World evangelist Billy Graham was taken into the presence of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Wednesday February 21, 2018. I did not know Billy Graham personally, but I shook his hand once after he spoke at a local church service.

However I did have the privilege of knowing members of his family while attending Calvary Church in Charlotte, NC. His parents were wonderful to us young people in the 1950’s. They were genuinely interested in us, knew each of us by name and prayed for us faithfully. I also knew his brother Melvin and his sisters Jean and Catherine and their spouses. I loved them all. They were all good people.

I learned that Billy Graham’s father and other Christian business men became concerned about the people of Charlotte, NC around 1934. They prayed and then decided to bring an evangelist to Charlotte to preach the gospel.

While praying together on the Graham farm for the evangelistic meeting, the Holy Spirit led them to pray that God would raise up a world evangelist, someone who could take the gospel to kings and queens, to presidents and prime ministers. They had no idea that the man God had in mind was a farm boy, Billy Graham, who was on the farm at the time they were praying. I heard this story from one of the attendees of the prayer meeting.

Fast forward some years. Billy Graham’s father died and Billy Graham came to Charlotte, NC to preach the funeral of his own father at Calvary Church. The Church was packed. I had to sit in the balcony to get a seat. I truly wondered what Billy Graham would say at his own father’s funeral.

What I can remember is that Bill Graham was full of joy and expressed confidence that his father was in the Presence of Jesus. He acknowledged the sadness of the moment, but at the same time exulted in the beauty, wonder and glory of heaven. I was astonished, a bit surprised, and yet comforted by this thirty minute burst of JOY!

I had been to funerals before and had heard preachers say that the deceased would go to heaven. But I had never seen a preacher so full of genuine joy and confidence because he knew that his father was, right at that moment, with Jesus. This was a great boost to my faith and I have never forgotten it.

The Bible tells us that, right now, Billy Graham is rejoicing with inexpressible joy and glorying in the Presence of Christ. He is reunited with his wife Ruth, his brother Melvin, his sister Catherine, and his parents. He is with his colleagues and friends who have gone before him. He is complete in Christ and HIS JOY IS FULL!

I offer my sincere and deepest sympathies to all the members of the Billy Graham family and to their close friends.