My Connection with Billy Graham

In these days of unemployment and job searching I have some extra time on my hands and so I again came across a document written by my Godmother that she wrote about her life. It was a fascinating read as I only knew her from when I was a baby and living in the UK, from her letters that she regularly sent me, and from a visit when she came to the USA when I was 13. 

What is also fascinating to me is how small our world is...I've had the privilege of getting to know Ruth Graham as she is a member, along with her daughter and family, at our church here in Virginia. As it turns out, my Godmother's life and faith was greatly impacted by the ministry of the great Evangelist Billy Graham, Ruth's father. For four months my Godmother sang with "The Haringay Crusade Choir." She had this to say about her experiences with the Billy Graham Crusade that went through her part of England in 1954. (Thanks to her daughter Mary for typing up my Godmother's hand written notes that she left about her life.)

 "Billy Graham hit town. A friend Ruth and I joined The Haringay Crusade Choir and over those 4 months we went to Haringay twice a week for the 4 months. Wonderful talks in the evening meetings - Gospel always preached with authority, every night different presentation but always same "just as I am" and blessed assurance and aw inspiring response as gentleness of the invitation to Jesus accompanied by many hundreds of people responding quietly to the message with counselors moving out quietly to join with the folk. Then there were brilliant follow-up classes which brought the scriptures alive. We fell in love with the whole American team-they were so full of grace."

In another paragraph my Godmother wrote the following:

"We couldn't go every night - but we committed to going 2-3 times a week in the evenings. It was a great turning point in my life and enormous privilege to be part of a 1000 strong choir led by Cliff Barrows - he'd give us a note - then talk about how he wanted it sung - then given the signal and no further note we'd all come in together in the various harmonies. Then seeing so many come forward in answer to the message by Billy Graham. Our suspicions about Americans were soon allayed. Two of those who came forward one night was Tommy and some parishioners and 2 others were John Perry and Gay (aged 16 - later his wife - who didn't know each other then). Later to be my vicar in St. Andrews Church Chorleywood, now a Bishop."

Our God is truly sovereign! Not only did the Holy Spirit use Billy Graham, and his Crusades, to bring the Gospel to these folks. But Mr. Graham was also God's matchmaker as seen here with John Perry and Gay and ultimately with my Godmother, Doreen, who married "Tommy." Then these folks went on to do Gospel ministry in the church and with parachurch organizations like Ellel Ministries. God truly has a plan and a will for our lives. Awesome!!

As I was reading the document I found it funny how "suspicious" she was of these "American Evangelists" as she mentioned this a couple of times. Obviously the Lord won her heart over to Himself, and to Mr. Graham and his friends. 

From these notes it was clear that she loved to sing, especially "Thine be the Glory" and other great hymns of the faith. She was also impressed with the "direct preaching of the Gospel, presented straight, passionate yes but not soft or soppy. People who came forward were left in no doubt why they left their seats. ... Got to know Jesus more deeply in 4 months. Choir and counselors invited to attend special Bible classes before the meetings - wonderful food for a would be disciple & instructions on how to follow up those who made decisions."

Again, God is truly sovereign! My Godmother was greatly impacted by Billy Graham in 1954 and she then played a considerable role in my faith development over the years. I then came to Christ at a Billy Graham Youth Crusade at the Cleveland Municipal Stadium in 1989. And now I have been serving and attending the same church with Billy Graham's daughter and Granddaughter and her family. It is such a blessing to see how God weaves our stories of faith together! What a small world we live in!

Am I that generous?

As I finished reading in 1 Chronicles 28 and 29, for our Daily Walk Bible readings, I was amazed at how generous King David was to the building project of the Temple for the LORD. When you do the math it is pretty amazing!!

Using numbers I found online Silver is worth $23.50 per ounce. According to my math (which was never a strong point of mine) there is 16 ounces per pound and 2000 pounds per ton and David gave 262 tons of silver. That means he gave 524,000 pounds of silver, or 8,384,000 ounces of silver which is worth, in 2013 dollars, $197,024,000.00 dollars. Over ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY SEVEN MILLION dollars he gave in silver!

Using the same math process for gold, valued at $1,131.00 per ounce (!), he gave 112 tons of gold or 224,000 pounds of gold or 3,584,000 ounces of gold which would be valued at $4,053,504,000.00. That's over $4 BILLION in 2013 dollars of gold that he gave!

These figures don't even include all the bronze, iron, wood, precious gems and cut stone/marble that he also gave (1 Chr. 29:2-5)! And he gave WILLINGLY because he knew that "everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O LORD...wealth and honor come from you alone...everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us!" (1 Chr. 29:11-14).

