Final Thoughts: Ruth Graham Shares Her Billy Graham Story

On this episode of Our American Stories, we all have a Billy Graham story—Ruth Graham, Billy's daughter, shares hers in the touching eulogy she gave at her father's funeral as part of our ongoing Final Thoughts series. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
Up next our final Thoughts segment, and that's comprised of eulogy,
sometimes from the famous and sometimes from ordinary folks around
the country, sometimes even listeners sharing stories of a departed

(00:31):
loved one and there's nothing like them. It's the heart
of our show. And in the end we prefer and
generally play story shared by loved ones, people who had
intimate knowledge of the person who just died. And up
next to story by Ruth Graham about her father Billy.
Billy Graham preached the gospel to nearly two hundred and

(00:53):
fifty million people in over one hundred and eighty five
countries and territories, so reached hundreds of millions more through TV, video, film, print,
and webcasts. His ministry began with the nineteen forty nine
Los Angeles Crusade, which launched him into the public eye.
It was originally scheduled for just three weeks, but was

(01:15):
extended to more than eight weeks due to overwhelming crowds.
This would happen again and again. Early crusades included one
in London that lasted twelve weeks, and a sixteen week
crusade at Madison Square Garden occurred. Nineteen fifty seven. Madison

(01:35):
Square Garden would be where he had his very last
in two thousand and five, fifty eight years on the
road and on the air, spreading the good news. Now,
let's take a listen to Ruth Graham sharing her story
of her father at his funeral.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
I have learned this week as never before, that everybody
has a Billy Graham story. And even this week, President
Trump told us about his Billy Graham story. As a
little boy, his father took him to a Yankee stadium
to hear my father preach, and he said, this is
a big deal. Little did they know that their paths
would cross many many years later. But I have my

(02:18):
own billygram story. So I'm going to tell you that one.
And I've told it many times, and some of you
have maybe heard it many times, but it bears repeating
because to me, it speaks to the essence of who
my father was and is. After twenty one years, my
marriage ended in divorce. I was devastated. I floundered. I

(02:40):
did a lot wrong. The rug was pulled out from
under me. My family thought it'd be a good idea
for me to move away to get a fresh start
somewhere else. So I decided to live near my older
sister and her family, and near a good church. The
pastor of that church introduced me to a handsome widower,

(03:02):
and we began to date fast and furiously. My children
didn't like him, but I thought, you know, they were
almost grown. They didn't know what they could. They couldn't
tell me what to do. I knew what was best
for my life. My mother called me from Seattle. My
father called me from Tokyo. They said, honey, why don't
you slow down? Let us wait to get to know
this man. They had never been a single parent, they

(03:24):
had never been divorced. What did they know? So, being stubborn,
willful and sinful, I married this man on New Year's Eve,
and within twenty four hours I knew I'd made a
terrible mistake. After five weeks, I fled. I was afraid

(03:45):
of him. What was I going to do? I wanted
to go talk to my mother and my father. It
was a two day drive. Questions world in my mind.
What was I going to say to Daddy? What was
I gonna say?

Speaker 3 (04:04):
To mother.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
What was I gonna say to my children? I'd been
such a failure. What were they gonna say to me?
We retired of fooling with you. We told you not
to do it. You've embarrassed us. And let me tell
you women will understand. You don't want to embarrass your father.
You really don't want to embarrass Billy Graham. And many

(04:30):
of you know that we live on the side of
a mountain. And as I wound myself up the mountain,
I rounded the last bend in my father's driveway and
my father was standing there waiting for me. As I
got over the car, he wrapped his arms around me
and he said, or well come home. There was no shame,

(04:52):
there was no blame, There was no condemnation, just unconditional love.
And you know, my father was not going God, but
he showed me what God was like that day. When
we come to God with our sin, our brokenness, our failure,
our pain, and our hurt, God says a welcome home,

(05:13):
and that invitation is opened for you. Thank you God,
bless you.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
And you were listening to Ruth Graham sharing her story,
one of many that were delivered at Billy Graham's funeral
back in February of twenty eighteen. And she was right.
Everyone had a Billy Graham's story. People who weren't religious
knew Billy Graham. He was counseled to presidents, to the powerful,

(05:39):
and there was no partisanship there. He was counseled to
Democrat presidents and Republican And boy, what words Ruth had
about her dad. She was coming back. She had married
someone she shouldn't have. She regretted it. She was rebellious,
She didn't really listen to anyone's advice. And what did

(06:01):
she find when she circled up that hill to her
father's home. She said, there was my father standing there
waiting for me, and he said, welcome home. No shame,
no blame, no condemnation, just unconditional love. And so we
close out with Billy Graham. One of his later sermons

(06:21):
on that very subject, the unconditional love of God.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
The Bible also says God is love, and first John
four eight it says God is love. Can I hold
on to that? Yeah? I have loved they, but then
I have a lasting love Jeremiah thirty one three. There
was a popular song a few years ago that said,

(06:49):
I can't live in a world without love. You don't
have to, because God loves you, no matter how bad
you've been, no matter how men as Singe've committed. God

(07:09):
loves you. I could talk all evening just on that.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
This is Lee Habib, host of our American Stories. Every day,
we set out to tell the stories of Americans past
and present, from small towns to big cities, and from
all walks of life doing extraordinary things. But we truly
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(07:51):
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