Stories of Support

 

The House That Was Never Built

LEE SCARBOROUGH'S CALL TO THE MINISTRY
BY
CHARLES T. BALL

Among the families of sterling qualities that came west from Mississippi and Louisiana to seek a home in Texas during and just after the days of reconstruction in the South, was the family of George Washington Scarborough. They pushed out to what in those days was considered far to the front and lived for a number of years in a dug-out on a ranch in West Texas. Being a Baptist preacher, Father Scarborough preached the Gospel as opportunity came, often riding on horseback great distances to his appointments. The large family of children, mostly boys, grew up and married off until only one boy, the youngest child, was left in the home. This boy was some sixteen or seventeen years of age at the time this story is concerned with this interesting family.

Nothing yet has been said about the mother in this home because the writer desired to present her to the readers of this story in connection with this last of her boys-her baby boy. Martha Scarborough was a quiet, plain woman, who had given her strong life devotedly and unreservedly to her family. Her faith in God was unlimited and she had a strong grip on Him through prayer. She had watched her large family come to womanhood and manhood and each marry and enter upon his life work, but her heart was not yet satisfied; her one holy ambition had not yet been realized. She knew what she wanted, and she had asked God for it definitely. Would it be granted? Let the story be told here and now just as it was told by this mother to this writer, the first time he ever met her.

When this boy was three weeks old, he lay one day in his little crib, which had been moved out into the middle of the room away from the mother’s bed-side, because she would try to rock the cradle when she was too weak to do so. I shall never forget how the interest kindled in her dear aged face as she told me how one day, finding herself alone in the room with her baby, and not being able to walk she crawled from her bed out to where the cradle had been placed, and steadying herself on her knees by the cradle with one hand, and holding both hands of her three-weeks-old boy in her other hand, poured out her soul to God that He would call this, her son, to preach the everlasting Gospel. How well God heard and answered that prayer is known to thousands today, not only in Texas, but throughout the Southland.

Father Scarborough knew the heart of his wife on that point. He knew how some member of the family had come into the room and found her at the cradle and the kindly scolding she had received for leaving her bed, and how later, with great emotion, she had explained to her husband why she did it. She wanted her boy, to preach the Gospel, and she believed that God would give her the desire of her heart. Like most other boys who have responded to God's call to preach, Lee Scarborough had given very little evidence in his early life that his mother's prayer would ever be answered. Lee knew ranch life in West Texas. No one doubted that he was an expert, for his age, in all that goes to make up active ranch life, but he was never wild or immoral as many suppose every cowboy to be. He was devoted to his mother, and being the youngest of her large family spent much time with her.

About this time there was an incident in his life which appears to those who know the circumstances to have been used of God to turn his mind into the channel and toward the life which God had planned for him. Attired as an up-to-date cowboy, and riding his favorite horse, he came one day into the little inland county seat village near his home. Before he had dismounted someone had told him that there was to be an address in the Court House and that already the people were gathering. He made up his mind to hear it. Dismounting, he went straight into the Court House and heard the speaker through. The orator of that occasion was Judge K.K. Leggett, of Abilene, Texas, who still lives in that city, and whose life work and in-fluence has meant much to West Texas. Some three weeks afterward, in a quiet talk with his mother, he told her how the address stirred in him a desire to get an education and be somebody in the world. God had used the address to turn the mind of the boy toward the plan which He had for him. The earnest words of the boy about his desire to attend college aroused new and fresh hope in the mother's heart that God would some day answer her prayer and call the boy into the ministry. She had said very little to her husband about her talk with God by the cradle when her boy was only three weeks old, but he knew it and would have remembered it all had his attention been called to it.

Father Scarborough loved his wife and was greatly devoted to his baby boy. It had been the desire of his heart to build a nice home for his family before he should be called to his reward. His wife knew this was in his heart, in fact it was through her efforts as well as his, that a sum of money had been saved up until they should be ready to build the house.

