February 21, 2018

The Day Billy Graham Saw Jesus

How different the response of believers to the death of their heroes from that of everyone else on this earth.

Our jaded and spiteful world is often brought together by tragedy...by death.

In recent years, a great number of cultural giants

(who revolutionized their industries and changed the world)

have died.

Whether these icons entered the eternal by way of old age, overdose, or a broken heart, the world weeps...

and mourns and curses the year that took them.

American actresses,

revolutionary musicians,

misunderstood artists

...they all have a following.

They’ve all impacted lives. And when they leave this earth, those who believed in them cry,

“Oh, how the world is slightly more void of hope without them.”

With our simple, earthly minds we remember how young they were, how it couldn’t have been time yet for them to go...how they had left fingernail marks in the fabric of their youth - clinging and denying…

And society weeps. How can we live without them?

On February 21, 2018,

Billy Graham left this earth for Home…

and believers everywhere... rejoiced.

Those who had followed his leadership

put their small feet

inside his crater-like spiritual footprint…

and took up the challenge of the baton he had left.

The Heaven-hungry of us envied his triumphant entry through the eternal Gates. We imagined Billy Graham being ushered into the Throne Room as Jesus ran to him - robes flying - to welcome His good and faithful servant.

The world-weary of us smacked our lips at the thought of the relief of the Finish Line

...especially for one who had given all there was to give in order to run the Race well.

So as believers across the world lived out this ordinary, extraordinary

Wednesday in February,

we did not weep,

we did not despair or dwell on some “lost hope”.

We did not curse the year 2018.

No,

we spent a few moments thinking of a great man that followed a much Greater Man;

we received the calling of our generation

about the big shoes now ready to be filled;

and we smiled up at the sky at the thought of Jesus... and Billy Graham... together at last.

”Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.” - Billy Graham