Starting Right
Starting Right is a 5 minute Day Starter to help keep you motivated, encouraged, and focused throughout your day. DannyMac is a pastor, teacher, motivational speaker, husband, and father. His years of leading and training people have given him vast experience in helping individuals to accomplish change in their lives and meet their goals. He can help you set the course for your day by offering practical advice from God's Word in a positive and fun way. There is no better way to begin your day than by Starting Right with DannyMac.
Starting Right
Whose Child Are You?
Have you ever felt like you didn't belong? Like society had already written your story before you had a chance to live it? The powerful tale of Ben Hooper will resonate deeply with anyone who's experienced rejection or longed for acceptance.
Join usw today for this wonderful reminder.
Good morning and welcome to Starting Right. I am Danny Mac and I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back and relax for the next five minutes as I help you start your day by starting right. I want to tell you a great story this morning about Ben Hooper. It comes from Brian Harber's book Rising Above the Crowd.
Speaker 1:You see, when Ben Hooper was born many, 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 absolutely terrible. By the time he was three years old, the other children would scarcely play with him. Parents were saying idiotic things like what's a boy like that doing, playing with our children, as if the child had anything to do with his own birth. Saturday was the toughest day of all. Ben's mom would take him down to the general store to buy their supplies for the week. Invariably the other parents in the store would make caustic remarks just loudly enough for both mother and child to hear Comments like did you ever figure out who his daddy is? That is a very 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, as were all the children At recess. He stayed at that little desk and studied because none of the other children would play with him. At noon little Ben could be found eating his sack lunch all alone. The happy chatter of the children who were shunning him was barely audible from where he sat.
Speaker 1:It was a big event when anything changed in the foothills of East Tennessee, and when little Ben was 12 years old a new preacher came to pastor the little church in Ben's town. Almost immediately Ben started hearing exciting things about this new pastor, 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. It was reported that this preacher had tremendous charisma. When he walked into a group of any size anywhere, the entire complexion of that group changed. Their smiles broadened, their laughter increased and their spirits rose. One Sunday, though he had never been to church a day in his life, little Ben Hooper decided he was going to go and hear this new preacher. He got there late and left early because he did not want to attract any attention, but he liked what he heard and for the first time in that young boy's life he caught just a glimmer of hope.
Speaker 1:Ben was back in church next Sunday and the next Sunday and the next. He always got there late and always left early, but his hope was building every Sunday. On 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's head that said For you, little Ben Hooper of unknown parentage, there is hope. Ben got so wrapped up in the message he forgot about the time and didn't notice that a number of people had come in after he had taken the seat. Suddenly, the service was over. Ben very quickly stood up to leave, as he always had in Sunday's pass, but the aisles were clogged with people and he could not 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 "'Whose boy are you', he said Instantly, the church grew deathly quiet.
Speaker 1:Slowly, a smile 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, my boy, are a child of God. And with that, the young preacher swatted him across the rear end and said Now, that's quite a heritage you've got there, boy. Now go and see to it that you live up to it. Isn't that a great story?
Speaker 1:In the view of eternity, it really doesn't matter who your earthly parents are, because when we give our lives to Christ, we have a new Father, a Heavenly Father who loves us more than anyone on this earth ever could. And we have a new family, a family who are just like we are. They come from imperfect backgrounds, with all kinds of problems and all kinds of challenges, and yet, by the grace of God, they have been saved and become a part of God's eternal family, with God as our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ at our side at all times. Isn't that good to know? And I encourage you to remind yourself of that when you're feeling lonely and maybe wondering if anybody loves you or accepts you. God always does. Have a great day, my friends. We will talk again tomorrow. Thank you for joining us today, and I invite you to join us every Monday to Friday, right here at Starting Right, with Danny Mac.
