WS Chronicle

By Busta Brown

The faith and patience of Sterling Glass have been tested beyond measure. Yet, his integrity, humility and unwavering faith is stronger than ever. Sterling’s warm and positive spirit is infectious. When you read his testimony, you’re going to ask yourself: Is my faith strong enough to have endured this? 

Like myself, Sterling is a diabetic, so his wife, Jamie, strongly suggested that he have a diabetic eye exam. “I knew I had diabetes, but I was trying to control it. I had normal situations happen, but nothing major.” 

As they say, by the side of every great man, there’s a great woman, and Sterling’s wife of 21 years was persistent about keeping her man alive and well. “I listened to my wife and decided to go visit a diabetic eye specialist.” Sterling walked into the doctor’s office with 20/20 vision, but when he came out, his entire world turned dark. 

Up until then, Sterling’s vision for his future was looking bright. He grew up surrounded by an amazingly talented family. “My father was a quartet singer my whole life. My dad and mom had a family group. When I was about 12 years old, my dad had me play drums for the group.” 

Years later his family played with the likes of Pastor Shirley Caesar, The Williams Brothers, Paul Porter, and The Canton Spirituals. Life was looking good for Sterling and his talented family. But after losing his mother in 2003, the streets got the best of him. “I went off into a different lifestyle. You know, I sort of got out of the church and went to the streets to find comfort and relief from the hurt that I was feeling. I stayed in the streets for 11 years, and life started happening, you know. I had met lots of women and I started having children. I saw what the other side of life was about – the side that my parents warned me about. I started experiencing, you know, trouble with the law. So now, you know, after I’m out here in this lifestyle, I’m actually singing about things that I’ve seen. My songs became real to me. That’s when the bell rang, and I said, I wanna touch people and I want to take their hurt away.” 

Between local gigs and touring with a band, he maintained his 3rd shift job in Greensboro. Things were going well. He was in his 30s, happily married with kids, a good job and a promising music career. 

And then the dark journey began. “I started having trouble with my eyes, and that made me really examine my life and where I had been and the things I had done. I knew that I wanted a different lifestyle, you know, I wanted something different for my wife and my kids. I wanted something different for myself. My songs became real to me, and I didn’t see the world in the same light that I saw the world before.” 

His first visit to an eye doctor went very well. “The doctor told me, ‘Man, you got 20/20 vision. Perfect vision.’ But he said, ‘I want you to go see a diabetic eye doctor because I don’t do diabetic eye exams.’ And I’m like, no, I got 2020 vision, I’m good and I don’t need to see anybody else.”

But eventually Sterling agreed to see a diabetic eye doctor. That was the visit that would change Sterling’s life forever. During his visit with the diabetic eye doctor, he asked Sterling if he’d experienced headaches. “I said, yeah, I’ve been having about two or three migraines per day. But you know, I’ve been going back and forth to the doctor for years and they were saying that it’s my sinuses.” The doctor said, ‘Well, that’s a sign of diabetic eye damage and that you may have bleeding behind your eyes,’ so he said he needed to check and see. After the exam, he came back into the room. He said, ‘Mr. Glass, you need to have emergency surgery, like ASAP.’ I said, “Man, what are you talking about?” He said, ‘You have so much severe bleeding behind your eyes that you could wake up tomorrow and your sight will be gone.’ I said, “Man, there’s no way! I was told that I have perfect vision. I’m not having any issues.” He said, ‘Well, the headaches you’ve been having are because you have bleeding behind your eyes and the blood has nowhere to go. So, it’s creating these migraines.’”

Sterling consulted with his wife, children, and Byron, a young man he met at a church ministry event. He and his wife took Byron into their home, and he became like a son. With so much responsibility and accountability on the line, he agreed to have the surgery. Two weeks later, Sterling returned to the doctor’s office to remove the patches. “Man and it’s like I’m looking through a waterfall. And I’m like, what the crap is wrong with my eyes! OH wow!

The doctor asked me what I was saying. I’m saying it’s like a waterfall, man. Something’s wrong! So, he says, ‘Let me go back in and let me see, because everything looks right from what I’m looking at,’” said Sterling. 

Two weeks later, the doctor took the patches off and it was totally black, “I couldn’t even see their hands. And I’m like, this is not happening to me. I mean this is all in the matter of like four weeks. To go from 20/20 vision to zero in four weeks. I’m like, this did not happen to me.”

The doctor tried his best to comfort Sterling, but as you can imagine, that was an extremely difficult task. He told him, ‘Mr. Glass, I’ve done everything I can. I’ve looked everything over. I can’t figure out what went wrong. You know you don’t owe me anything. But what I’m going to do for you, because I feel so bad and I couldn’t sleep this whole week, so I’m gonna send you to my teacher who taught me. If anybody can fix it, she can.’ 

“So, I left his office with a grain of hope,” said Sterling. He reluctantly agreed to take the doctor up on his suggestion, and with great reason. Sterling said during his visit with the new doctor, she looked at everything, and said, “Mr. Glass, I’m not going to sugarcoat anything with you. Your eyes look like a war zone.” I said, “No! He’s the only person that’s ever been in my eyes. So, if anything’s wrong, he’s done it.” She said, ‘I can’t say that at all, but what I can tell you is, I can’t do anything to help you with your left eye.’”

I wanted to go back to his office and tell that male doctor, “I don’t wanna hurt you, but I want you to tell me what I’m gonna do now. How do I go sit down with my four sons that I used to go play basketball with me? My four sons depend on me to teach them how to drive. How do I go tell them that I’m stuck like this for the rest of my life? How do I go to my wife that finds me attractive and I provided for, that she must provide for the household now that I can’t work anymore?” 

As Sterling was speaking, all I could think about was how this could have gone very badly for that doctor if it were someone other than Sterling. It only takes a second to make an unwise decision that could cost you the rest of your life. And it takes faith the size of a mustard seed to give you the wisdom to make a wise decision. Thank God for grace and mercy during our state of emotional distress. 

Things continued to get worse for Sterling. Due to his vision issues, the band he played with for years dropped him, family and friends became distant because he was the go-to person when everyone needed money, a ride, moral support, and love. Now that the table has turned, love and support are unreciprocated. 

And now the new doctor suggested she do a procedure on his right eye, “Busta, she told me she wanted to prevent the same thing from happening to my right eye. ‘We’re going to take the steps that the other doctor should have taken. We’re gonna start with injections in your right eye for a couple of weeks.’

“So, they take this needle and they stick it in my eyeball, and they inject this fluid into my eye. Man, that was so painful!” said Sterling, while remaining humble and calm. Unfortunately, the procedure caused blindness in his right eye as well. He reached out to a law firm in Greensboro, but they advised him that it would be extremely difficult to find a doctor in North Carolina that would testify against one of their own. He applied for and was denied disability benefits, and now his wife and his godson, Byron, are the providers for the household.  

As Sterling continued sharing his journey, he remained cool and calm. He’s become my newest hero!  He continued, “I kept trying to see the good in all this bad. My wife stood strong by my side. My godson quit his job. He said, ‘Man, everywhere you go, I’m going. I’m gonna be with you every step of the way.’ So, every doctor’s appointment, he would take me because my wife couldn’t afford to miss work because she was the one paying the bills now. This was tough, Busta! I thought about suicide. At that point, I’m saying to myself, nobody wants me. Nobody wants to be around me. I’m not even talking to my wife, because I’m feeling like, how can she still love me? I’m messed up now. But she and Byron were there every day with me. Byron was showing me so much love, but I would even be mean to him. I would … I would treat him so badly. I would just tell him, get away from me, man. Just leave! Just get away from me.”

Byron eventually left. “I woke up one morning and I’m calling his name and he’s gone. He didn’t say, ‘I’m sorry, man.’ Nothing! He’s been with me every day, every second of the day. Now my godson and best friend is gone. At that moment I thought my life was over. I had my wife, and I had my kids, but he was the one taking care of me. So, I felt like life was completely over. I shut down. I ended up going to a mental hospital. I was gonna commit suicide. When I was in the hospital, this older woman said to me, ‘Son, there’s nothing wrong with you. But you are depressed,’ she said, ‘I want you to go home and get on your knees and don’t get up until you hear from God,’” said Sterling. 

He did just that! The singer and musician had a conversation with God. “I left, and I came home, and I got on my knees. And that night I said, God, if there’s something that you have for me, and I don’t have to die, and I can live through this and I can survive through this, God, I need to know,” said a passionate Sterling Glass. 

God spoke! “So, I had already been texting Joey Williams from the Blind Boys of Alabama, but I hadn’t got a response. After my conversation with God, Joey calls me and he said, ‘Sterling, what’s up buddy?’ I said, ‘Hey, man.’ He said, ‘Are you ready? …We’re gonna fly you out to Alabama for a meet and greet, an audition with The Blind Boys of Alabama.’
“Now mind you, I was just about to take my life,” said Sterling. But then the husband and father of six tapped into his once unwavering faith and it paid off big time. You’ve heard the saying, he’s an on-time God. Yes, he is! “So, I jump up and I run, and I tell my wife. I said, “You’re not gonna believe this! I just got a call from the Blind Boys of Alabama. They’re flying me out to Muscle Shoals, Alabama.” She started screaming, ‘Yes, yes!’ She was like, ‘You’re joking. You’re just trying to make me feel better.’ You must understand that it wasn’t just me, but my whole family was going through this dark journey with me. So here is God showing me that everything is about to change for the better. Joey is giving me the flight information, man, and I’m like, this ain’t real, man. This is not happening. This is not real!”

This dream became a reality when they flew Sterling to Alabama and introduced him to inductees to the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Alabama Music Hall of Fame. The Blind Boys of Alabama are also credited with soundtracking the Civil Rights Movement. The Blind Boys received their first Grammy nomination in 1972 before taking home Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album in 2002 for “Spirit of the Century.” 

As Sterling and the group were getting into the van, it became even more real, “Their tour manager, Chuck Schillers, looks at me as we are getting into the van, and says, ‘Get your stuff ready because you’ll be back soon.’ I said, are you serious?” So, I go home, and three weeks later I get the phone call: you’re coming to Birmingham for your first gig with the Blind Boys of Alabama. When I go and I sit down at an autograph signing and take pictures, and when I’m going through the airport, people recognize me. I know that God can take absolutely nobody and make them somebody. I know that I can tell these young guys, it doesn’t matter if you dropped out of high school. It doesn’t matter what the situation is. God can turn your situation around.”

At the 2024 Grammy Awards, The Blind Boys of Alabama won their 6th Grammy. It was Sterling’s first as a member of the legendary singing group, “When I heard the words, ‘for Best Roots Gospel Album, the Grammy goes to Echoes of the South. The Blind Boys of Alabama!’ I felt like wow! Man! I can’t put it into words,” said a very excited and proud Sterling Glass. In total they have been nominated for 16 Grammys. 

The evening of the 2024 Grammy Awards, The Blind Boys of Alabama were introduced by The Cosby Show’s Malcolm Jamal Warner. They gave the audience a dynamic performance. The blessings continued to flow. They were guests on The View. “I met my favorite actress, Whoopi Goldberg! She hugged me and kissed me. It was amazing! I have pictures of us on The View.” 

He also met music legend Lionel Richie, and there are many others. I asked Sterling to share his last conversation with God, “Thank you! I’m saying to God thank you. I’m saying to God, thank you not only for the Blind Boys of Alabama, but for giving me purpose and direction. Because at this point God has shown me that I took you through all of that, to show you that there’s always hope in me. And if you believe and you trust me, I’ll take you out every time. There is hope! If he can do it for me, he can do it for you. I know God is real! I grew up in church, so I knew that. Everybody said God is real, but I needed to know it for myself. Now I know God is real because he took somebody that felt like they were nothing and he made me something.”  

My Phenomenal Person of the Week is Sterling Glass.