State of Tennessee.
\nWhenever life feels tough remember you have the power within to make the most of any situation.\u00a0 You have a divine lineage and eternal potential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Ben Hooper was born many years ago in the foothills of East Tennessee, little boys and girls 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 were saying idiotic things like, \u201cWhat\u2019s a …<\/p>\n