Back in the 50s there was a well known radio host/comedian/song writer in Hollywood named Carl Stuart Hamblen who was noted for his drinking, womanizing, partying, etc. One of his bigger hits at the time was I wont go hunting with you Jake, but Ill go chasing women. One day, along came a young preacher holding a tent revival. Hamblen had him on his radio show presumably to poke fun at him. In order to gather more material for his show, Hamblen showed up at one of the revival meetings. Early in the service the preacher announced, There is one man in this audience who is a big fake. There were probably others who thought the same thing, but Hamblen was convinced that he was the one the preacher was talking about (some would call that conviction) but he was having none of that. Still the words continued to haunt him until a couple of nights later he showed up drunk at the preachers hotel door around 2AM demanding that the preacher pray for him! But the preacher refused, saying, This is between you and God and and Im not going to get in the middle of it. But he did invite Stuart in and they talked until about 5 AM at which point Stuart dropped to his knees and with tears, cried out to God. But that is not the end of the story. Stuart quit drinking, quit chasing women, quit everything that was fun. Soon he began to lose favour with the Hollywood crowd. He was ultimately fired by the radio station when he refused to accept a beer company as a sponsor. Hard times were upon him. He tried writing a couple of Christian songs but the only one that had much success was This Old House, written for his friend Rosemary Clooney. As he continued to struggle, a long time friend named John took him aside and told him, All your troubles started when you got religion, was it worth it all? Stuart answered simply, Yes. Then his friend asked, You liked your booze so much, dont you ever miss it? His answer was, No.John then said, I dont understand how you could give it up so easily... And Stuarts response was, Its no big secret. All things are possible with God. To this John said, Thats a catchy phrase. You should write a song about it. And as they say, The rest is history. The song Carl Stuart Hamblen wrote wasIt Is No Secret. It is no secret what God can do. What Hes done for others, Hell do for you. With arms wide open, Hell welcome you. It is no secret, what God can do....
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 16:19:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015