Stuart and Billy (Graham)

In 1949, Stuart and his wife Suzy attended a prayer meeting at the home of Henrietta Mears. This was one of the meetings of the Hollywood Christian Group, and on that particular night, a young man named Billy Graham was there to speak to the group. Suzy made sure they were there early, and she and Henrietta disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Stuart and Billy alone. Well, the two of them hit it off right away, and Stuart asked Billy if he would like to come on his radio show to promote his tent crusade. Billy did show up at the radio station, and after the radio interview, Stuart urged his listeners to go down to the tent to hear more of Billy, and ended by stating "Make sure you all come, cause I'll be there too!" Well, Suzy wasn't going to let those words ring untrue. That evening, as Stuart started to settle in for the night, Suzy appeared, all ready to go out the door. She looked at Stuart and said, "You ready to go? You told everyone that you were going to be there. You don't want to disappoint your fans!" So, Stuart went and sat front row center. Night after night, Stuart was there, front row center, until he could take it no more. What a lot of people don't know, is that Stuart was the son of Dr. James Henry Hamblen, an itinerant Methodist circuit preacher and the founder of the Evangelical Methodist Church denomination, and conviction was hitting Stuart hard. Knowing that the tent crusade was scheduled to end in a couple of days, Stuart decided to escape; packed up his hound dogs, and headed our for a hunting trip.

The preacher and Stuart met at a Bible study meeting at Henrietta Mears house, which was called, the Hollywood Christian Group. Now, the only reason Stuart was even at this meeting was because he was originally headed out to a bar that evening, and his wife, Suzy, convinced him that he should be escorting her out for the evening instead. Suzy made sure they arrived early, knowing that the young preacher would also be there early. Stuart and the young preacher had some time together as Suzy and Henrietta disappeared into the kitchen. The two men hit it off, and Stuart asked if he would like to come on his radio show and promote the tent revival meeting. The young preacher accepted and went down to the radio show the next day and promoted his ministry. Stuart finished off by saying, "You all make sure to be there, cause I'll be there too!" That evening, as he was starting to make his way out the door to his favorite bar, Suzy appeared, fully dressed and ready to go. Stuart looked at her and said, "Where are you going?" She replied, "With you of course! You did tell your audience and fans that you were going to be at the tent crusade tonight, so I'm ready to go!" Stuart was after all, a man of his word, so he was compelled to go by his own statement. He went every night after that, mostly for show of course, but also because of the urging of his wife, and the new found friendship with this young preacher.

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 preacher's hotel door around 2AM demanding that the preacher pray for him! (Once again, not the way it happened.) Stuart had been going to the daily meetings, until he could take his internal conviction no more. One evening, he loaded up his hounds and went off hunting for a couple of days. He knew the tent crusade was scheduled to end in a couple of days, so he figured that if he could just out last it, he'd make it thru. What he wasn't counting on, is that the young preacher decided to extend the meetings for another week (because the Lord gave him a vision of the conversion of a big Texas cowboy, a radio celebrity, heavy drinker, Stuart Hamblen). Stuart returned from his hunting trip, and came in and sat on the bed next to his wife. He took off his boots one at a time and flung them across the room. Suzy was awake, but wasn't facing him, so she kept still like she was asleep. Stuart was still struggling with his internal conviction by the Lord. He said, "Baby, you awake?" She rolled over and answered him. He continued, "I've known all my life that I was supposed to be a preacher like my Dad, but I didn't want to end up poor and penny-less like I was raised. I didn't want that life for me, but I've always known it was in God's plan. I've been torn inside, ever since I met that young preacher." Stuart paused and thought a moment, then continued, "He did this too me, I'm going to call him up right now!" Suzy replied, "But Stuart, it's after 2 o'clock in the morning!" Stuart quipped back, "I don't care!" He picked up the phone, and dialed the number. Stuart told the young preacher of the turmoil going thru his life, and he wanted the preacher to pray for him. The young preacher said, "I'm not going to do that for you. If you want to come down here, we'll talk about it, but the decision has to be yours and yours alone." Suzy said she never had gotten dressed so fast before in her life! They headed over to where the preacher was staying, and somewhere around 5am, my grandfather accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

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 favor with the Hollywood crowd. He was ultimately fired by the radio station when he refused to accept a beer company as a sponsor. (Back then, the radio personality, was the one that did the commercials, meaning that Stuart would have had to be the one that would have to promote alcohol. At this time, his radio show was also syndicated nationwide. -- As a side note, this particular incident also lead to another interesting story about his run for the office of President of the United States!)
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. Although they were friends, "This Ole House" was NOT written for Rosemary, although she did a great job singing it! The song was written as he was hunting in the mountains and came across an old cabin. What he found inside and out, lead him to write that song.

This next part happened at a party that Stuart's next door neighbor was having, and is pretty much close to correct.
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, don't you ever miss it?" His answer was, "No."John then said, "I don't understand how you could give it up so easily.."

And Stuart's response was, "It's no big secret. All things are possible with God." To this John said, "That's a catchy phrase. You should write a song about it." And as they say, "The rest is history."
(Okay, here is the real version...) Stuart's response was, "You know John, it is no secret what God can do in a man's life." Later that evening, as Stuart was leaving, John walked Stuart to the door and said, "Stuart you ought to go home and write a song about it no secret what God can do. Man, that is some pretty powerful words." Stuart walked home across the lawn, and into his house, and when he walked into the bedroom, he saw his wife putting curlers in her hair; so he thought to himself, "I have about 45 minutes to kill." So he walked back into the living room and sat down at the organ. About this time the big ole grandfather clock began chiming the hour of midnight. He grabbed a pencil and began to write,...

The chimes of time ring out a news,
another day is through.
Someone slipped and fell,
was that someone you?
You may have longed for added strength,
your courage to renew.
Do not be disheartened,
for I have news for you.
It is no secret what God can do.

Now you can say, the rest is history!

The song Carl Stuart Hamblen wrote was "It Is No Secret."

"It is no secret what God can do.
What He's done for others, He'll do for you.
With arms wide open, He'll pardon you.
It is no secret, what God can do...."

By the way... the friend was John Wayne.
And the young preacher who refused to pray for Stuart Hamblen?
....That was Billy Graham.

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