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If we were to follow in the footsteps of an ordinary man
who had one day been dramatically changed
by an extraordinary God, would we
believe those steps would journey from the rolling
fields of North Carolina to the steps of the White House
and beyond?
I just felt God was speaking to me.
And He said, I want to use you.
And I said, Lord, I'll go where you want me to go
and I'll be what you want me to be.
I'm yours.
Christ belongs to all people.
He belongs to the whole world.
His Gospel is for everyone, whoever you are.
He's one of the great evangelists
of our nation's history.
His crusades are legendary.
The size of his crowds were magnificent
throughout the years because of the message
and because of the messenger.
That's the beauty and the greatness
and the thrill of God's love.
The kind of person that a person in my position wants to know.
While preaching to millions around the world,
Billy Graham found himself being called upon many times
as God's ambassador to world leaders.
The ministry of Billy Graham as friend and counselor
to US presidents remains to this day unprecedented.
In 1950, Billy was asked to visit the White
House for the first time to meet with then President Harry S
Truman.
Soon after, every US president since World War II
found occasion and reason to call on the advice
and friendship of Billy Graham.
We need to pray for our president
and for those in authority.
The scriptures have told us he faces
tremendous responsibilities.
Lyndon Johnson wrote in a personal letter to Billy
Graham, "My mind went back to those lonely occasions
at the White House when your friendship helped
to sustain a president in an hour of trial.
No one will ever know how you helped to lighten my load
or how much warmth you brought into our house.
But I know."
Reverend William Billy Graham's untiring evangelism
has spread the word of God to every corner of the globe
and made him one of the most inspirational spiritual leaders
of the 20th century.
I think it's through him that I found myself
praying on more than a daily basis
to give me the wisdom to make decisions that would serve
God and be pleasing to Him.
Laura and I are honored to be able to come and pay
our respects to the Graham family.
And more importantly to be able to say goodbye
to a person who is influential in our lives
and influential in the lives of millions.
If there is such a thing as a humble shepherd of the Lord,
Billy Graham is that person.
I'm unbelievably blessed to have met him.
I also had the honor of bringing my mother and dad's greetings
to Franklin and the family.
Billy Graham and dad were great buddies.
I know he wished he could come too.
But his spirit and heart is here.
God bless Billy Graham.
I'm just one of millions, maybe hundreds of millions
of people who in their own way will find some way
to say thank you and goodbye to Billy Graham.
When I was 11 years old, 60 years ago,
my Sunday school teacher, a wonderful man
who drove a bread truck for his day job,
took me and another couple of kids in our class
to War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock,
Arkansas for Billy Graham's crusade.
I was so excited.
The year before Little Rock Central High School
had been integrated, the town and the state were in turmoil.
And the White Citizens' Council tried
to get Billy Graham to preach to a segregated audience.
And he said that God didn't see us that way.
And if that were going to be the rules,
he would have to cancel the crusade
and tell people why he did it.
And they folded quick.
And we had an unusually significant number
of African-Americans there that week
because they all knew too what stand he had taken.
And when he gave the invitation, hundreds
and hundreds and hundreds of people came down in tears
together.
It had a profound effect on me.
I never knew if I'd ever get to meet Billy Graham.
I just was a kid.
Then 30 years later, he came back to Little Rock
and I was the governor.
And he had had a long relationship
with the man who was the pastor of my church
who didn't have long to live.
And he wanted to go visit him.
So I took him to visit him.
Not before a vast crowd, but in a tiny living room of a Baptist
preacher with a very modest income,
I listened to him talk to an old friend about faith and life
and death.
It was also one of the most memorable experiences
of my life.
Hillary and I were glad to have him in the White
House a couple of times.
But mostly, I was glad to see that in that little room
he was the same person I saw when
I was 11 at that great big football field.
He showed his faith by his works and by his life.
And for me, every time I think about him, I'll be 11 again.
So thank you.
I'm glad to be here.
Billy Graham, the man, the preacher,
the humble farmer's son who helped change the world
is a spiritual gift to all of us.
Who is this unique person that comes
across the pages of history?
Who is this Jesus Christ?
He's had many opportunities over the years to do other things
that he turned down because God had called him
to a higher calling.
And that was to be an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And to take the Gospel to literally the ends
of the earth.
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