One day toward the cool of the evening he said to his wife, "Let's go up on the hill and select a suitable place for the home. We have saved the money for that purpose and we had as well build it." There had been times in the past when Martha Scarborough had longed for a better home. On coming to the West they had at first lived in a dug-out, and later a frame house had been constructed. Although she took his arm and accompanied him to the place that had been selected for a home sometime before, she did not manifest very much interest in what was going on. He wondered why she was so indifferent, but asked no questions. On reaching the spot he said, "Here, wife, is the place I have selected for the home. I believe this is the most suitable location we can find. "

The good woman could stand it no longer; she pressed gently on his arm which caused him to turn his eyes toward her face. There was a light in it born of heaven, an expression which he knew came from a heart moved by some holy ambition. Her eyes were filled with tears as she looked up into his face. She was the first to speak, and this is what she said: "My dear, I appreciate your desire to build a home for me and the children, but I fear that if we use this money we have saved to build this home we shall never be able to send Lee to college." That is all she said, but Father Scarborough was overcome with the expression on his wife's face and the earnestness of her words-so much so that he made no reply, but turning at once in the direction of home the two walked more rapidly. Hardly a word was spoken until they had reached the house, and then the conversation was not about building a home.

Three days passed and a silent but intense struggle had gone on in the heart of George Scarborough. He did so much want to build the home for his dear Companion who had been so faithful to him through a long and happy married life. He wanted her to be more comfortably surrounded in her old age, and had thought of how she and the children would have a home should he be called away first, but now for the last three days other thoughts had occupied his mind. He recalled the story of the mother's prayer by the cradle when the baby was just three weeks old. He recalled the quiet hours with his wife when their children had been the subject of the conversation and how often her heart would turn to Lee and her desire that God would be pleased to call him to preach. Thoughts like these during the three or four days led Father Scar-borough to know well enough what his wife wanted done with the money which had been saved to build the home. He had not been able to sleep for almost a whole night and his wife had noticed his restlessness. When the morning came and breakfast was over he called his wife to his side and in a few quiet words he told her of his struggle for the past few days, of how he had longed to build her a home, and how now he had won the victory, and was willing for her to say what was to be done with the money which had been saved for that purpose. Placing her hand upon his arm and looking up into his face, she said quietly, but earnestly: "Then, my dear, the house will never be built, and Lee will go to college." To say that mother Scarborough was happy does not fully express her feelings. She was happy, satisfied, and hopeful. She felt now that in sending her boy to college she would in some way be helping God to answer her prayer, and that may be if she would do her best for her Lee, God would do the rest.

A year or more passed before Lee left home for college, but a happy mother was looking forward to the time and making ready for it. It was many years before Lee knew the story of why the house had not been built. His mother told him the story after he had entered the ministry.
One incident of Lee's student life at Baylor should not be passed over, as it must have almost certainly been used of God to fit the mind and heart of the boy for the great work to which He would later call him. Dr. B. H. Carroll, now President of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Waco during Lee's residence there as a student in Baylor University. On leaving home for the University, Lee's father obtained from him the promise that he would hear Dr. Carroll preach on each Sunday morning, and before the Sabbath closed write out for him a full report of the sermon. Accordingly Lee spent his Sunday afternoons, while a student in Baylor writing out a careful report of Dr. Carroll's Sunday morning sermons for his father. In this way he got his Seminary course in theology and homiletics before he was a preacher.

When Lee had completed his work at Baylor he entered Yale University to prepare for the practice of law. It was here that God put him in touch with the man-the pastor-who was to play the human element in every man's call to preach. Both Ananias and Barnabas must take a hand in helping Paul in getting started, and it may well be doubted whether any young man ever entered the ministry without the aid of the human element. John Jasper, the wonderful negro preacher of Richmond, Va., used to say that God and "Marse" Sam Hargrove called him to preach. In the case of Lee Scarborough God had ordained that Edwin M. Poteat, then pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in the city of New Haven, should furnish the human element. The life and sermons of this noble pastor, together with a quiet talk in his study, brought Lee to have neither doubts nor fears in his heart as to his duty. He would preach the Gospel. The struggle in the deep of his heart, lasting for weeks, the giving up of the cherished ambition to be a lawyer, and his final surrender to do God's will, is passed over without discussion, because words fail us when an attempt is made to describe the struggle and victories of the human heart when God is calling to the high and sacred duty of preaching His everlasting Gospel. Let it suffice to say that from the moment that he said yes to Jesus his love and devotion to his cause has been strong and aggressive. Is it not always true that the intensity of the service for the Master is measured by the depth and comprehensiveness of the surrender?

