In May 1970, President Richard Nixon was one of 75,000 people gathered to hear evangelist Billy Graham preach in Knoxville, Tenn. When they passed the collection plate, Nixon realized he didn’t have any money. So he borrowed some cash from a friend.
The friend? None other than Billy Graham.
“A number of presidents have looked to you for spiritual sustenance over the years,” Nixon later wrote to the famous preacher, “but I suspect I was the first to hit you up for a loan.”
I’m old enough to remember when Dr. Graham recognized that his political relationships were compromising his message and backed away from the whole “pastor-in-chief” thing. He truly loved Jesus more than celebrity, and that marks him, I believe, as one of the great men of this media-besotted age. It’s hard to express my admiration for this man: may God bless him in these final days of a godly life.