The God Kind of Love...

I love inspiring stories.  I look for them often in the books I read.  I hope this one will touch your heart.  I first read this story in Zig Ziglars book Over the Top, and I was reminded of it again as I was re-reading his book Better Than Good. 

Ben Hooper was born in the foothills of east Tennessee to an unwed mother.  As a result, he and his mother were severely ostracized by their small community.  People would say things when they came to town, and the other children wouldn't play with Ben at school.
When Ben was twelve years old, a new young preacher came to pastor the little church in Ben's town.  Almost immediately Ben started hearing exciting things about him, like how loving and nonjudgmental he was, how he accepted people just as they were, and how when he was with them he made them feel like the most important person in the world.
One Sunday, though he had never been to church a day in his life, Ben Hooper decided he was going to go and hear this preacher.  He got there late and he left early because he did not want to attract any attention, but he liked what he heard.  For the first time in that young boy's life, he caught just a glimmer of hope.
Ben was back in church the next Sunday - and the next Sunday and the next.  He always got there late and he always left early, but his hope grew each 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 read, "For you, little Ben Hooper of unknown parentage, there is hope!"  Ben got so wrapped up in the message he forgot all about the time and didn't notice that a number of people had come in after he had taken his seat.
When the service was over, Ben got caught in the crowd and suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.  He turned around and looked up, right in to 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.  Then 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 unmistakeable.  You are a child of God!"
And with that the young preacher swatted him across the rear and said, "That's quite an inheritance you've got there, boy!  Now go and see 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.  When you see yourself the way God does, you won't just know that you are loved, you'll feel loved as well.  Nothing can change a life like God's kind of love.