[:en]THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

On Wednesday God called Rev. Billy Graham home. Almost 70 years ago—in September 1949—he began his first revival meeting in Los Angeles . . . in a tent! It took lots of faith to start something in that scale. He was after all not well-known, yet the tent was to accommodate 6000 seats and the crusade was to last three weeks. Even some planning committee members feared that the turn-out would be poor. Well, God blessed this 30-year-old preacher; the scheduled three-week crusade was extended to eight weeks!

To Billy Graham life was not measured by success but rather by obedience to the will of God. Throughout his life a lot of people offered him to do and to be more than what he already did and who he already was. He was tempted but by the grace of God, he resisted. Till the end, Billy Graham focused on God’s first calling to him which was to preach the gospel. His outlook to life made life simple yet meaningful: just be faithful and be obedient.

We have two choices when it comes to how we view life: We can make it simple or we can make it complicated. We can make life complicated by worrying too much and unnecessarily. And, we can make life complicated by wanting to do too much and wanting to be unrealistically more than who we are.

We can also make life simple—by obeying what God tells us to do and by being faithful to what He has called us to be. Billy Graham was once asked, why so many flocked to hear him. “Well,” he replied, “part of the answer, I suppose, is I’ve been preaching so long, and curiosity. But I prefer to think that it’s God.” When asked, why God chose him, he replied, “That’s the first question I’m going to ask Him.” A simple man but a meaningful life!

Pastor Paul[:id]THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

On Wednesday God called Rev. Billy Graham home. Almost 70 years ago—in September 1949—he began his first revival meeting in Los Angeles . . . in a tent! It took lots of faith to start something in that scale. He was after all not well-known, yet the tent was to accommodate 6000 seats and the crusade was to last three weeks. Even some planning committee members feared that the turn-out would be poor. Well, God blessed this 30-year-old preacher; the scheduled three-week crusade was extended to eight weeks!

To Billy Graham life was not measured by success but rather by obedience to the will of God. Throughout his life a lot of people offered him to do and to be more than what he already did and who he already was. He was tempted but by the grace of God, he resisted. Till the end, Billy Graham focused on God’s first calling to him which was to preach the gospel. His outlook to life made life simple yet meaningful: just be faithful and be obedient.

We have two choices when it comes to how we view life: We can make it simple or we can make it complicated. We can make life complicated by worrying too much and unnecessarily. And, we can make life complicated by wanting to do too much and wanting to be unrealistically more than who we are.

We can also make life simple—by obeying what God tells us to do and by being faithful to what He has called us to be. Billy Graham was once asked, why so many flocked to hear him. “Well,” he replied, “part of the answer, I suppose, is I’ve been preaching so long, and curiosity. But I prefer to think that it’s God.” When asked, why God chose him, he replied, “That’s the first question I’m going to ask Him.” A simple man but a meaningful life!

Pastor Paul[:]