"Unto The Least of These" Kathryn Kuhlman Jesus Overcomes Alcoholism

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