Do we have the same willing spirit to give to the LORD, and to His work, that David and the nation of Israel had (1 Chr. 29:6, 9)?

According to Barna's new study that came out on April 12th, only 12% of born-again Christians tithed in 2012! Meaning only 12% gave 10% of their income to a church or non-profit. 

It looks to me like we, myself included, have A LOT TO LEARN from the generous spirit of King David and the people of Israel!

Ski Trip at Whistler Blackcomb

Back in the Fall I realized that my really good friend from college would be graduating from his Ph.D program at the University of Washington and it hit me, "if I'm ever going to ski Whistler Blackcomb with him this has to be the winter!!" Check one off the bucket list because this was an EPIC trip! Plus, the timing couldn't have been better...little did I know when I made these plans back in the Fall that things at our church were going to "go south." So I was unemployed on April 1st and getting on a plane April 6th which was a perfect way to decompress and forget about all the hard stuff that happened back at home. Enough of the blah, blah...here are some pictures.

I landed at Sea-Tac on Saturday April 6th and enjoyed lunch, and a sample flight of beers, at West Seattle's Neighborhood Brewpub called Elliott Bay Brewery...so tasty. We then went back to Sea-Tac to pick up our other college buddy and then relaxed at the home of our host. That night we enjoyed some tasty apps as we cheered on Wichita State and Michigan in the Final Four...good times.

Sunday we headed up to Vancouver and met up with a friend of our host's who graciously led us on a speed walking tour of Vancouver.

Vancouver is an awesome and gorgeous city with so much racial diversity. Pictured above is the entrance to China Town where we enjoyed the sights, smells and tastes, especially of the Coconut Rolls. Below we enjoyed lunch at "Dunns Famous" where we dined on "Poutines," a Canadian favorite consisting of cheese curds, Dunns special gravy and Montreal smoked meat on top of french fries. Yummy!

After Vancouver, but before Whistler, we stopped at the beautiful Shannon Falls Provincial Park off of Highway 99. The massive amounts of water was breathtaking!

We then drove up to Whistler and got checked into our ski-in, ski-out condo on Blackcomb mountain. Though it was raining we enjoyed the pedestrian friendly village and seeing all the sights left from the 2010 Olympics.

Lured in by the sale rack on the front steps, and seeing the Halloween-esqe orange skinny jeans for $13.99, Joe Yahtzee and Sam Champion decided to put on a fashion show...which almost made us miss getting food at the grocery store. Never fear, we divided and conquered and then I complained how shredded cheese was $6+ a bag and ice cream was $7-9 a carton.

Monday was our first ski day and as you can see, it was a gorgeous blue-bird day! I'll be honest, I was pretty skeptical of the skiing at first because at the base of Blackcomb the snow was gone and flowers were blooming. But as we gained elevation in the gondola Spring turned to Winter and the skiing was a blast!

If you don't mind heights the Peak to Peak Gondola ride is AMAZING!! Only 4 lift towers hold this incredible span of sightseeing spectacle which extends 2.73 miles in total length. It sets World Records for the following: longest free span between lift towers (1.88 miles), and the highest point above the ground (1,430 feet). Mom, you would've hated it!

On Tuesday we skied in this...dense clouds and fog. It was insane, scary and intense all at the same time. On some trails they had markers on both sides so that you would stay on the trails and away from the cliffs. At times I literally felt like I was skiing in nothingness because I couldn't see the snow below me, I had no sense of anything in my peripheral vision and I couldn't see my expert skiing friend ahead of me. It was eery and my heart raced but it was a new challenge for sure!

Gotta love this view as we head into the clouds on the Peak to Peak Gondola.

The only thing below my ski boots is a thousand foot free fall.

 Some cool stats, but you better work on your conversion skills.

My Fischer Watea 84's begging to get back out there!

From the Peak to Peak Gondola, this is what the skiers look like far below.

So Monday was springlike conditions with lots of blue skies and sun. Then Tuesday was cold with dense clouds and fog and on Wednesday...it dumped. We were skiing in freshies and getting face shots of pow on many turns. All told there was at least a foot of new snow which made for some sweet floating. Below you can see the snow and wind going at it.

Here we are, loving life and being together. A great reunion!

On the drive back I captured this shot on Highway 99. If you have never been to B.C. you have to put it on your list because it is so gorgeous!

All in all, we had a FABULOUS time together! It was such a blessing and an encouragement to be with these two guys and to tell old stories, catch up on our current lives, and to make new memories. The Lord must have known this was what I needed because the fellowship, the scenery, the food and drink and the skiing did wonders for my battered soul!

"Thanks for being my friends!" :)

Blackcomb Lodge on Dwellable