WACKY WEDNESDAY WISDOM- I'm Glad He Didn't Turn Out to be a Baseball Player

     As I entered the room, my starstruck eyes couldn't help but gaze from left to right in wonder. A chill ran up my spine as I tried to keep my cool and pretend I wasn't overwhelmed by the moment. I was in the presence of greatness. I was standing where famous people had stood and conversed. Then my host told me and my friends with me something I'll never forget: "The boss says you can have whatever you wish." The children receiving free candy in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory couldn't have been near as excited as we were at that moment.
     As you may know from reading my past columns, I have a bucket list of things I wish to accomplish before the curtain closes on my time on this earth. Some are still within my reach. Others have become impossible due to circumstances beyond my control. Such is the case this week. One of my goals was to shake hands with Billy Graham during my lifetime. That will not happen.
     I've read that Dr. Graham grew up loving baseball, and at one point decided he might like to make a living someday as a big league baseball player. Fortunately for the world, Billy wasn't all that good at baseball. So he moved on. And the rest is history.
     I grew up idolizing Dr. Graham. He had a way of presenting the Gospel like no other. He had a unifying effect not only on people, but also nations. He was humble. He could have been financially rich, but chose to live modestly. He was faithful and loyal to his wife Ruth, to the point that he made it his policy not to be alone with a female other than her.
     Dr. Graham would not like me calling him my idol. He didn't like idols. But to me, he wasn't the kind of idol you worship, but the kind you aspire to emulate as much as possible. He was kind, gentle, and patient. Most of all, he was bold and unashamed to share what he believed with anybody, anywhere.
     So when one of my friends my senior year in college invited a group of us on a weekend retreat to Montreat, North Carolina to stay at the home of an employee of Billy Graham's, I jumped at the opportunity. The employee was a family friend of my classmate and was a personal assistant to Billy and Ruth Graham.
     We stayed on the floor in sleeping bags a few doors down from the Graham residence. Billy and Ruth were out of town that weekend but at one point on Saturday, the assistant took us to Dr. Graham's huge personal library. And to our amazement, he told us Dr. Graham had said we could have any books we wanted, hoping that they would be a blessing to us and others with whom we would share their wisdom.
     I was speechless. Eventually I dug in and started thumbing through book after book, some written by Dr. Graham and others written by Christian writers Dr. Graham admired. I ended up with four books, all of which I have read cover to cover (some more than once) since. Count it all Joy by Grady Wilson, Turtle on a Fencepost by Alan Emery, Mr. Jones, Meet the Master by Peter Marshall, and a biography of Dr. Graham by John Pollock were my choices.
     Later that evening, some of Dr. Graham's personal friends came by to visit our group and talk with us. I hit it off with a leader in Dr. Graham's church everyone referred to as Deacon Jones. At one point I pulled him off to the side and began to ask him every question this college kid could think of concerning Christianity and faith. We stayed up deep into the night talking- mainly him talking and me listening. As a personal friend, he spent a lot of time with Dr. Graham and knew most of the viewpoints and opinions of the greatest evangelist who ever lived. He shared personal story after personal story about Dr. Graham and how there was no duplicity between his public image and his personal life. It was a life changing experience for me.I didn't shake Dr. Graham's hand, but through his friend I felt like I got a private glimpse into the heart and soul of one the men I admire most. I consider that evening as one of the most significant moments in my life as far as the development of my own personal beliefs.
     Billy Graham passed away last week. But as he told us in the past, don't believe for one minute that he's dead. He's more alive than ever. 2 Corinthians 5:8 says that for a Christian, to be apart from the body is to be present with the Lord. I can only imagine the celebration that occurred when he arrived at the pearly gates. Which is why there were no sad faces at the Billy Graham Library this past Monday when my wife and I went to pay our last respects to the greatest evangelist of all time. Did I call him that already? Well, it deserves to be said more than once. All the workers there were smiling and cordial. There were no hushed tones. Folks laughed out loud, shook each other's hands, and patted each other on the back. The mood was upbeat and joyous. 
     One of Dr. Graham's grandsons was there near Dr. Graham's closed casket, shaking hands and thanking folks like us for coming to visit. The casket we stood beside would be gazed upon by a former President just a few hours later. After whispering a short prayer, I stood next to the casket for a moment or two and realized I had come oh so close to fulfilling my dream of shaking the hand of this incredible human being. I may not be shaking his hand, I thought, but at least I am in his presence. That will do.
     Then it hit me. I wasn't in his presence. The body that lay in the casket a few feet away was not Dr. Graham. He was long gone- enjoying the streets of gold with his wife Ruth and all the saints who had gone before him. I smiled.
     Thank God Almighty that William Franklin Graham, Jr. was an average baseball player. He may not have made the major leagues, but he still managed to fill stadiums with people who came to see him do his thing. And the world is a better place as a result. Some glorious day in the future, if I am blessed to be in his presence in the hereafter, I will shake his hand and thank him for the books from his library. Then after that, maybe I'll teach him how to hit a curveball.