Lee's first thought was that his precious mother must know of his decision. The letter that went to her telling her the story of his surrender to preach, and the effect it had upon this waiting and praying, yet believing mother, is too sacred to be described here. It must be left to the imagination of the reader. Suffice it to say that when the letter came her voice went up to God in praise and thanksgiving, and was heard not only on her own ranch, but by more than one of the neighbors. George Scarborough was not a man of great emotion, but he possessed elements of character that made him strong and at the same time lovable. Lee had inherited many of his father's noble qualities. It was not without a great deal of joy that the father thought of his boy's early home coming, and coming home, too, a preacher.

It had been known for sometime by the people of the town of Abilene that Lee would return home soon a preacher. Of course, it was nobody but "Lee" with the boys, and most others. They knew, of course, that he had decided to preach, but while they believed in him as a fine young man, they had an idea that a good prospect for a lawyer had been spoiled to make a poor preacher. Dr. R. T. Hanks was the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Abilene at that time, and it was at his invitation that Lee was to preach his first sermon in his church. Lee's father and mother lived at Abilene then.
An amusing incident occurred at the church on the Sunday morning Lee preached his first sermon. According to the announcement by the pastor he was in his place in the church the first Sunday morning after he reached home. As his own boy would preach that morning Father Scarborough took a seat some three or four benches from the front that he might get a good view of the young preacher. When Lee was well into the discourse, and when it was clear to all that he had the situation well in hand, and that the good Spirit of God was with him, a good woman who sat just in front of the father, said softly to the woman by her side: "He's surpassing his father, isn't he?" The father heard the remark of the woman but there was no jealousy in his heart; he was happy. He leaned forward just a little toward the woman, and in a suppressed voice said: "He ought to beat me, he is standing on my shoulders." Lee was too deeply interested in his discourse to know that those words were passed between the good woman and his father, but a hearty laugh was indulged by him when later his father related the incident to him. The sermon over and the company dismissed, the people began to depart for their homes. There was one scripture that kept ringing in their ears as they walked: "There came a man sent from God," A new day had come to the little western town. Lee Scarborough, one of their own lads, had been called of God to preach.

The young people claimed a part of Lee's time that afternoon, but in a modest home in the town sat two aged people. It had been the happiest day of their lives. They had been too happy to talk very much. It was the mother who spoke first: Moving close to her husband's side and laying her hand on his arm she said in soft tones: "My dear, I have been thinking all day, and especially while our boy was preaching this morning, of the house you wanted to build for me just a few years ago. I remember how I got in your way, and how the money for which you had worked so hard to build me a home went for the education of our boy, whom we heard preach his first sermon today. I remember, too, something of the struggle you had over giving up the idea of building the home. Now tell me, are you satisfied and happy when you think of the house that was never built?” He lifted her close to his heart she felt a hot tear fall upon her cheek. A few moments passed and pressing her still closer to his breast, he said: "My dear I did so much want to build you a home, but if the amount of money had been a hundred times what it was I would be satisfied and happy today if every dollar of it had gone into the preparation of our boy to preach the Gospel. Houses and lands are all right but I know today that they have little value compared with the education and training of our children for the work to which God has called them. How thankful I am today that we made the sacrifice to equip our dear boy for the exalted work to which God has called him.

Dear Reader, it may not be your son that God will call to preach. Paul had no sons in the flesh, but he called Timothy his spiritual son, and trained him for the work of the ministry. Money, houses, lands stocks and bonds are all right in their place, but when young men called of God to preach, need training for their exalted work these perishable things should readily be used for that purpose. Are there young preachers today that need to be equipped for their work? Is God calling on us to build great Seminaries and colleges where hundreds and thousands of young men may assemble in the coming years and be trained for the great work to which God has called them? Let us do it unstintingly and with all our might, and God will abundantly bless each of us in the performing of it, and its power and influence will reach around the world. The most far reaching investment in the world is an investment in the heart and life of a God-called consecrated preacher Prayers, sympathy and money put into them will go far to bringing in the Kingdom of our Redeemer.

 

“The House That Was Never Built” by Charles T. Ball is reprinted in its entirety from L.R. Scarborough’s chapter of the same title in his book Recruits for World Conquests, published by Fleming H. Revell Company, 1914.

 

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