Billy’s Casket

This week was different.  A Christian soldier who spent his life on a crusade of love retired.  He went to be with his Lord and Saviour.  He was 99 years old and an amazing example of sheer determination. But he was more than that.  He was the genuine article.  A man who flat out told you that he was a sinner.  He didn’t avoid excuse-free apology and he learned from his mistakes.  He knew that he had one job.  He wasn’t in it for the glitz, the gold or the girls.  He was in it for the Great Commission.  He was a simple man.  This is why he is buried in a $200 plywood casket alongside his awesome wife Ruth who was waiting to greet him on the other side.

From the Washington Post this week:

“Graham’s casket, like much else about his funeral, was planned by the pastor long before his death. Two simple, $200 plywood caskets were made for Graham and his late wife, Ruth, who died in 2007, by inmates of Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana, a prison with a longstanding history of brutality and racial tension. The group of incarcerated men who built the caskets, a group who found faith in prison, was led by Richard Liggett, who was serving a life sentence for second-degree murder (Liggett also died in 2007 shortly after the Grahams’ coffins were completed).  According to the Washington Post, Graham had requested that his and his wife’s caskets be made by prisoners at the penitentiary after preaching there in 2005, a request that a prison warden later described as providing prisoners with the “the most profound” opportunity to celebrate their faith.  According to the Billy Graham Association, no upgrades or improvements were made to the casket after Graham’s death, at Graham’s request.”

He wanted to take the simple Gospel, “Jesus saves” to the world.  To anyone who would listen.  He was diagnosed with Parkinson in 1993.   And he just kept right on going.  Billy Graham loved God and he loved people.  I bought the time magazine in 1993 with Billy on the cover and the headline was “A Christian in Winter.”  There in that magazine article they talked about his Parkinson’s diagnosis and how this would mean the end of his storied career.  But it wasn’t. Not even close.  When Billy continued to talk about Jesus in the film The Cross (you can watch it here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NcIWnaXiJLk) he was 95 years old.  He could barely talk with that broken body and voice exerting Herculean effort to do it.  But he loved that message with all his heart and he spoke it with such conviction.  That film changed lives.

My dad came to faith in Christ watching Billy on a little black and white TV in the ‘60s.  Because of that the course of our lives changed.  Our address changed from hell to heaven.  Our life went from pursuing temporary things to chasing eternal things.  The only things that are going to last for eternity are God, God’s Word, people and angels.  The angels chose sides millennia ago.  People still have a chance to choose eternal life as long as they have breath.  That is why Billy went nuts telling as many people as he could that Jesus loved them.  That He died to pay for the sins of the whole world.  That the door to life was Jesus and that everyone was welcome.

His detractors, some of them my fellow pastors, didn’t like the fact that Billy was so inclusive.  But the way that Billy sees Christ now affirms that Billy was right.  Because the Jesus who welcomed him to glory the other day still bore the healing wounds upon his hands and feet and side.  Those wounds are there for all eternity to say that ALL who call upon the Name of Jesus WILL be saved.  Those nail scars mean that thieves hanging on their last breath, those who haven’t got it all together, those who screw up daily and those who are feeling lost can all run into the open arms of Jesus Christ—no matter who they are.  The words of the song that was sung at every Billy Graham crusade say it way better than I am.

Just as I am, without one plea
But that Thy blood was shed for me
And that thou bidst me come to Thee
O Lamb of God I come

Just as I am though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a count
Fightings and fears within, without
O Lamb of God I come, I come

Just as I am you will receive
Will welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve
Because You promise—I believe
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

I can’t wait to hang out with Billy and go for a hike and enjoy a meal and sing a hymn.  See you on the other side Billy!

‘Nuff Said.