Child of God

Saying for the day:The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines. Charles Kuralt:

This is a beautiful story! That Ralph shared with me and now I am sharing with you.

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 lunchtime from other students. He would avoid going into 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 the former 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!

####### News from Pigeon Falls-The little town in my basement where the trains still run, dragons fly, and life is just a little strange. Tommy UK has decided that this statement pretty well sums up what it means to be pure in heart “A person who is pure in heart is someone whose motives are clear, whose purpose and desires are honest and simple, and who demonstrates a consistency between appearance and reality. With a person who is pure in heart, what you see is what you get. There is no deception, no ambivalence, no duplicity, no distortion, no ulterior motives. Pretty rare, isn't it?” He found it a sermon delivered at Dartmouth college in January of last year.
Now all he has to do is find somebody who meets that description.
He started by ruling him self out as much as he would have liked to have been the town hero. He has often been deceptive as he played his little jokes on people In fact one could say he was a master of deception.
Where he wonders is the person with no hidden motives whose desires are honest and simple. Even little children quickly learn to deceive. They learn to say yes when they mean no. They learn to wait till mother is out of the room before doing what they know they aren’t supposed to do.
In all of Pigeon Falls Tommy UK can’t think of anybody that could even possibly meet the criteria.
Then it hits him. Charlie does.
******

Today's Link-Castle Church Door- A Blog for you theologians
A good and bad day. we had a person keel over in Church during the children's sermon. 911 had to be called. The Pastor handled it very well. Coming home I spent a nice afternoon with my grandsons. A friend of Pennie's brought her dog and it and Maggie romped in the back yard. Maggies going to be so lost tom0rrow when it will just be us old people. Now I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA