What Billy Graham Means to Me

The real story of the Crusades is not in the great choirs, the thousands in attendance, nor the hundreds of inquirers who are counseled. The real story is in the changes that have taken place in the hearts and lives of people.

~Billy Graham

Salvation. That is the word that I think of when I hear Billy Graham's name. What an impact this humble, committed man had for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Possibly millions of souls were affected by his preaching of the simple Gospel of salvation. His level of commitment to the calling that the Lord placed upon his life was so great; he lived and moved and breathed the Gospel. He sacrificed everything for it. He was God's gift to our time. He was God's gift to my family. He was God's gift to me. 

My Mom came to know the Lord through a Billy Graham crusade. She came from a terribly broken background in many ways. But the Lord had His hand upon her even when she was a small girl. Her mother, who left the Catholic faith in order to marry my Italian Protestant grandfather brought her family of five to a little Baptist church in their small country Rhode Island town, giving them a glimpse of Who Jesus was. My Nana listened to sermons of J. Vernon McGee on the radio and herself hungered after a relationship with Jesus Christ, eventually coming to know Him as her Savior. 

And so the Lord was planting seeds in my Mom's heart even when she was a little girl, the time of Billy Graham's early ministry.  

Later, in her early 20's, my Mom experienced severe health issues. Listening to a Billy Graham crusade on television, she came to know the Lord. This was just a few years before I was born. 

Her life was transformed. My Mom, who had come from a broken background, who suffered from debilitating illness, became a born-again, devoted believer in Jesus Christ. Her life was completely changed. My Mom's coming to know the Lord had a profound impact upon our family and the ripples of her decision traveled to our extended family as well. 

Growing up, my Mom talked a lot about Billy Graham. We always received his Decision magazine in the mail.We knew how his ministry had impacted my Mom's life and she encouraged us to read books about Billy and his wife, Ruth. I remember being fascinated as a teenage girl by a book in my Mom's bookshelf detailing Ruth's life and her relationship with Billy Graham. And recently, the Lord has touched me in reading Billy Graham's mother's-Morrow Coffey Graham's small autobiography. 

I am so grateful for Billy Graham. For his life, for his commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for the legacy that he leaves through his children, many of who also serve the Lord. 

I am grateful. For the salvation that came to our family, for the Lord's hand upon this man's life, for his spiritual fervor and burning desire to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

This is a short tribute for a man whose life meant so much to me, to so many. It was difficult for me to process his death at first and it is still difficult for me to take it all in as his life in a very real way has been woven into mine indirectly. But at the same time that I feel sadness that this man is no longer a part of the world that I live in, I sense a deep joy and peace knowing that He is in a different "world," one that I am traveling to, one whose Builder and Maker is God, the One who wipes away every tear from our eyes. 

Billy Graham is there--in Heaven--with Jesus--what a thought! What a hope--the hope that Billy Graham faithfully preached for so many years and through his life and impact led many people to Heaven's gates. 

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for Billy Graham. Please raise up a new generation of men like him who will fearlessly preach the Gospel and bring many souls to the mercy seat of Christ, who are bold and unashamed. Revive Your church O Lord, and raise up committed men and women--committed wholeheartedly to the cause of Christ. 

Thank you, Lord for Billy Graham. For one whose life has meant so much to so many. For one whose life has meant so much to me. Thank you for his example, for his humility, for his strength. Thank You for taking him Home. And thank you for giving him to us. 

 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,

Who bring glad tidings of good things!"

~Romans 10:15 NKJV

God buries His workmen, but carries on His work.

~Charles Wesley

Books I highly recommend and believe will bless you in your walk with Jesus Christ:

• Ruth, A Portrait: The Story of Ruth Bell Graham
• Footprints of a Pilgrim
• A Time for Remembering
• Legacy of a Pack Rat
• It's My Turn
• They Call Me Mother Graham

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