Whose Boy Are You?

Fred Craddock tells the story of being on vacation in Gatlinburg, TN many years ago. He was sitting in a little restaurant with his wife, enjoying a quiet meal, when an older, white haired distinguished man came in, and was moving table to table. Craddock’s first thought was, “I hope he doesn’t come over here.” But he did, and immediately asked the questions: “Where you from? What do you do?” When the man discovered that Craddock was a preacher, and a teacher of preachers, he pulled up a chair and sat down. He said, “I’ve got a story to tell you.” Again, Craddock, was put off – A preacher story. Everyone has one.

“I was born not far from these East Tennessee Mountains. My mother wasn’t married when I was born so I had a hard time. My classmates at school had a name for me; not a very nice name. I used to go off by myself at recess because the name calling cut me so deeply. Going to town on Saturday or church on Sunday was even worse. They all wondered who my 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 I got caught and had to walk out with the crowd. I could feel every eye in the church on me. Just about the time I got to the door I felt a big hand on my shoulder. It was the preacher. He asked me a question: ‘Who are you, son? Whose boy are you?’”

“I felt that old weight come on me. It was like a big black cloud. Even the preacher was putting me down. But as he looked at me, he began to smile. ‘Wait a minute. I know who you are. You’re a son of God.’ Then he slapped me on the rump and said, ‘Boy you’ve got a great inheritance. Go get it.’”

The old man looked across the table at Fred Craddock and said, “That was the most important single sentence ever said to me.” With that, he smiled, shook Craddock’s hand and continued milling through the restaurant. The old man was Ben Hooper, former governor of the state of Tennessee.