I have a reason for reading this poem. After
I have read the poem, I shall read a letter.
In the letter that I will read, this is the poem
that is mentioned. They said, the master is coming
to honor the town today. And none can tell of
what house or home the master would choose to
stay. And I thought as my heart beat wildly.
What if he should come to mine? How would I strive
to entertain and honor the gift divine? And straightway
I turned to toiling to make my house more neat.
And I swept and I polished and I garnished and
I decked. it with blossom sweet. I was troubled
for fear the master would come ere my task was
done, and so I hastened and worked the faster
and watched the hurrying sun. But right in the
midst of my duties a woman came to my door. She'd
come to tell me her sorrows and my comfort and
aid to implore. but i said i can't stop the listener
i hope you today i have greater things to attend
to and the pleader turned away but soon there
came another a cripple thin pale and gray and
said let me stop and rest a while in your goodly
house i pray For I traveled far since morning,
and I'm hungry, and I'm faint, and I'm weak,
and my heart is so full of misery and comfort
and help I seek. But I said, I'm grieved and
sorry, my dear, but I cannot help you today.
You see, I look for a great and noble guest.
and so the cripple went away but the day wore
onward swiftly and my task was nearly done yet
the prayer was ever in my heart that in time
the master would come and i thought i would spring
to him and serve him with utmost care when a
little Child stood by me with a face so sweet
and fair. Sweet, but the marks of teardrops.
And his clothes were tattered and old. And a
little finger was bruised and bleeding. And his
little bare feet were cold. And I said, I'm grieved
that... And I'm so sorry, my dear. You're surely
in need of care, but I cannot stop and give it.
You must hasten go elsewhere. And at the words,
a shadow swept over his blue -veined brow. Someone
will feed and clothe you, my dear, but I'm just
too busy now. At last, the day was ended. My
task was over and done. My house was swept and
garnished. And I watched in the dusk alone. Watched.
But no footsteps sounded. No one came to my gate.
No one entered my cottage door. I could only
pray and wait. I waited till night had... But
the master had not come. He's entered some other
door, I cried, and gladdened some other home.
My labor has been for nothing, just nothing.
And I bowed my head and wept. My heart was sore
with longing, but in spite of it all, I slept.
Then the master stood before me, and his face
was grave and fair, and he said, Three times
today I came to your door and craved your pity
and care. Three times you sent me onward unhelped.
and uncomforted and the blessing you might have
had was lost and your chance to serve has fled
o lord dear lord please forgive me how could
i know it was thou my very soul was ashamed and
sank in the depths of regret and woe And he said,
The sin is pardoned, but the blessing is lost
to thee. For comforting not the least of mine,
thou hast failed to comfort me. I hold in my
hand a letter. The writer refers to this that
I've just given you in her letter. Dear Miss
Glewman, I don't know how to spell your name,
but I feel as though I had to write you. I just
happened to turn my radio dial to you as I was
returning home from Eastern State Hospital here
in Virginia, where my husband is committed. As
an alcoholic, I had to have him committed to
virtually save his life. He retired from the
United States Army the 29th of December, 1967,
and had been seriously, heavily drinking since
November. When I left him that night, I felt
my whole world had come to an end. I felt utterly
beaten and licked. I have never been so all alone,
so completely despondent. Suddenly, as I listened
to you on the radio, there on that dark, lonely
highway, Telling of hope. The poem about the
housewife waiting for a visit from our Lord.
I felt a feeling that I've never had before.
It was as though Jesus Christ was there with
me. And I didn't feel alone. And my heart actually
felt as though it had wings. Suddenly, I knew
there was hope for my husband. I knew there was
hope for me. And all that I had to do was simply
trust in the Lord's precious promises. Oh, how
my burden has been lifted. I just had to write
and tell you how great you really are and let
you know that you surely are a living instrument
of God. You awakened one lost... bewildered soul
tonight into a realm of peace and courage to
live with hope in my heart. You'll never know
what you did for me tonight on that lonely highway.
I'm so interested in your program. What channel?
What time? How do you finance your program? I'd
just like the help. Although... It will be in
such a small way. I want to do for others what
you've done for me. Do you have any brochures
or literature that you might send? Also, I'd
love to have a copy of the poem that you gave.
It would be such an inspiration. Please let me
hear from you. Gratefully yours. And the woman
signs her full name, gives her... full address
i shall never be able to tell you what that letter
has done for me it makes me feel so well repaid
oh so well repaid for all the hard work for everything
that one puts into making a broadcast possible.
And when I folded that letter and laid it on
my desk, somehow I felt like the old Vienna painter
who, after standing in absolute silence, viewing
what he thought was a masterpiece while he was
painting it, he stood there after the last stroke
had been put on canvas, and with tears streaming
down his face, he cried as he looked up. Dear
God, please forgive me that I do not do it better.
I feel like looking up into the face of my master.
and crying out, Dear Jesus, please forgive me
that I do not do a better job in bringing hope
to the hopeless. Please give me a vocabulary
where I can explain your wonderful reality. Please,
somehow, take the vessel, take the life, and
just help. Help me. Through the scripture, through
the word, through the song, through the ether
waves. Help me that I can bring hope to people
like the little lady on that lonely highway coming
home just after having committed her husband
to the hospital. Saving his life, he an alcoholic.
What I know so well, so well that no case is
hopeless. No person is hopeless. Sunday after
Sunday I stand on the stage of the Stambaugh
Auditorium and I say, will the men's chorus please
come forward? And walking down those two long
aisles of the Stambaugh Auditorium, I see those
men with their shoulders squared and the glory
of God on their faces and they're marching down
the aisle and in a few minutes... Their voices
mingled as one as they're singing the praises
of the Lord. I'll live for him who died for me.
And the folk just sitting in the audience, not
knowing who these men were before and just seeing
them now. They couldn't believe the miracle,
the greatest of all miracles. that has taken
place in the lives of these men. No. Many a man
walking down the aisle of the Stambordatorium,
members of the great men's chorus, was thought
as being a hopeless case one day. Sure, there
was Carpenter. Carpenter, who for years drank
the stuff, and even the very first time that
he came in to a religious service, he parked
his bottle of whiskey behind a pillar of the
auditorium, had to take an extra Strong swig
of the stuff to give him enough courage to even
come inside of a religious service. And yet today,
he'd been completely delivered, completely set
free, an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ
Jesus. Sure. During one of the services, as an
altar call was given, and men and women were
kneeling all over the great auditorium, And as
I walked down the aisle, asking that heads be
bowed, eyes closed, suddenly I was aware of the
fact that a man was placing his whiskey bottle
in my hand and saying, Take it, Miss Coleman.
I want to be delivered. And there I stood with
his old whiskey bottle in my hand, not knowing
what to do with it. I threw it under the seat.
In that theater in Butler one Sunday afternoon
today, that man completely delivered, completely
set free, a new creature in Christ Jesus. There
were literally thousands who said, Red Dolan,
the Irishman, head of the sportsman's club. who
could drink more whiskey than any man in the
township. And yet, even while they were saying
he was a hopeless case, one day old Red Dolan
knelt at the end of a bar and looked up and said,
Oh, God, if ever you've helped a man help, Me.
And Jesus was there to give that help and give
that deliverance. Remember, beloved, every foe,
every fear, every trouble, every sin, anything
that you may face has been and is defeated and
overcome by Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living
God. And one day, this woman's husband, will
be among those who'll say i too have been set
free by the power of the son of the living god