Billy Graham's Hope

Whew!
It's been a busy week.
Thus the reason I haven't posted since Monday...

But more than all the little things going on in my little life, I am fixated on the Homegoing of Billy Graham on Wednesday.
Perhaps you saw Kathy Lee Gifford respond to it on Megyn Kelly's show. (If you didn't watch it here.)
Chances are you've seen this quote, “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.”
If you have spent any amount of time with your eyes and ears open over the past 48 hours, I'm sure you have seen and heard story after story of this man's faith and the hope he has in Jesus.
I know I have!

And as I am taking it all in I have one prayer:
That God will use Billy Graham's death as significantly as He used his life.
I cannot begin to imagine how many souls were saved - how many people found new life in Christ - through the ministry of Billy Graham. It's staggering.
But now that we find ourselves so frequently reeling in pain and outrage at the senseless deaths of terror and mass shootings around us, I wonder if the beauty of Billy Graham's death might lead even more people to eternal life.
See? We're so accustomed to pain and sorrow when we think of death. And even though tears have been shed by many over Billy Graham's passing, the overwhelming story is of a faithful son being called Home to his Father where he will surely hear HIM say, Well done, My good and faithful servant.
It's a story of fulfillment.
Of a man finally reaching that for which he has been longing his entire life here on earth.
It is reunion and joy and holy celebration.
And in the midst of the pain we experience in this world, I pray many will hear Billy Graham's story - and will know there is hope. His name is JESUS and He came to earth from heaven. Sent by the Father to take on the sin of the world. Jesus lived a sinless life and died in our place to pay the penalty for our sin. He was buried, and God raised Him from the dead, and brought Him back to heaven where Jesus currently sits with God on His throne preparing a place for His children. Now everyone who confesses their sin, repents, and receives the gift of salvation God offers us through Jesus no longer has to fear death.
Oh, friends, our death on earth is NOT the end of life. Because of Jesus - our death on earth can be the beginning of eternal life in heaven. That is the hope onto which Billy Graham held.
That is the hope God holds out to each of us.
If you have questions about this hope and how it can be yours, please leave a comment or send me an email. I would LOVE to talk with you about it more.