On meeting ‘America’s Pastor’
Tears made my eyes so blurry that I could barely see the road as I drove down the Broadway Extension that Sunday night in June 2003.
I had filed my last story from Billy Graham’s Mission Oklahoma City evangelistic outreach in downtown Oklahoma City and was headed home.
The evangelist’s sermon had touched my heart so much that I had to call my oldest son.
“It’s me, your Mama,” I said when I heard his voice on the other end of the line.
“I’m sorry, Mama,” he said, simply. “I know. Me too,” I said.
Graham had preached about Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son — Scripture I’d heard many times before. Yet, somehow his message had just the right tone that pricked my stony heart.
I’d had a falling out with my then-teenage son and was angry at him. In the back of my mind, I knew I needed to open up the lines of communication again but unforgiveness kept me from doing it.
Graham said the prodigal son, like many young people, wanted to “do his own thing, eventually leaving home to pursue a life without his father’s counsel.
“He didn’t just want to go away; he wanted to get lost,” Graham said.
Later, as the preacher told the story, when riotous living had led to a lowly job feeding hogs, the son “realized there was an alternative to this kind of life, and decided to go home.”
Looking out into the silent crowd, Graham said, “You can come home. You can come home to God . ... You’ve lived a life that somehow has failed but you can come home tonight.”
Graham emphasized that God would not fail to accept anyone who, like the prodigal son, turned or returned to Him with a repentant heart.
“We give every person an opportunity here to take a step of repentance toward God. He’s not waiting to condemn you, to judge you. He’s waiting to kiss you, to say ‘I love you.’”
As I heard Graham preach, I saw the prodigal son in my own son but then I also saw myself as a prodigal, as well. I was doing my own thing by being stubborn like a small child and I had no peace about it.
And one thing I knew — Graham had peace.
He exuded it when I met him a few days before he stepped out onto the Ford Center stage for the first night of his evangelistic outreach.
The evangelist had invited me to interview him for a story preceding the event. I was a little nervous but that all faded away when I entered the room where Graham sat.
Describing it to several church friends later, I said he had an aura about him that strongly suggested that he was at peace with God and man. When I think about that interview all those years ago, I still feel the same way.
I had a list of questions and he was gracious enough to expound on each one at length. No “yes” or “no” answers. Graham wanted to share as much as possible in the allotted time that we had. He seemed to know that people were very curious about him and his ministry as he began to get older.
I approached the biggest question of the night as delicately as possible.
“Do you think this will be your last mission?” I asked.
Graham was extremely gracious. I’m pretty sure he had expected the question.
He said he didn’t know but God knew. And that, of course, was all that mattered.
I was a little over a year into my stint as religion editor for The Oklahoman when Graham came
to Oklahoma City.
Covering his outreach and meeting him was a highlight of my thenfledgling religion beat career — and it remains so to this day. His message of faith on that last night brought me peace that resulted in positive longlasting consequences for me and my family.
It was truly an honor to meet him, hear him preach in person and write about his outreach for The Oklahoman.
It truly was.