Ben Hooper

In Rising Above the Crowd, Brian Habour tells the story of Ben Hooper. When Ben was born 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 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 little general store to buy their supplies for the week. Invariably, the other parents in the store would make caustic comments just loudly enough for both mother and child to hear, comments like, “Did you ever figure out who his daddy is?” It was a very tough childhood.

There was no kindergarten, so Ben entered the first grade at age six. At recess, he would stay at his desk and study because none of the children would play with him. At noon, he would eat his lunch all alone. Ben was a very lonely child.

When Ben was twelve years old a new preacher came to the little church in Ben’s town. Ben started hearing exciting things about him – 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. Reportedly, the preacher had 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.

Though he had never been to church a day in his life, one Sunday little Ben decided he was going to go and hear this new preacher. He got there late and left early so he would not attract attention. He liked what he heard and for the first time in his life he felt a bit of hope. Ben was back in church the next Sunday – and the next, and the next. He always got there late and always left early, but his hope was building each Sunday.

On about the sixth or seventh Sunday the message was so moving and exciting Ben lost track of time and suddenly the service was over. He rose to exit but found that the isles were clogged, 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?” 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 is quite an inheritance you’ve got there, boy! Now, go and see to it that you live up to it.”

Many years later, Ben Hooper said that was the day he was elected and later reelected governor of the state of Tennessee. He had gone from being the child of an unknown father to the child of the King.

It is true that what one person says to another can dramatically change the latter’s performance.