{"id":36303,"date":"2025-06-11T21:21:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T04:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?post_type=portfolio&p=36303"},"modified":"2025-06-11T21:36:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T04:36:25","slug":"2025-changed","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2025-changed\/","title":{"rendered":"Those Words Changed My Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yooper Pastor<\/p>\n

Fred Craddock has been called one of the greatest preachers of the twentieth century. Years ago, he talked about a time he was vacationing in Tennessee.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fred and his wife were seated at a table in a restaurant when an old man came up to them and asked, \u201cAre you folks on vacation?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d said Fred, \u201cand we\u2019re having a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you do for a living?\u201d the old man said.<\/p>\n

Fred was trying to get rid of the guy and he said, \u201cI\u2019m a preacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh,\u201d the old man said. \u201cThen let me tell you a preacher story.\u201d He pulled up a chair and sat down.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was born an illegitimate child. I never knew who my father was. That was very hard for me. The kids at school made fun of me and they called me names. When I walked around our little town, I always felt that people were staring at me and asking that terrible question, \u2018I wonder who is the father of that little boy.\u2019 I spent a lot of time by myself and growing up I didn\u2019t have any friends.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

“One day a new pastor came to town and everybody was talking about how good he was. I\u2019d never gone to church but one Sunday I decided I\u2019d go hear him speak. He was good. So I kept coming back. But each time I went to church I\u2019d come in late and I\u2019d leave early so I wouldn\u2019t have to talk to anybody.<\/p>\n

“Then one Sunday I got so caught up in listening to the sermon I forgot to leave early. The service ended, people stood up and I couldn\u2019t get out the door. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. When I turned that big tall pastor was looking down at me.<\/p>\n

“He asked, \u2018What\u2019s your name, boy? Whose son, are you?\u2019 When I heard that question I just shook. But before I could say anything the preacher said, \u2018I know who your family is. There\u2019s a distinct family resemblance. Why, you\u2019re the child of God.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

“You know, mister, those words changed my life,\u201d he said. The old man got up and left.<\/p>\n

The waitress came over and asked, \u201cDo you know who that was?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d said Fred.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s Ben Hooper, two term governor of Tennessee.\u201d<\/p>\n

A man learned he was the child of God and it changed his life. All the depression and the wounds and hurts and rejection he\u2019d had through his life were eliminated by the power of God\u2019s love. They can be eliminated in your life too. Come to Jesus.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":36308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[29],"class_list":["post-36303","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-29"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/36303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/36303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36309,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/36303\/revisions\/36309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36303"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=36303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}